Topic: Maker of mysterious moody paperweight ?

[chopin-liszt]

It's just something we always have to be aware of when it comes to glass with metal attachments, it's not my own original thought at all.
It can get quite complicated, because there are collectors of particular metal hallmarks, so they can end up making a bit of glass some sort of silly price, just for the metal bits.
Thus taking the glass away from Glass collectors. 

[gleaming]

Thank you Chopin-Listz for your "notes" on this topic.  You make a good point that the silver base should be considered separately from the paperweight.  The silver base appears to be one of two unusual traits of this paperweight, the other being the unusual canes.

Maybe some glass artists on this message-board might have some ideas on how these unusual canes might be made.  It seems to me that each cane would almost have to be made individually.

[paperweights]

I don't believe the silver base is a repair.  I have had two paperweights with the same base treatment, but need to find pictures or find the one I still own.

[gleaming]

Thank you, Allan. I knew that there must be some other examples out there somewhere with the silver base. I will appreciate seeing your paperweights with the silver base.

[gleaming]

Thanks to the remarkable help of Phil (silvermakermarks) on the Silver Forum at 925-1000.com, who identified the mark on the paperweight base as a Sheffield Hallmark along with the Britannia and Letter L marks, I followed up by contacting the Sheffield Assay Office for identification of the SL maker's mark.

The wonderfully helpful Emma at the Sheffield Assay Office provided the following information:

"I have managed to trace the Sponsors Mark SL – This is the mark for Scotcade Limited, who were based in Shropshire, they registered with the Sheffield Assay Office in 1979 and used this mark until 1990. The piece is marked with the Tudor Rose for Sheffield , the Figure of Britannia 958 parts of silver / 1000 p[arts and the date letter L = 1985."

I found an address for the former Scotcade Ltd:
Scotcade Ltd.
33-34 High Street
BRIDGNORTH SHROPSHIRE WV16 4HG
ENGLAND
UNITED KINGDOM

This solves the mystery of the creator of the silver paperweight base ... now all I have to do is find the maker of the paperweight!

[KevinH]

What we now need are pics from Allan Port (paperweights), as per Reply 12 - if he can find the images of the two weights he had. Hopefully there will be clearer (less distorted) canes for consideration.

[paperweights]

I haven't found my paperweight or the images.  There is a similar query on a vase with a similar treatment on the J.C.C. Glass Collectors Group on Facebook. 

https://www.facebook.com/groups/220575688006436/permalink/1674459482618042/?comment_id=1684302078300449

The information there is that a company named Sileda Ltd based in North Wales used to make something similar. They used to buy blanks from Sanders and Wallace and silver plate them. The comment was from Andrew Sanders of Sanders and Wallace.

[paperweights]

Continuing my thoughts from the above post (I could not modify it), I wonder if the mark is SILEDA LIMITED and not Scotcade Ltd.  Or maybe they are affiliated closely enough.  Sileda was incorporated in CEFN-Y-BEDD CLYWD which is in North East Wales.  The Corning Museum of Glass has a catalog of their wares.  The description is as follows:  "Glassware is handmade in studio glassworks in the British Isles, then ornamented with fine silver in Sileda's workshops in North Wales. Note, that the bud vases on leaflet 1 were made in West Virginia.
Includes vases, perfumes, atomizers, powder boxes, silver deposit ware."

[gleaming]

Thanks so much, Allan, for this good information on the Sileda silver!   

A quick internet search did turn up exquisite examples of glassware ornamented in silver by Sileda, which does sound more likely than Scotcade,  the distributor of radios and such.   Does anyone know of the likely British Isles glass works that may have provided the glassware for the Sileda silversmiths?

I hope that it is OK to present these links for other examples of glasswork ornamented with silver by Sileda :

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/27/4d/56/274d56e5d2c8dbb5b7526341f8d38924.jpg

https://i.pinimg.com/236x/ca/dd/8d/cadd8d951cb869b6037222f38164d717.jpg

https://cdn.globalauctionplatform.com/33c88eec-1b9e-4630-8193-a4ec009fb747/d00206da-db1c-4941-97fb-0c0ad39a51cb/original.jpg

http://www.passionforperfume.com/graphics/Rona/rg605.jpg

I saw one expired on-line auction listing that listed a Selkirk glass bottle ornamented with Sileda silverwork:
"Sileda Limited traded during the 1990s. Handmade glass pieces from studio glassworks throughout the British Isles were ornamented with silver in Sileda's workshops in North Wales.  The base of the glass bottle is marked 'Selkirk Glass Scotland 1989'.
The silver overlay is hallmarked as Britannia silver for Sheffield 1994, and marked with the maker's initials 'SL' for Sileda Limited."

http://www.ebay.ie/itm/Sileda-perfume-scent-bottle-Selkirk-Glass-hallmarked-Britannia-silver-overlay-/201021294145

Thanks again!

[gleaming]

The only paperweight that I have seen that uses similar canes is made by Ron Schuster in Allan Port's great collection:

http://paperweights.com/paperweights/images2/pw2982.jpg