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Green glass dump paperweights with clay figures in them encrusted cameo sulphide

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flying free:
Not entirely sure what to call these types of weights, but does anyone know what period they date to please? 
The ones I'm referring to are those at the front of this group I've linked to that have little clay figures in them. I've read as much as I can and still can't really get a fix on dates.  Are they late Victorian? I've got that they started being made around 1830 but when did they stop being made - I presume they were made until bottle manufacturing went completely automated but when would that have been?

http://www.christies.com/lotfinder/lot/thirteen-various-green-glass-dump-late-19th20th-5025675-details.aspx?intObjectID=5025675

I saw one of these ages ago and didn't win it and I've been curious about them since.  There aren't that many around, I seem to come across the same ones over and over on searches, boy on elephant, children, cherub, thistle and leaves but not many more available in terms of images on google using my searches.  I've been using Sulphide and encrusted cameo dump etc but mostly what comes up are the flower ones.  I've just bought one with some sort  of figure of a lady carrying something in it, but it's difficult to tell from the pics(and I've no idea what condition it's going to be in).
It's similar to this one here but smaller but she looks like it's the same figure - scroll down to 12th item  http://www.collectorcity.co.uk/Glassware,Metalware,Tableware.htm

Thanks for any help  :) .
m

keith:
According to one book it was first attempted c. 1750 in Bohemia but was perfected by a Frenchman in the late 18th,then made all over in the early 19th,Apsley Pellatt,Baccarat and Clichy all made them ;D ;D

flying free:
Thanks Keith  :)  that start date of early 19th links with what I've read of around 1830 if I recall. I think these green bottle glass dumps though are quite different to their 'posh' friends from Baccarat and Clichy aren't they? 
What I'm also curious about is who made the little clay figures to go in them.  Who was sitting there at the end of the day in the bottle factory and thought 'I know, I'll make one with a boy on an elephant in today'... and where did he get the clay figure from? The posh ones seem to be based on medals or I suppose cameos of some sort ( the royalty heads) but where did these more rustic ones come from.  Also are they generally British if they are green?  or were they made elsewhere on the continent?
m

keith:
Had a look through some more books and apart from a couple of Scotsmen in the late 18th called James and William Tassie who made wax portraits and then cast them in plaster the wax is then removed,molten glass poured in and then mounted on sheets of glass,other than these nothing ::) info' care of Sotheby's Concise Encyclopedia of Glass. ;D ;D

KevinH:
Keith's summary info on the initial "cameo incrustations" refers to early attempts at using ceramic embedded in glass (in France, and soon after patented by Pellatt in England). But at that time the inclusions were not of the type seen in the "Dump" weights and doorstops.

The reference above to the Christie's completed sale shows a dating of late 19th to early 20th century, which is about as accurate as it gets for these items, especially for the terracotta versions.

Although Dump weights are mentioend briefly in various books, I know of only three main references which deal specifically with the subject:
- A series of three articles by William Drew Gaskill in the Bulletin of the PCA (members only)
- A self-published book by Peter M Sellers (see his entry in the Book forum)
- A book by Mary Skotnicki & Gregory Warren Wilson (still available through Amazon etc)

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