Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: alexander on March 01, 2009, 06:40:04 PM
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Hi, I was wathing this ebay footed weight (http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=150327244761&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:PIC&ih=005). Annoyingly I recognized some canes but my memory completely fails me as to the maker.
The price it ended for is far above my speculation mark :)
Any ideas as to maker?
Thanks
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"Islington of Belgium"? ;D
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:) - you took a look in Bob's World Paperweights too?
I get sort of a OE (color scheme)/Murano (cogs)/Belgian (dome & mountain shape of millefiori) feel from it
- which isn't helping me much at the moment ;)
I know I have seen all but the flower cane before.
Pretty weight, was sad to see it slip away.
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That one was on my watch list too. I ended up spending my $$ on a Deacons weight.
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- you took a look in Bob's World Paperweights too?
The question of where these items were made is still under some debate. As well as in Bob Hall's World Paperweights book, other information on similar mantle ornaments can be found in PCA Bulletins (2003 & 2007) and in George Kullis's Identifying Paperweights ... books.
Evidence of cane matches to weights with the "IGW" cane are one of the primary reasons for attributing some of these ornamets to Islington Glass Works, Birmingham, England. But there are a one or two regular weights which have canes that also match ones known in at least one "IGW" weight, and yet those weights might be "Bohemian". In a similar way, even though close matches can be made for canes in the mantle ornaments to canes in "IGW" weights, they can also be matched very well to canes in items believed to be of a Belgian source.
Anyone have any views for or against my thoughts?
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I think that sums it up pretty neatly :)
I tried matching this weight to the IGW weights I have pics of - not many - and couldn't match any canes.
If I understand correctly the whole concept of the IGW weights actually being made at Islington is still up for debate?
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Hi all
This is a Belgian mantel ornament, one of a pair - I guess the other was broken: they sometimes turn up as a paperweight that shows signs of having been a mantel ornament. I have one that had a broken stem on top, presumably bearing a crucifix or a sulphide. They are most probably from the Chênée factory in Liege. The factory was set up by Alexander Amiable in 1870 and was called Cristalleries et Verreries de l’Ourthe. The canes are often extremely detailed and high quality. These pieces are rare, but I think at least 30 are known, and most have turned up in Belgium or Northern France (or in the US having been bought from auctions in Europe). A few have turned up in Britain - it could be that they were imported and sold here, but may have been brough back from European tours.
I believe that the 'Islington' attribution came about because George Kulles said he had matched a cane - but he later withdrew the attribution. Bob Hall based his ID of 'Islington' in his book on that evidence and on the European style moulding and cutting of the foot, as far as I know because some Birmingham makers copied the European style (a bizarre piece of logic in my view). I prefer the simple explanation - it looks European because it is European. Of course, calling them Islington did nothing to harm their price: I think a matched pair made $10,000 in one sale when called Islington!
Regarding IGW and Islington, I suspect that Rice Harris did make these IGW weights at the Islington Glassworks in Birmingham, but if you check the known IGW weights they use a very limited set of high quality complicated canes. That suggests to me that Rice Harris may have bought a sample of canes (possibly from a Bohemian factory), made up a horse cane and an IGW cane (which are of poorer quality than the other canes), and used these to make a number of sample weights for sales exhibitions. No orders were ever placed by customers (maybe they were too expensive?), and so no more weights were made. Hence the rarity. Just a theory, but it does explain some of the facts.
Alan
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Does that mean the blackberry canes where brought in as well? Im still praying I find an IGW weight someday. Stranger things have happened, like the signed Chihuly weight I brought for £7 at a small fair once.....
Ian
Mod: I have created a new thread for the mentioned Chihuly paperweight which has develeoped into a discussion in its own right. (See here. (http://www.glassmessages.com/index.php/topic,25523.0.html)) The text above, with mention of Chihuly, is left here as it helps to keep the remarks in context, but is also repeated in the new thread.