Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: Catisfaction on February 02, 2012, 05:52:42 PM
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I've got two other weights I'm looking to learn about at the moment also. (No dimensions yet as they're not with me atm they're at home)
The Green one I've seen similar now and then when perusing online etc but I've never had one in my hands so I've never learned anything about them, and the info I've seen online has been wishy washy guesswork at best. Can anyone tell me anything about this kind of weight, where they come from, how they're made, age etc. The green color kind of reminds me of recycled glass.
The second one is another scrambled weight (I seem to have a thing for those!) Lots of color and aventurine swirling around, and a few distorted canes in there too. Is it likely to be Italian (I only guess that cause of the Aventurine) or something a Studio glass artist threw together out of scraps? It's got a great pontil but no signs of a siggie at all.
Oh I seem to be missing a sideways shot, it's rather flat. Maybe an inch and a half high compared to approx 3 inches diameter.
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/th_210.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/?action=view¤t=210.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/th_211.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/?action=view¤t=211.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/th_212.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/?action=view¤t=212.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/th_213.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/?action=view¤t=213.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/th_246.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/?action=view¤t=246.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/th_247.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/?action=view¤t=247.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/th_248.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/?action=view¤t=248.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/th_249.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/?action=view¤t=249.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/th_250.jpg) (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v285/catisfaction/GlassMessagesPosts/?action=view¤t=250.jpg)
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The first one is a 'dump' probably late Victorian,should have lots of wear on the base,made all over the place,the second I have no idea ;D ;D
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the first a dump i think they were actually made as door stops. the second if a saw a bowl in them colours i would have said murano by a.ve.m but dont take my word because the only time im right is when a piece has a name on it.
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Thanks for the suggestions... for some reason I dind't get a notification of reply!
Anyhoo, I've seen weights referred to as "dumps" before and don't really know what that means.
Just found this one that's very similar that claimed to be Nailsea, any logic to that attribution or are they just tossing a big name in for the sale?
http://www.icollector.com/Antique-Nailsea-Green-Flower-Pot-Paperweight_i7866156
Guess I'll go google Dumps and see what I can learn :D
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The term dump is generally used eroneously to describe old paperweights (or sometimes new); dump implies no design, which is seldom true. And Nailsea is just another red herring wrongly applied to glass in 99% of cases along with the term Bristol.
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I have heard it said that they are called 'dumps' because they were usually made from the end of batch glass that was otherwise going to be 'dumped'. It may be true! Some were certainly made as production items, by Kilner and by Redfearn, who stamped the weights on the base with a glass seal bearing the factory name.
Any green glass bottle factory could be the source of dumps, but I do not know of any evidence of dumps (or other paperweights) from Nailsea. I think that is part of the mythology and disinformation that stems from incorrect statements in various early paperweight books, which sadly get repeated by later authors (along with attributions such as 'Antique Whitefriars', and comments that 'William Gillinder worked at Bacchus', and so on).
Alan
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... mythology and disinformation that stems from incorrect statements in various early paperweight books ...
Actually goes further back than that.
One book I happen to have in front of me, published 1916, is Collecting Old Glass, English and Irish by J. H. Yoxall. In Chapter V "Old Coloured Glass", there is a photo of a Dump, probably around 5 inch height, with two layers of flower petals over a fairly high pot (all of the "chalk bubble" type) and a "crown" paperweight. The photo caption states "Bristol Coloured Paper-Weights" for what we now know to be a Dump more likely to be northern English and the weight probably a good 19th century St Louis.
The text also says of the Dump, "... inner decoration ..., pearled over as if by dew, and blown with extraordinary skill". Extreme skill indeed - since no blowing was used! However, perhaps "blown" was also used back in those days just as generally as "Bristol" for so many glass items.
(Also, on the facing page there is a photo of a millefiori "pepper box", also stated to be made at Bristol, but which could be even rarer than the author claimed as it looks to me like it might be very early Bohemian!)