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Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: daveweight on October 03, 2011, 11:41:55 AM

Title: Strathearn Paperweights - Rarely Seen
Post by: daveweight on October 03, 2011, 11:41:55 AM
Hi All
Just sharing a thought that has puzzled me for a while concerning Strathearn Paperweights. I regularly see spoked weights, sea urchins, ice pool and flower weights on Ebay but they also made some nice editions called Flower Garden, Kaleidescope, Whirlwind, Sea Anenome, Lava and Crown Weights but these never seen to appear for sale and I just wondered why and where have they got to ?  One possibility is that they may have had paper labels and if these have come off they made not be recognised as Strathearn.

I wrote an article for the PCA Bulletin in 2006 and photographed some superb Strathearns; Butterflies, Spoked Weights, Crowns and Concentrics all set in double overlays but nothing similar has ever appeared for sale so this factory did make some very nice weights.

Just to finish off, here is a picture of an unusual weight showing the name STRATHEARN GLASS whihc was made by Jack Allen, assisted by Dave Moir, just after the factory opened and I believe it was used as a centrepiece for displays at glass exhibitions Strathearn attended and in those days they were held in Blackpool.

Dave
Title: Re: Strathearn Paperweights - Rarely Seen
Post by: tropdevin on October 03, 2011, 06:41:47 PM
***
Hi Dave

An interesting question. I hope I would spot some of these designs if they were listed as 'paperweight' and nothing more (or rare and valuable antique French, or whatever similar bizarre description the dreamers might come up with) - as no doubt would others.  So do you think that the scarcity of these items seen for sale reflects the numbers made - ie were there very few? Or should there be greater numbers out there?

Alan
Title: Re: Strathearn Paperweights - Rarely Seen
Post by: SophieB on October 03, 2011, 11:17:51 PM
Hi Dave,

I think that good Strathearn weights are scarce and sometimes not marked (which makes the identification all the more difficult). To be so rare, these must have been made in very small numbers... Still, they do come up for sale now and then (see auction lot from last year - I did not bid though - I had something else in sight which I failed to get  :-\):

http://www.lyonandturnbull.com/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=288++++++143+&refno=++130116

What I find bizarre with Strathearn weights is that even some of the more 'basic' weights are difficult to find: I have been looking for a 'kaleidoscope' weight for a while, too. And I got my 'whirlwind' v. cheap from Ebay because the seller had not identified it. Personally, I have never seen a flower garden or a lava weight either (but I have seen a number of sea anemones). May be, these abstract weights were produced in relatively small numbers (indeed some were produced only for a few years). And they might not have been popular at the time... Who knows...

Still we are lucky to have Richard More's website - an invaluable tool for the identification of rarish Strathearn weights.

Sophie

PS: I love your Ice Pool PSFM123

Title: Re: Strathearn Paperweights - Rarely Seen
Post by: Frank on October 03, 2011, 11:59:17 PM
A lot of the weights were sold to the tourist trade, another twenty years or so you will start finding lots more. Look at the Vasart weights that were around 30 years ago compared to what has been appearing in the last 10 years....
Title: Re: Strathearn Paperweights - Rarely Seen
Post by: daveweight on October 04, 2011, 11:26:25 AM
Thank You All for your interesting comments - sadly there do not seem to be any records around to show how many weights in each of the various editions were actually made but Richard More told me he has been looking for a Lava weight to add to his collection for years and not found any - I was lucky and came across one in an antique centre for £6 !

I think I should have included magnums in this list of the Strathearns we rarely see - I have three; two Sea Urchins in green and red and one of those with scattered canes on a latticino base but I believe the rarer version of this is the one a friend of mine has which includes a silhouette cane of a cat.

I understand workers at the Strathearn factory often made friggers in their lunchtimes which they kept for themselves so there may be many one off unmarked pieces out there.  I have a very nice concentric weight I am sure is one of these so I will attach a picture.

Dave