Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: stew2u2 on September 08, 2012, 08:26:14 PM
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hi
i have this what looks like a strathearn paperweight but it does not have the classic pontil mark. this has a roughly ground base. are some like this or is it a good copy
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I'm sure that is a Strathearn paperweight - but not the best example of this design that I have seen. Why the base is so messy, I do not know (perhaps a later interference?).
Alan
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With all (most?) of the base scratches being in one direction and quite large, I suggest the weight may have been briefly played with on a rough surface (concrete maybe) by a child before realising what they had done - or before a swift repremand from somebody.
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but id doesnt even have any sign of the usual dimple
thanks for looking
stew
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Lots of Strathearn weights had smooth, polished base, so a fire-polished "dimple" (or even the impressed "leaping salmon" mark) will not always apply.
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I don't recall ever seeing a Strathearn 'millefiori on muslin' that had anything other than a flat polished base - I've never seen one with a fire polished 'dimple', like you find on most Strathearn spokes. The clear ground Strathearn spokes - often dated - had flat polished bases, as otherwise you would see the uneven base from above. I think that is the reason why many of the clear ground 1930s Paul Ysart weights have flat bases - so there is no pontil mark visible - but.... the flat polished base can get scratched. The antique French / English / American weights usually had a polished concave base if they had a clear ground, so that scratches would not disfigure the design when seen from above - they would just be on the wear rim, which is not visible from above because of the optical properties of the design.
Alan
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thanks for the info alan and kevin loos like some little so and so might have been in trouble
stew