Topic: Help needed identifying large Caithness paperweight please!

[EmJ]

Hi, can anyone help me with the name of the design of this Caithness paperweight please? It is 3.3" diameter and weights almost 1kg. Amethyst (?) glass with a suspended red sort of canopy/flower with bubbles around the edge. I am guessing it is by Colin Terris but would love to know when it was made and what it is called. It is a second marked CIIG underneath but I am still wondering if it is a limited edition? Thanks in advance!

[Nick77]

Hi,
Sorry, but as a second it cannot be called the same as any first quality paperweight, it was rejected because it doesn't conform to the intended design, it's just a decorative paperweight.

[chopin-liszt]

  The owner might still like to know what it should have been.
Items were rejected for the very tiniest of flaws. And sometimes seconds were used for workers to practise engraving on, so they can have that (unexpectedly) on top too.

[EmJ]

Thanks guys!
So I'm still wondering (because I like to get to the bottom of things!) is it by Colin Terris and approximately when does it date from? Also, am I right in thinking that even the seconds were produced to be of a specific named design before they became seconds? I realise it's not of any value but just like to know! I'm guessing late 70's? Any info is great, cheers.

[Lustrousstone]

Sometimes seconds are designs that didn't work out. This is not 1970s as early seconds were scratch marked C2G, not sandblasted CIIG, and it appears to be neodymium glass, which I think is more late 1980s/90s. Other Caithness designers are available...

[Anne]

Hi EmJ, welcome to the board. It might be worth a trawl through Frank Andrew's ScotlandsGlass.co.uk section on Caithness paperweight to see if you can find a match - they made thousands of different designs, and Frank has images of many of them so you may strike lucky. Let us know how you get on please. Click this LINK to visit the right section.

[Nick77]

It's very often impossible to tell though, we cannot know at what stage the making of the  design had gone wrong and further work was abandoned. Was it originally intended to have more coulours added, more bubbles, swirls etc. Maybe it was to have engraving or a flat face ground on?

Just looking quickly on the first few pages of the Scotland's Glass, modern Caithness section (1207 designs) it could possibly have been intended to be:
Jellyfish
Fire
Triad
Space Rose etc

Also note that many designs listed there state  there were other colours so you may bypass one shown in green, but if it was red it would be a closer match.

Hence it's best to just see it as a nice paperweight, Caithness never intended it to be anything other than that or they would have named it.

[EmJ]

Thanks again everyone, some very useful bits of info there. I will now put it on my shelf and enjoy looking at it!!

[Wuff]

There is a variety of reasons for weights being sold as seconds:
1) The most common reason is that the weight did not quite come up to the standard. This applies to unlimited weights only. The policy for limited weights was to destroy sub-standard items. This implies that your second was not a limited design as such.
2) Standard shaped weights would not be "abandoned" during the hot work - and still finished to be sold as seconds. A sub-standard item produced for later cold work (facetting, engraving), however, could be abandoned at this stage, i.e. facetting or engraving would not be done. Have a look at "Coquette" - this could happen even for designs which (completed) would be limited editions.
3) Trial designs, possibly leading to a modified version going into production, could also be sold as seconds.

The problem with abstract designs is that often similar features show up in different designs. When comparing an actual weight with a single (catalogue) image it is often extremely difficult to identify the design. Looking through ScotlandsGlass can only be recommended, though - but keep in mind that this catalogue is far from complete (unfortunately for technical reasons no longer complemented).

[Wuff]

If you check ScotlandsGlass you'll find two more designs ("Humming Bird" and "Gold Troat") using the same basic weight. And searching ebay (worthpoint, picclick) you'll find additional views like side views for these weights.