Topic: Strathearn/Perthshire ID help request.

[Samdog]

Can anyone assist in identifying these two paperweights. I think the one with the royal blue base and 9 strands is Strathearn and the other with black/dark purple base and 10 strands Perthshire. I would welcome and confirmation/correction and indication of age if known. Thanks

[KevinH]

Hi, welcome to the GMB,

You are correct - the first is a Strathrearn and the second a Perthshire Paperweights.

The Strathearn is either a P7 or P8 design depending on the size (P7 large and P8 medium). The Perthshire Paperweights is a PP2 design, pre-1978 (from 78 they were signed with a "P" cane).

Please note that size is often important when making an ID of weights, especially Strathearn and Perthshire Paperweights as both companies made several variations of a basic design but using the same design number!

For the most thorough information on Strathearn weights in the whole of the Web, visit Richard More's site at: http://strathearn.smugmug.com/

[Samdog]

Hi, thanks for your reply. I had a look at Richard More's site but could not see anything exactly like it but bits of some others suggested to me that it was Strathearn. The Strathearn weight  measures about 66mm dia and about 43mm high which would make it medium and a P8. The Perthshire is the same size. The central canes in both weights are very uniform and sharp and less squashed than many of the photos. Was this simply luck of the draw during manufacture or did they change the tequniques do you know.

Thanks again for your help.

[mjr]

Perthshire would use a bacon slicer -  like contraption for slicing lenghts of cane into small pieces and this gave a very accurate uniform cut, which is why they their weights tend to look so precise.  Otherwise canes are cut with pincers and the accuracy of cuts can vary this way hence the different sizes of cane in Strathearns over the years

[Samdog]

Thanks for that. Very interesting. It is impressive that they were able to protect the very fine detail in these rods during manufacture.

[mjr]

once cut, the canes are  very strong. When the weight is made, the canes are set up in a metal ferrule to the appropriate design. The ferrule keeps all the canes in place. They are then heated up with a torch to a high temperature (but not high enough to melt the canes) so that when they come into contact with the gather (ie the molten glass) they dont shatter - which they would do if a big difference in temperature. Although the gather is hot, again it is not hot enough to melt the canes. The maker brings the gather down onto the canes from above and picks them up.

[Lustrousstone]

Scroll down here to see Mike Hunter showing how it's done

[Samdog]

Thanks to all for taking the time to reply. Very informative.