Topic: Unknown maker

[Nick77]

I saw this on ebay in the US and having not seen anything quite like it thought it merited a bid to have a closer look. It was just described as vintage Midwestern?

I was expecting the butterfly to be a sulphide but it is lamp worked from clear glass and then appears to have been enamel painted.
Has pontil mark remains to base, UV light shows light dusty green under shortwave and blue under long wave.

80mm x 64mm (3 1/8" x 2 1/2")

Does anyone have any ideas on a maker?

Nick

[KevinH]

UV light shows light dusty green under shortwave and blue under long wave.

Nick, are you sure? With a green / blue reaction, it's usually longwave that shows green and shortwave that shows blue.

There are a number of weighst that do show as blue under longwave, for example, some (maybe all??) antique French and some (maybe all??) Whitefriars. But my experience is that they also show as blue under shortwave.

[mildawg]

Is it a sulphide or a painted glass?  I know degenhart made some critter weights that are painted glass but they were usually more crude looking than this.  If it is a sulphide then Midwestern will probably be the closest you will get to a maker.

[tropdevin]

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Hi.  I recall Gary McClanahan giving a talk to the PCA on US Midwest glass factories, in which he concluded that at leat 100 different ones had made paperweights at some point! Many of these were frit designs, but some were more complex. Trying to attribute most of the designs to specific factories was near impossible.

Alan

[Nick77]

Hi All,
Thanks for the replies, sorry Kevin yes typo it is green under long wave and blue under short wave.

Mildawg yes the butterfly is painted clear glass, in the second photo you can just see the unpainted underside of the body.

Alan did Gary's talk include dates,  ideas of when this style may have been made? I'm sort of guessing 1950's to 70's?

Nick

[tropdevin]

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Hi Nick

From what I recall the majority were made in the early - mid 20th century, but some were earlier. I don't recall a 'most recent' date I'm afraid.

Alan