Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: chopin-liszt on April 24, 2014, 12:37:05 PM
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I just found this in my local Oxfam, but I'm clueless about weights.
Can anybody confirm or refute my identification, please?
The base has a circular polished pontil scar, surrounded by a flat, egg-shaped polished area for it to actually sit on.
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Looks like it might be a John Deacons weight to me - are there any markings on the base ?
Dave
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Not a one. :'(
Just the egg shaped polished ring which is flat, with the round polished pontil scar.
Would you like to see it? I can take another pic.
I took that one in the shop, on Monday; I just went back and bought it this-morning.
Do you need to see more details of the flower centre canes?
If so, I might have to resort to bowls of water. It's only a small thing ~ 2.5" diameter.
There are a fair few striations in the dome - and it doesn't really "do" what a dome is supposed to - make the design "leap out at you" via magnified optical effects - well it does, but they're wonky.
I would have thought "the scottish maker" would have produced something a little more refined - I'm not saying this isn't quite refined - just not refined enough.
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Hi Sue,
This weights still has a Scottish look to me and whilst this is by no means conclusive here is a picture of a miniature weight I have by John Deacons and there is a definite similarity in the star canes - lets hope one of our experts can throw more light on this !
Dave
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This is the base.
Getting an image of the centre bit WILL require fiddling with bowls of water and magnifying glasses, none of the pics I've taken enlarge well enough without pixellating.
I'm positive it's a Scottish weight, I have no doubts about that - just what sort of one.
I'm afraid my eyes just complain and go out of focus if I try to compare canes... ::)
I can see there are star shapes in your weight, and that there are star shapes in mine. Beyond that, it's a blur.
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My vote is Perthshire.
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;D
The base finish didn't look overly Strathearn-y to me, (I expect a slightly pitted base on them, as if the scar is heat-treated) I was leaning more towards Perthshire myself, but I really am utterly useless with pwts.
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Hello everybody,
I would like to add another aspect- the small size suggests a John Deacons (post Perthshire) weight during
the J-Glass time (roughly 1978-1980) - but the J-cane is missing- there was a similar model in J Glass some time,
so was it a test Piece?
Kind regards Erhard
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:-[
I have just measured it. It looked about 2.5" in diameter, but I reckon the bulk confused me.
It's only 2" in diameter.
Even smaller than I had said. (But it still looks 2.5"!)
What would a J cane look like - what colours?
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Hi Sue
Here is a picture of a weight with a J cane
Dave
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I can't see anything that looks like that!.
The centre "cane", the middle part of the flower, from the 3-D perspective I have of it, seems to me to have been made as a "cane of canes" - it's not assembled as a bundle in the weight, but beforehand and added to the weight as a single cane.
Is it any known formation of a "cane of canes"? I still cannot see it clearly, even with my closest close-up glasses and a magnifying glass.
It does have 3 of the same limey green sea anenome sort of bits in - but other shapes too.
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Hi again,
now I have checked and found Alan Thornton's article about two J-Glass brochures of 1978 and 1979 he has found,
Alan reports about it in the Paperweight Collectors Circle Newsletter No 113 from November 2013, and on page 7
you find the 1978 leaflet- weight number 6 bottom left is a "flower on a millefiori garland(blue)"- it has got a light blue ground,
but has the same layout as your- the signature should be placed at the tip of the flower's stem- although, I have seen examples
where the signature has "sunken" or toggled,
hope this helps, Kind regards e.
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Thank-you so much for all your effort researching this for me, both Dave and Erhard!
I have no access to this sort of information so your kindness in passing it on is greatly appreciated.
It is quite hard to see the leaves and stem in the photos I've taken - they're a dark green against the dark blue background.
(I have taken several - but none are any improvement on the one posted.)
It really does not look as if there is something gone wrong at the base of the stem.
It just ends standing slightly proud from the background, there is nothing missing; no holes or shadows or lighter bits.
So is opinion that I have actually found a JD weight? And it should date to circa '78-'80?
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Hi Sue,
I actually own the J glass LE that Erhard mentions. I have attached a picture of a few of my Deacons' weights. In the middle you should spot the weight in question. It is very similar to yours (but it has a J cane).
I am sorry I cannot give an individual picture of my J glass as I am away from home. This is the only helpful picture that I have on my computer. Still IMHO it confirms the Deacons' attribution.
SophieB
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;D :) ;D
That is incredibly helpful, SophieB! The centre cane is different, but the squiggly stem is exactly the same and as you say, so is the layout. The leaves look absolutley correct too.
Perhaps it's different computer screens - but the blue background doesn't (to me at any rate) look any paler than my weight - it looks just the same!
This isn't the sort of thing I'd normally pick up (pink and flowery is not my thing) - but it did look a bit special as well as Scottish.
Well I never! :o 8) :o
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With regard to the colour of the ground - Mine is opaque blue and looks very similar to yours. However, I have seen this very weight in at least two other colour ways: one with blue canes on light pink translucent ground (I think the flower was pink but not sure) and one similar to mine but on a much lighter blue and translucent ground. My impression is that as for Perthshire weights, the design remained but the colours of canes and ground changed.
Of course, it may be that different colours meant a separate limited edition - limited editions in J glass were typically small, a 101 for these miniature weights and so by having different colour ways, one would increase the possible production (and for those who believe that 101 is a weird number for a LE, the story goes that John Deacons kept one weight from all J glass LE…).
SophieB
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Yes had one very similar at one time but have lost the photo when the computer went wrong. It was definately identified as Johns weight and I called it the "pentagon twist".
Regards Roger
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Thank-you, thank-you! ;D