Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: johnphilip on January 31, 2013, 08:28:36 PM
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I have picked up a nice weight signed what looks like st clair 09 or 03 , its a red and white Marbrie with five millefiori canes around the top , small concave base with a snapped of glass rod any info please.
maybe USA ?
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A bit of info here Jp the ones I have had were footed and stamped Bob and Maude St Clair from the '70s I think.
http://www.thehouseofglassinc.com/history.htm
Some examples here...
http://www.paperweights.com/stclair.htm
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Hi
Without pictures it is not possible to say with any certainty what the weight it ! Mod: Pics added above
However St Clair is a very well know American glasshouse based in Elwood Indiana. It was established there in 1890 and the St Clair family and their relatives the Rice family have run it ever since. It it still running, so either of the dates could be correct.
The is an excellent small boolet that comes up not infrequently on Ebay titled "The story of St Clair Glass" written by Jane Ann RICE . Well worth picking up a copy if you see it.
Best regards
Derek
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Thanks guys
photos to follow .
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Certainly looks like St Clair to me and 03 rather than 09
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Thanks Nick my eyes are failing me , its an unpleasant realisation , you dont appreciate things until you start to lose them .
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Confused, don't see a pic. Mod: Pics added see above
However it doesn't sound like a St. Clair, unless it is a Tom St. Clair weight. Typically most St. Clair collectors think of Joe, Bob (and Maude), Ed, Paul, and Pop when the St. Clair name is mentioned. The "original" St. Clair glass essentially ended in the late 80's and we now have Joe rice carrying on the St. Clair tradition. Tom St. Clair, to my knowledge, has never really caught on with most collectors.
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Think I should clarify I meant it looked to read St Clair 03, not that I knew the maker, and yes I'd seen it on ebay.
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This one missed my automatic ebay searches for Marbries. Pedantic to a fault, its a Marbrie, not a Marbie. Or is there something about USA versions that I dont know?
Pity there's no good side view on the ebay listing the Marbrie design seems to stop around halfway down. Pure Marbries, IMHO, have the design from top to bottom. Still a desirable weight for me, and I dont have a St Clair in my collection ...yet ..
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Sorry , i thought Marbrie was my cheese .... i have added 2 pictures let me know if you want others as you can see the colour is down to the clear casing as all around , is this the above mentioned St Clair ? it is a very nice clean weight . cheers jp
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Not a weight from the previously mentioned St. Clair's. not sure who.
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I have just received an email from an American collector confirming its a very desirable St Claire weight with a lot of information regarding St Claire
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Please share the information confirming St. Clair. It is not a St. Clair paperweight from Elwood, IN. Not sure what other St. Clair it would be.
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The St Clair's were good personal friends of mine and I was in their shop frequently when they were operating and Joe Rice that keeps their tradition going and I are very good friends. I'm almost positive that they never made canes such as these and their was no St. Clair Glass in operation in 03. They also rarely ever signed anything in long hand. I had one signed by Joe St. Clair That I personally asked him to sign and it is nothing like this signature. They usually had a stamp that they impressed in the bottom of their weights. I doubt it is a Tom St. Clair either as I know him and his work quite well, but he may have made something like this but that doesn't look anything like his signature either.
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Just a small part of the email from a collector in long island USA who believes it may be right .........
Ed is using some colored canes which he secured from a retired glass craftsman of the Pittsburgh area
to make the star flower design which resembles the H Miller design of 1890 also mentioned is that their ruby flowers were made with gold and the color was one of the most difficult to make .
Signatures were usually die stamped occasionally unsigned but yours looks like a possibly unique piece and only signed after it was seen fit
Most of their production was standard flower or bubbles , They are known to have made 100 roses but stopped due to technical limitations so you have something that could be important if the attribution proves correct , i would say you have a winner there a really beautiful weight .
Fuhrman glass sorry i dont know your first name can i ask do you have any names you can throw into the ring ? thanks for your input .
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Several things in that note raise serious questions....one is speaking in the present tense and two they never stopped making roses because of technical issues and while I don't know how many were made, I am certain more than one hundred were made. I think the weight could be by several other makers, just not St. Clair.
As I read the excerpt it sounds like something out of Jean Melvin's book......I'll have to look.
Looked, indeed those notes are from the book, the roses went on to be conquered. The colored canes comment is exactly that, not millefiori canes, just colored canes. Could we be looking at the signature all wrong??
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Hi everyone,
I am no expert on American weights, but these canes on top of the marbrie look like those made by the Gentile family (many generation of glass makers). I had one of their millefiori weights for a while (but have sold it on) and the canes were very similar to these.
SophieB
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Hi everyone,
I am no expert on American weights, but these canes on top of the marbrie look like those made by the Gentile family (many generation of glass makers). I had one of their millefiori weights for a while (but have sold it on) and the canes were very similar to these.
SophieB
I thought it looked a lot like some of Gentile's work as well. although I believe that John never made those canes, but purchased them from Italy. I had talked with him about that when I was there once in the 70's. Ed Or Paul St. Clair may have wandered into Gentiles at one time or another, but I doubt it would have been 03. They used to like to make some stuff at other people's shop from time to time.
The roses were made for a long time and Joe Rice still makes them as he taught me how to make them . Getting that red and white to work that well with each other for the marbrie is not an easy feat either as the red didn't seem to bleed much into the white and most of the white was a really "soft" glass.
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I have now sorted out all the irrelevant text from this topic, added JP's pics to it and it can go back into paperweights as a discussion topic. Thank you for your patience whilst it was sorted.