Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: alpha on January 21, 2012, 08:29:35 PM
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I am having a difference of opinion on this one:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Antique-NEGC-Millefiori-Paperweight-Concentric-Rare-Best-/260936132637
Seller thinks it is New England Glass Company, and I think it is Baccarat/Dupont or maybe one of the unmarked 1960's Baccarat weights.
Any thoughts?
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I would guess 1930s Baccarat. Roger.
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It looks more NEGC than Dupont. But it doesn't match my expectations for either.
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Well, having failed to win this weight by being the underbidder, I will give you my thoughts. I think it is French, antique, and probably St Mandé. The star canes are too 'frilly' (a technical phrase, I am sure) to be Baccarat. The dome shape is right for St M.
Incidentally, I am writing a series of articles on millefiori canes (designs, makers etc) - first part in the April 2012 PCC Newsletter as long as I get on with it. Non-members might wish to think about joining....not for my pearls of wisdom, but for many other interesting articles. ;D
Alan
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As I said it was only a guess of mine, but it did add a bit of conversation didn't it.
Regards Roger.
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Alan please let me first apoligize for listing the question while the item was still running on ebay. I had no interest in it and assumed that no one else would either. :-[
St Mande is an interesting thought. I can see the attribution with the central blue rod canes, but the outside pink cane ring has a very 20th century look to it with the colors and the color combinations in the cane. The star-cluster canes looked frilly to me because of the poor photography. Had you requested and received better photos?
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Hi Andy.
No - I did not get extra images - but I think that poor images make canes look more blurred and fatter, rather than thinner. As for your commenting whilst the listing is active, I believe that items usually find their own level whatever...so no problem.
I just think the cane design and the overall look and shape suggest St Mandé. That is an awfully subjective comment, I know - and I am uncomfortable with that approach to ID - but there is always an element to ID that is very hard to quantify: you look at a paperweight, and have a feel for what it might be. I am not 100% convinced it is St M, but that is my feeling.
Alan
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Just had a closer look at some more New England weights and the further you go back in the 19th century the more the canes match the one in question!!!!????? Roger.
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the seller says .... Condition is excellent with no chips and no cracks , but to my eyes there looks like a top part of a bruise on the side around 12-1 o'clock on the down view photos
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I noticed this one when it first came up on eBay but wasn't very attracted to it so didn't think more about it.
I am pretty sure it is NEGC as I have matched the canes to paperweights in the book "The Boston & Sandwich and New England Glass Companies" by John D. Hawley.
Several pw's identified as NEGC in the book contain the blue/white complex cane in the center of this weight (page 76 fig 5.3, page 126 fig 7.25, page 129 fig 7.36),
the pink/blue/yellow complex cane in the outer ring can be found on page 153 fig 7.107
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Hi Alexander
I agree about the pink/blue/yellow cane - looks identical. The other cane, though of the same basic design, is not quite the same, as the central cog cane has thinner walls in the eBay weight than the examples in John Hawley's book. But I would agree the canes came from the same maker. I guess it is the French influence of Nicolas Lutz I see!
Alan