Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: THX1138 on August 28, 2006, 03:58:50 AM
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Does anybody know how many Franklin Mint sulphides were made in the special Great Leaders Of History collection? I know there were 12 figures honored in this great leaders series from the Mint and Baccarat - Alexander The Great, Simon Bolivar, Julius Caesar, Louis XIV, Charlemagne, Joan Of Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, Abraham Lincoln, Napoleon Bonaparte, Peter The Great, Winston Churchill, and George Washington.
How many of each were made? Is 500 the correct figure, which would make 6000 paperweights in all? Were they all made in 1976?
Thanks.
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Was the edition supposed to have been limited to 500, and if so are you wondering whether they actually produced the whole edition?
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BTW somewhere I have an extraordinary Baccarat sulphide pw, 1/1 if I can find it to photograph.... :D
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Somewhere I have a list from Baccarat, how many "Great Leaders" where made. As soon as I will find it, I´ll post a picture.
Nadine
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My understanding is that 500 were to be made of each, which would make an astonishing total of 6000 paperweights. This is a staggering figure. I would like to be sure for a research article I'm writing. I can write around the figure, but I'd rather know as best I can.
I wrote to Baccarat in France, but received no reply. I even used FreeTranslation.com to send both an English and French version of my letter. But my letter, which went by regular post in June, was either ignored or it just takes a very long time for mail between France and the U.S.A.
I'm hoping someone who reads the Board might know. The weights came with cards and/or booklets, but I've never seen one of the cards or a booklet, so I don't know if the total number is mentioned. 500 seems like a perfect figure. And 500 times 12 weights is a stunning 6000.
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Great Leaders of History, issued 1975-1978 worldwide, had a total edition size of 6800, The original issue price of each weight was $90. These pieces were made in collaboration with the Cristalleries de Baccarat. Included are: Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Charlemagne, Joan of Arc, Queen Elizabeth I, King Louis XIV, Peter the Great, George Washington, Simon Bolivar, Abraham Lincoln, Winston Churchill, and Napoleon Bonaparte. All are faceted with one top and six side facets, and etched on the bottom with the signatures of the Franklin Mint and Baccarat. The color backgrounds are gold, green, amethyst and aqua.
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Thank you Addg. 6800 paperweights in a 3-year period is a tremendous number of weights. Do you know if each of the weights was made in the same edition number? Let's say 566 weights for each of the 12 in the series? Or did some of the cameoed leaders - Churchill, for example - have a run of 400 and someone else 600? I've noticed, based on eBay and other online venues, that Churchill seems to be the rarest.
The 6800 figure practically confirms my belief that the massive number of sulphides has now contributed to the flattening of prices for these sulphides. The marketplace certainly is glutted.
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There are a lot of collectors of Churchill memorablia, mostly ageing now so prices could drop.
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Let's say 566 weights for each of the 12 in the series?
Astonishing though it may seem, an edition of 566 units (or sets) for a Franklin Mint commemorative may not actually be very high.
Although I cannot comment directly on the particular series in this thread, as I did not see it advertised, I do recall a number of FM offers that were described as limited editions, but where the limits often seemed to be limited to however many they could sell within a given period, or produce within a given period (or sometimes firing, in the case of ceramics).
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If my maths are correct, 6,800 units over three years, where a "working year" = 240 days, means a production rate of under 10 units per day. Not such a tall order as it may seem, particularly if they had, say, a 300-day "working year".
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If my maths are correct, 6,800 units over three years, where a "working year" = 240 days, means a production rate of under 10 units per day. Not such a tall order as it may seem, particularly if they had, say, a 300-day "working year".
....and the thing about sulphides is that they didn't take up the lamp-workers' time, only the dome-makers.
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... yes, although there is also the cutting of good quality facets to take account of :)
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From "A History of Baccarat Modern Paperweights":
" The story of contemporary Baccarat sulphide paperweights would not be complete, however, if we failed to mention the weights which Baccarat was commissioned to make for the Franklin Mint:
The first series, commissioned through us, Baccarat, Inc., in conjuction with Paul Jokelson, President of the Paperweights Collectors' Association of America, was made to commemorate men whose writings or actions made the American Revolution possible. Five Frenchmen were selected by the Franklin Mint, to be made by Baccarat: Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Louis XVI, LaFayette and Admiral de Grasse. As a counterpart, Crtal d'Albret in France, represented in the USA by Paul Jokelson, made the following five American subjects for Franklin Mint: Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, John Paul Jones and John Adams.
A second seriesby the Franklin Mint, representing historical world leaders: Julius Ceaser, Alexander the Great,, etc. was contracted for directly with Cristallaries de Baccarat in Paris and is currently in production. ( December 1977)
There is a difference, however, in lightness and aspect between the weights made for the Franklin Mint and our own Baccarat weights. The latter are a little smaller and as, pointed out earlier the sulphide in them, always made by a noted French sculptor, is floating inside the weight instead of lying directly on the colored background, as it does in the Franklin Mint weights. This makes it possible also to cut a clear star in the colored background, which thus adds to the general lightness of the weight."
No mention of the production numbers, though!