Topic: Just arrived,Deacons,little beauty,

[keith]

For very little money,great stuff,thought some one might like to see it

[tropdevin]

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There seem to be a lot of little Deacons weights around, for little money as you say. Lots for sale regularly on eBay.  Does anyone else feel the market is becoming flooded with these, and that they are thus becoming devalued?

Alan

[johnphilip]

Yes i have been noticing a glut of them being almost given away .

[Leni]

Yes, I think John turns out quite a lot of little, inexpensive weights. I guess these are his 'bread and butter', and obviously help to pay the fuel bills etc. enabling him to also turn out the magnificent complicated canes and lampwork of his higher priced weights.  

IMHO the simple weights which are 'flooding the market' are still excellent quality, and are an ideal way to introduce new and younger collectors to paperweights.  We can't all afford the two, three and more hundred pound weights that the 'real' collectors enjoy.  John's cheap weights are good value for money, and think I have to disagree with you that they are in any way 'devalued' by being produced in quantity, Alan.

[tropdevin]

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Hi Leni

I guess I am worried it could go the way of Caithness. I agree the weights are excellent value for money, but you can have too much of a good thing, and the 'cheap and cheerful' branding of the small weights can become attached to the higher quality weights - that is what I was getting at with 'devaluing' of the product.  You know the sort of thing: 'Oh, John Deacons.  He makes all those little cheap weights, doesn't he?' and people forget the higher quality pieces.

Alan

[keith]

It's 2.5 inches across and the twists in the ribs are great,some of the smaller ones are quite basic,but imho,I think he does great work, big and small

[Leni]

I noticed the twists in the ribs, Keith!  Superb!   

Alan, I think I'm just pleased that some good quality weights are available to young and new collectors.  If they then aspire to own some of the bigger, better weights, I would have thought that can't be bad for the makers! 

It has long been a concern of mine that the prohibitively high prices of the real quality weights discourage people from collecting paperweights at all.  If all people can afford are the lower quality Chinese weights, which tend to be somewhat 'looked down upon' by 'real' collectors, soon they will become discouraged.  Anything which inspires and encourages young collectors to develop an interest, and to go on to appreciate the fascination and beauty of craftsmanship of the more elaborate and complex paperweights, can only be a good thing, IMHO!  Surely we don't want only a bunch of rich old fogeys being able to afford to collect paperweights do we? 

[tropdevin]

***

Hi Leni

I think it is encouraging that makers such as John D and Peter McDougall produce some very nice, high quality weights at low prices.  And I agree that encouraging new and/or impecunious collectors is a good thing - there are too few rich old fogeys out there.

I still worry that the 'glut', as another commentator has described them, will have an adverse effect: if the high quality pieces start to drop in price on the second hand market as a result, then people may be shy of buying them new, and cash flow may become tight for the makers. That would be bad news both for the makers and for the collectors in the longer term.  Perhaps I am worrying unnecessarily - let's revisit this issue in 2 years time and see what has happened! :angel:

Alan

[johnphilip]

Now i am confused , i think i agree with all of you , Ohhh  well they say there is a first time for everything . :hi:

[cfosterk]

A search for John Deacons on ebay.co.uk returned 74 results.

this included an encased double overlay, a close-pack enclosed with an outer crown, a Jay weight garlanded pansy, a stunning fuchia on latticinio, three scent bottles of various design, a couple of millefiori weights containing torsades, a plethora of silhouette caned paperweights, and a superb selection of various millefiori/spoked designs...

in contrast caithness gets 858 glass results;

The bread and butter 'gift' weights are what pay the bills at Chez Deacons.

Talk of flooding the market is snobbish nonsense imho