Topic: Please help me ID this swirl paperweight

[aurora]

Hello,

Any help with this paperweight would be appreicated. Nice quality, with mutlcoloured swirl. The canes in the middle seem well constructed - central cane has a precise tiny blue star in the middle. Base has a finely polished pontil - like many perthshire paperweights I have seen - and the rest of the base looks similar too. No date or manufacturer cane is evident. I thought Scottish or Murano. Size is 2.75" diameter approx, dome profile again like perthshire. Spirals are drawn in underneath but not right to the centre - leaving a clear circle of glass about 3/4" diameter. With a UV pen its quite pinkish - like there's a fairly decent lead content in it

Any suggestions?

Thanks,


Richard

[glasstrufflehunter]

This is a Perthshire PP21. They made them in the mid 70s and they were not signed.

[aurora]

Hi - thank you for your super swift reply and attribution, its much appreciated.

Richard

[glasstrufflehunter]

You're welcome! I just happened to be on when you posted. 

[KevinH]

With a UV pen its quite pinkish - like there's a fairly decent lead content in it.

UV results, especially for paperweights, are a part-time interest of mine. I think the "pinkish" UV colour under the longwave (as with UV pens) may be due to use of selenium rather than lead. Can you provide any references for "pinkish" UV reaction being due to a "lead content"? I'm not saying you are wrong, and I'm not saying I am right, it's just something I'd like to get more info on.

[aurora]

Hi KevH - I have very little knowledge in this area. What i have noticed is that when I shine a UV pen on soda glass such as a whitefriars textured vase then there is a yellow hue. When I look at something like a whitefriars paperweight or even a lead crystal piece of cullet then there is virually no yellow - just a pinky type reaction. I thought this was due to lead content but it could be selenium (I'm not a chemist). I know that Whitefriars used a high lead content in their paperweights and this UV type test shows their paperweights to glow a much different colour to other makers. I also know that this type of test is a good one for spotting fake Ysart paperweights - which look very dull. I don't have a light box to conduct this experiment with - just a security marker pen with a little UV torch in the end!! I didn't know that selenium was in flint coloured glass - I thought it was used as an alternative to gold to make ruby glass - by heating it up twice ("turning" it) and that otherwise it would be an amber colour.

Cheers,

Richard