Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: casalibre on January 16, 2013, 10:47:10 AM
-
I just saw and heard that the French glass manufacturer Saint Louis in the second half of the 20th Century has produced paperweights second choice and also sold.
Indicator for the second choice is a SL acid mark.
As the author says Gerald Ingold in 1985 by the high quality standards, I think it can be assumed that this is only in the years after that happened.
Furthermore, the sale of the seconds have been reinstated.
Are there more details about the entire, exact period in which the second choice was sold.?
-
I worked for St Louis in the summer of 1971, and knew Gerald Ingold who was my boss's boss!
He took a liking to me, coming from a glass making family, and was impressed when I designed and installed a pallet stacking system at the Paris warehouse Rue de Paradis.
So much so that they gave a vase (I could choose any in their collection ) for my mother and a very rare paperweight, It consists of a tiny ruby goblet trapped in a large crystal round gather. It is very rare so are they limit production to 10 a year. that year Brigitte Bardot and President Mitterant got one as did I. When I asked how it was made I was told only 5 people in St Louis knew, as it was made in secret after most people had gone home, during a night shift by a team of mastercraftsmen! Back to YOUR story.
I did not think Gerald Ingold was still there in 1985, but I can find out.
I know the current management quite well, but no one today would ever admit to selling "seconds"!
I have one of Gerald Ingold's books on paperweights, ( also a signed copy of his book "Un matin bien remplit" about his brother who was a Spitfire ace with the RAF.1939-1945 published in 1969).
-
I have been in touch with a friend who has good information about St Louis weights.
He confirms that in the 20th century St Louis had issued some weights that some collectors would describe as "seconds quality", but they were never marked or sold as such.
The acid "SL" mark (I assume "SL" in a circle with a horizontal double line through the letters) is a genuine alternative mark used on a variety of weights. It was certainly used from, at least, the 1970s, but was in addition to two variations of a larger circular acid mark with words: "Cristal" "France" "St Louis".