Topic: The One That Got Away

[Max]

Antique St Louis fruit weights do not have wire inside

Hi KevH  

Oh dear...I'm such a paperweight novice perhaps it wasn't wire at all!    :shock:

Pat Reilly's book 'Paperweights' page 41, has exactly the St Louis 'fruit basket' weight I saw...have I been silly? :oops:

[KevinH]

Hi Max,

Don't worry about it. You have not been silly. Well ... not in the sense of knowing or not knowing what the weight was.

Now that I think about it, I can undertsand why you thought there were wire stems. One of the features of many antique fruit (and vegeatble and upright flower) weights is unwanted air bubbles in various places. If the cherry stems, being very thin, have air bubbles trapped along the length then they could easily "shine" like a piece wire.

For interest, as well as the weight shown in Pat Reilly's book (which, by the way, I really should put in a word for at every opportunity - since Pat was one of the founding members of the PCC [formerly CPC] ), there are a few others shown at:
http://www.kevh.clara.net/exhib99/Antique/French/StLouis/SLList1.htm

And an American equivalent is shown at:
http://www.kevh.clara.net/exhib99/Antique/American/AmericanList.htm

Personally, I think too many of the antique fruit (etc) weights have too many stray bubbles. But then I am a bit fussy when being asked to pay good money for something I do not normally collect.

But, I can hear you wondering ... what about the other "being silly" part ... was it worth a lot ... should you have taken it regardless? Well ... err ... yeah ... it sounds as if it could have been one of those occasions that don't crop up very often (or at least, they seem to crop up only for people I know - such as another reader of this message board - but not for me personally).

In a couple of paperweight dealer sites, broadly similar antique St Louis items are currently offered with asking prices of ... £950 and £990  :!:

But quality is all important - air bubbles and "wire-like" stems, not to mention the the possibilty of an off-centred setting or poor latticinio work, or even reduction in size and profile from removal of scratches and bruises, can reduce the price dramatically.

But, hey, without actually handling and confirming the weight, it could still have been a Chinese version looking very much like the one in the book, so maybe it was not really bad news? hmm? maybe?

[Max]

KevH

Thanks for your kind words about the 'wire' to save my blushes, you're very sweet, and they're emblazoned on my memory now...in case there's ever a 'next time'....

The wretched thing was absolutely identical to the one in Pat's book - I recognised it instantly - with a horrid 'stomach in mouth' sensation.     I don't recall seeing any blemishes either.

I just wish I could stop thinking about the blooming thing now!  It's going to haunt me forever!

 :shock:  :evil:  :evil:  :shock:  :shock:  :cry:

[Anonymous]

Max

There is this mother of 3 living in a bedsit waiting for the baliffs to evict her and the social services to put her children into foster care. Her own parents have since long gone and she was an only child...so no family to help her... The few friends she had have moved away and it feels to her like the sky is pressing down and the ground about to open up and bury her.
She popped out earlier begging the children to be quiet and not to open the door to anyone...they cried when she left as they thought they would not see her again...its surprising what children pick up on..... Anyway she called into the charity shop hoping to find some shoes for the eldest child, the other 2 were ok for the moment as they were wearing the hand me downs... and thats when she noticed it...one of those old French paperweights that her grandfather used to own .... She couldn't stop the tears filling up in her eyes...it seems as though prayers could be answered after all.
Fate has a strange way sometimes of sharing the fortunes it has where the need is sometimes greater.  


Gareth

[Max]

Gareth, you ARE a philosopher...  

That actually helped.  Having a bit of a heavy time here at the moment...I was letting it get out of proportion.

Max xx

[Anonymous]

Hi Max


  That's good, and I do hope it has helped, and that you are able you to see the situation from a wider viewpoint.
 I too have felt the gut-wrenching reaction you spoke of and if you allow it space and to dwell on it it is really quite destructive in the amount of agitation that results.
 I'm not suggesting that you need feel the same as we all react differently but in retrospect I have at times ended up quite ashamed of allowing myself to be so annoyingly devoured by what I considered in me was a mixture of greed and stupidity.....not quite sure which one offended me the most...but probably the "stupid" bit. :oops:  
Anyway...whatever else you forget or remember I doubt you will get a more clearly defined image in your mind of what a Clichy basket weight looks like than from this.

Regards


gareth