Glass Message Board
Glass Identification - Post here for all ID requests => Glass Paperweights => Topic started by: Roger H on July 31, 2014, 10:06:50 PM
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Peoples thoughts on this weight would be interesting,,,,, maker and or date please. The whole base is concave not just the grind out as the photo shows.
Regards Roger.
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Possibly by Gentile Glass of Star City, West Virginia (USA).
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Hi. I recall a talk by Gary McClanahan at a PCA Convention around 10 years ago in which he talked about the US Mid West glass factories, some of which had made frit paperweights broadly in this style. He said he had identified over 100 different factories which had made some frit paperweights, at various times throughout the last 100 years or more....
Alan
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Thank you gentlemen for your comments, and two good websites to scan through as well.
Bought this at a reasonable price as a curiosity, it was advertised as an Antique Millville frit weight. Regards Roger
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Your best bet is to find a signed example using the same pattern or a museum that has the original die. I think it is unlikely to be Millville with that base. Also, you can see if the surface collects moisture and has an oily feel after sitting undisturbed for a year or more. That is more common with Gentile examples.
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Thanks Allan,took a look at your site with the ice pick weight and the colours look the same, the shape is very similar and the base is virtually the same type (I should not have put that the base is concave as it is not it is naturally flat with a ground out pontil).
The motif suggests to me a slightly older version, 1960s??
Regards Roger the bodger.
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I have trouble dating these weights... the motto weights were probably in the offering for quite a long time.
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Possibly by Gentile Glass of Star City, West Virginia (USA).
Alan, I thank you for posting this info ..I always thought Gentile marked all their weights.. So this made me look back at some notes I had made years and years ago when researching Gentile ...and found that it is thought that Peter Gentile did not sign his..!!!! I had forgotten that!!! (my memory is not what it used to be...LOL)
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I should have been more precise. The Gentile family made paperweights since the early part of the 20th century, but it is hard to find any that date back that far. The factory Gentile Glass was established in 1947. Signed (some with dates) examples started in the late 1950s, but only a small fraction of the weights were signed and / or dated until 1975. Starting in 1975 they started using the pontil stamps that were changed almost yearly for a while. Most, if not all, paperweights produced from 1975 and later were signed this way. Andy Dohan's book on Paperweight Signature Canes provides an excellent summary of the history including sections on Peter Gentile, John Gentile and Gertrude Gentile.
Many designs stayed in production for many years and it may be possible to find a signed example of the "GOD BLESS OUR HOME" paperweight with a signature. That said, the lack of a signature would most likely point to a date earlier than 1975. So Roger wouldn't be wrong to say 1960s or older.
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Thanks Allan for the additional info !! While I no longer own any Gentile weights. .I still love to learn about them.!
(and Roger..that is a nice one!)
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Thank you all for the info. I will now put it down in writing as a circa 1960s Gentile Glass. It is in excellent condition and that is one reason I doubted the antique Milleville title, but I like it just as much.
Thank you once again. Roger.
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check with the people at the Museum of American Glass in West Virginia, they have a good collection of West Virginia weights and also some patrons that worked at gentile Glass. They also have many molds and items from the Degenhart Glass Museum which they acquired when it closed. www.magwv.com
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Thank you for the link, will have a close look shortly.
Regards Roger.
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I'm pretty familiar with Gentile '75 forward, and except for '76, they pretty much all the glass blower mark, and a few with the Gentile star, presumably for Star City.
In '76, I'm familiar with three special marks, all celebrating the US Bicentennial. The American Eagle (G on chest), the Liberty Bell, (again with a G in center), and the Tall Ships,(G on front sail).
I might be missing something though.
Here's a photo from a very good website showing a good number of American glass marks.
It says the Eagle was "1970's" and the Tall Ships was '77. I think that's wrong though. The Tall Ship procession was on July 4th 1976, sadly I remember it well, ships from over 30 nations took part. Perhaps it took Gentile time to create the mark, but I'd think it was only for '76.
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There were several other marks as well:
1960ies and early 1970ies: different signatures inside the weight, made of coloured glass powder / frit ... I assume, many not signed.
1975: Coat of arms (with a "G" - like most of the other stamps)
1976: Liberty Bell
1977: Ship
1978: Eagle
1979: Star (supposed to be used in few 1992 weights as well)
1980: Outline of Virginia
1981-1999: Glassblower
2000: Word "Millennium"
2001-2006: Glassblower
There might be even more - these are just the ones I'm aware of.
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Thanks for increasing my knowledge of the Gentile hallmarks, much appreciated.