Topic: Webb paperweight,marked.

[keith]

Seen lots like this around,this is the first I've seen marked,always wondered who made them,concave base,2.5 inches high,1950's-66 mark.

[Paul S.]

Very nice Keith  -  and you see lots of them do you, and are they all in this shade of blue?    Don't recall when I last saw one, if ever, not that I really go for weights, but think I'd like one.   Nice find.

[keith]

Hello Paul,amber being the most common,also red and green,a lot,although similar looking have flat a polished base,not sure about those

[Bernard C]

Keith — See the topic I started Webb modern cased vase with controlled bubbles, where my marked vase was identified as their Flair range with lots of extra information from kind GMB members.   It was launched in January 1962.   I did wonder whether "sculptured objects" might include PWs, and you have just provided the answer, although, had I read ALL the links provided properly, I would have already known about Flair PWs.

Was the mark on your PW acid-etched or sandblasted?

Bernard C.  

[nigel benson]

Bernard said:

I did wonder whether "sculptured objects" might include PWs, and you have just provided the answer

How does this provide an answer? What are you basing your assertion on? I would be happy to be informed

If it is the fact that the Flair range has a coloured core and bubbled decoration (as does this marked paperweight), then one has to ask why would the range be called Flair? I have always felt that it was to do with the pulled, or sculpted, forms which are prevalent within the range. The 'flairing' of the colour within that form might also be a reason for the title.

I have seen no mention of paperweights being included within that range - although I have to agree that the similarity of the coloured core and bubbles does allow for some sort of link.

Nigel

[chopin-liszt]

Ummm - are you confusing flair with flare, Nigel?

The Flair vases were made using a wet stick to impart the shape, presumably from some sort of paperweight-y sort of initial shape.

Although I have to say, I personally don't see much flair (or flare) in a perfectly ordinary round controlled bubble weight. :pb:

[nigel benson]

Thanks for the correction Sue   

[keith]

Bernard; I believe it's sandblasted,there is little left of the mark but is very much like the one on your blue 'Flair' piece

[Bernard C]

I have just added a comment on that thread, since these two have now been linked..........incorrectly, IMHO  

Sorry Bernard.   ...

Nigel — please never apologise for attempting to correct a possible error.   It's one of the main reasons for the GMB, and is always welcome.

I worked it out as follows.   A vase and a paperweight, identical apart from the sticky out vase bit, obviously to me made by the same individual glassmaker, possibly even on the same day, were almost certainly going to be called by and marketed under the same name.   I then checked David Encill's site here.   David has an excellent reputation for accuracy, so, when I saw that he had listed "Vases, bowls, dishes, ashtrays and paperweights" under the heading Flair Range, it was nice to have confirmation.   Unfortunately David doesn't cite sources on that web page.

Isn't it quite a recent phenomenon for non-millefiori paperweights to be separated off into the special category Paperweights, with specialist dealers, books, websites, and dedicated collectors?   Back in the 1960s would Webb have regarded such paperweights as sufficiently different from vases, bowls, dishes and ashtrays to require a different range name?

I appreciate your point about the origin of the name Flair, but we all know of examples of a trading name being extended in new and possibly inappropriate directions once the name became established.   Hotpoint refrigerators is just one example that immediately springs to mind.

Do you have any evidence?

Keith — Thanks for the information about the mark.   Useful.

Bernard C.  

[David E]

I then checked David Encill's site here.   David has an excellent reputation for accuracy, so, when I saw that he had listed "Vases, bowls, dishes, ashtrays and paperweights" under the heading Flair Range, it was nice to have confirmation.   Unfortunately David doesn't cite sources on that web page.

Thanks for the compliment, Bernard. I believe I got this information from a contemporary Pottery Gazette & Glass Trade Review, although I would need to check back.