Collecting Paperweights

At one time or other most of us have had a paperweight. Maybe it was glass or maybe it was metal. Whatever it was, we bought it or received as a gift for a reason. Most often the reason was more than to just hold paper.

There are collectors out there who buy paperweights for a variety or reasons as well. But the older the paperweight the more its worth.

The most cherished of all are the antique paperweights made from the 1850s until the turn of the century. Some makers at that time include Boston & Sandwich Glass Company of Cape Cod, The Mount Washington Glass Company of New Bedford, Gillander and Sons of Philadelphia and Whitehall Tatum Company of Millville, New Jersey.

These were glass paperweight with picture of flowers or fruit that looked like it was really inside the glass. It was not pasted as many are today.

Two European weights are also highly collected. They are sulphides and pinchbecks.

Sulphides are glass enclosed with ceramic bas-relief plaques. Some sulphides are of famous people like George Washington of Benjamin Franklin.

Pinchbecks are glass enclosing a plaque made of imitation gold of silver leaf. Some even encased family photographs. Pinchbecks are rarer but both were made in the late 19^th century.

Some of the most sought after glass paperweights were made in France in the later 19^th century by Baccarat, Saint-Louis and Clichy. The best of these makers were either done in a millefiori or lampwork style.

Millefiori glass was made by stretching molten glass into thin rods, assembling into a design and cutting them to make the paperweights look like they have a thousand flowers in them.

Baccarat, who often just had the letter B on their early paperweights, was one of the best makers of millefiori paperweights. Some early millefiori pieces by the maker looked like silhouettes or animals. Some pieces were also faceted increasing the value even more.

Clichy, often only marked with a C, made some special millefiori pieces that included a stem to look even more like a flower.

Many antique millefiori paperweights are valued at $10,000 and up.

Lampwork was the process of forging designs into molten glass.

Antique Saint-Louis lampwork paperweights, often marked SL, are very valuable with exceptional quality pieces selling for tens of thousand and even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Although those are the most valuable types of paperweights, there are others to keep your eyes open for.

In the early 1900s paperweights were given away as advertising pieces. Some featured banks and other had had other architectural designs. Some advertising paperweights were made of glass featuring the name and address of a company.

Other paperweights were made as remembrances. Some were made for world's fairs, some for industries, some were of buildings and others were landmarks like the Statue of Liberty or Niagara Falls. Depending on the age, quality and condition, these can be of great value.

Other glass pieces feature fascinating patterns with flowers, bubbles and other interesting designs. In 1960s pieces were also made of lucite, a type of plastic.

So, check out that paperweight on your desk. It may not be worth a ton of money, but then again, it just might be.

Source: The Encyclopedia of Collectibles