Glass Paperweights were originally designed to stop papers blowing away off desks.
In former times papers just blew away in the wind or were blown away by room or desk fans.
Manufacturers rapidly saw the potential in attractive Glass Paperweights and produced elegant
and lovely ones for sale as decorative items or as gifts.
These are still made today but the modern trend is towards acrylic paperweights which usually look pretty awful when placed beside a real glass paperweight.
Paperweights usually have a flat base to stop them from rolling off your desk and many have faceted tops to display the contents more easily.
Domed tops are still however the favourites.
While Baccarat was the best known French Paperweight maker (and still is), Clichy and St Louis were the other two main manufacturers in France in the 19th Century.All of these glassmakers paperweights are avidly collected.
Pantin also made a smaller range of beautiful paperweights.
In Britain a company called Bacchus produced paperweights of high quality and so did the New England Glass Company in the USA.
Paperweights from these companies are also very collectable.
St Louis is also still an active paperweight maker.
Paperweights are often thought of as just the Millefiori (from the Italian for 1000 flowers)
and these are indeed quite collectable (the ones to look for are the Baccarat ones which have the letter b in the middle of one of the glass rods)
Millefiori paperweights are composed of dozens or hundreds of glass rods which usually have pretty designs or flower patterns inside them and they are grouped together within a clear glass dome.
There are also a group of paperweights called Lampwork and these have a glass figure within them shaped within them by a glassmaker using glass tubes and a gas torch.
These often have delightful figurines of animals or other nature subjects within them.
Swirl Paperweights have a central millefiori floret from which lots of coloured opaque rods spiral around.
Victorian Paperweights featuring people or scenes also exist and these were made from milk glass discs and incoprporated within the Dome.They were often made from photos of loved ones.
These are quite rare and most of them are in museums.
Sulfide Paperweights have 3-D portraits or portrait plaques within them - they are also quite rare.
Other collectable paperweights include those with embroidered or woven images embedded.
Rarer still are early paperweights that incorporate early Victorian Advertising slogans .
Paperweights in PERFECT condition are what every collector desires.
Factorslike colour casts, bubles within the dome,striations or scratches will reduce the value.
A good PRICE Guide is essential if you are buying expensive Paperweights.
Apart from Auctions,the best places to look for old paperweights are thrift shops,fleamarkets and antique stores.
Beware of modern imitations of Victorian paperweights made in Hungary,Czech Repulic or Taiwan.
Some of these are quite good copies and you should handle real paperweights before looking at these so that you can judge by weight - copies are usually much lighter in weight and have no signs of wear on the flat base.
Modern Paperweights are also collectable and I have a separate article on those.
The most widely collected paperweights are the Walt Disney range of Paperweights featuring Disney characters - some of their early paperweights are surprisingly expensive.
More about Paperweights:
Paperweights
Lalique Paperweights
Baccarat Paperweights
Books on Baccarat (lots of paperweight information)
US $250,000.00
