Topic: Caithness Jupiter paperweight

[slo1957]

Thank you first for having this message board available to "paperweight dummy's" like myself.
I purchased a paperweight at an estate sale and it is marked Caithness With "Jupiter" in the middle. It is also Numbered and has the artists names.
My question is should I go with Ebay or try for a private sale. I have found an auction house on line that has a sale twice a year here in the US. I have also noticed browsing the board that should I post it on ebay, more than likely the members of the board will know it fairly quickly anyway so I will go straight to the experts. If I go with ebay the starting price will be an issue/ as will a reserve.
I welcome any suggestions you may have.
thanks again,
Lisa

[Rocksmom]

If you're talking about the Selman auctions, it's quite expensive to have them auction a weight for you.  It's probably worth while if your weight is expected to sell for more that $1p00, but you'll probably get a better margin on your particular weight by selling it on Ebay.   I've sold weights both ways, and in my opinion, a weight needs to be pretty special to bother going through Selman. 

They charge you to put it in the catalog (I think it was a $25 "photography charge') and of course you pay to ship it to them - insured.  Then they take 20% (or it might be higher now) of the final hammer price.  Then there was some obscure other percentage, like 1/2% or something, for "insurance" for them.  If it doesn't sell, they reserve the right to keep it in their store indefiniately, and sell it for whatever they decide.  If you can get it returned, of course you will pay return shipping, too.   

Selman is a good paperweight seller, and their catalogs get into the hands of serious collectors all over the world, but I think it's more worthwhile to use them for Antiques, or a few of the really pricey moderns.  Just my $0.02.  Good luck.   

[tropdevin]

***

There are two Caithness designs called 'Jupiter', I believe.  If your weight is a typical swirly/bubbly abstract thing, with a few bubbles over a coloured base layer, it is part of a set of four, called 'Planets'.  It is not easy to price the single weights: the full boxed set with original certificates might make US $400 to US $500, but (IMHO) an individual weight maybe US $50 - US $80.

If it has a spherical blob in the middle, and a facet on one side, then in it a single item called 'Jupiter' from 1987 issued as a limited edition of 750. Typical sale price would be US $20 - US $40 (but you can be lucky or unlucky on the day!).

In either case, I think Selman would probably refuse to take it on, as being of too low value (relatively few Caithness weights command serious money, and they tend to be lampwork - in my opinion Caithness made far too many abstracts that are of little artistic merit).  My suggestion would be to try it on eBay with no reserve.

I agree that Selman are good, but you end up paying around 28% commission as a seller when you take all fees into account and sell an item worth US $1000 or so. The commission works out higher on cheaper pieces, lower on more expensive - but it is always a significant sum!

Alan   

[slo1957]

Thanks for the speedy responses.
This weight is marked #89/500 with an issue date of 1971. I do believe I will go with ebay and hope some one out there has the other three or maybe the seven? Either way you have been a great help to me. I have used Auction houses before but it has been a few years and the commission prices just keep going up, And the issue about the house keeping the weight indefinitely bothers me. I really don't want a long term commitment to a single item.
if anything has been gained from this it will be my appreciation for the world of paperweights. I never regarded them as anything other than keeping paper down. They really are wonderful works of art and have so far enjoyed my research.
Lisa/Hillbilly from Tennessee