Topic: ID Pair of Pedestal Weights Unsigned?

[Wyman]

Hi all,

I came cross this pair of curious looking pedestal weights in a shop and hope to get your opinion on their possible maker/era.  Neither has marker/date on them.

Running a "pedestal" keyword search on this board did turn up a few very interesting threads, and the weights in those messages appear to have some resemblance to the ones here in question.  Possibly made in the 1920s, Belgium/French? 

However, this pair of pedestal weights in picture appeared to have pontil marks on the top of the domes, which just seemed downright ghastly and unusual to me...but I'm very green in collecting paperweights, so I look forward to any expert insights from this board.

Another unusual feature of these two weights (at least to me) is that the orb casing appears to be formed by two half globes--there is an "annealing mark" cutting straight through the middle in almost identical fashion in both weights.

As a footnote, the shop owner offered to guess their origin as 1920s American/West Virginia.

Your time and help is much appreciated!

Wyman

[KevinH]

Hi Wyman,

The pontil mark on the top of the globe portion is a normal feature for this type of ornament. The globe was picked up on a second pontil rod by its top in order to add the stem and foot. The stem hides the initial pontil mark on the base of the globe but the one on the top remains. Sometimes that top area will be finished with shallow grinding and polishing.

The crack is exactly that - possibly even a full crack through the whole globe but with the outer layer of glass holding it all together.

These items were made throughout Europe from the mid 19th century to around the 1st quarter of the 20th century. Hard to say exactly where, unless details of the colouring and working of the bubbles give a clue.

Would you please provide some extra photos for each item.
- straight-on side view showing the full item
- closeup of each "globe" showing the colours and the bubbles
And if you can, please make the photos at least 600 pixels for the longest side.

[Wyman]

Thanks for the detailed reply, Kevin. 

Sorry about the quality of the picture.  I ended up not buying the weights because the pontil marks were initially covered by seller's labels, so I just took one picture and wanted to learn more about them first.

Here is a close-up of the original picture.  The color theme is almost Gentile-like perhaps?  But all similar weights that I have seen seem to have an European attribution.