Featured Paperweight identification

I have a huge paperweight it is very heavy and is 4 1/2 inches high and 4 inches wide, it’s not signed and I wondered if anyone recognised what company may have made it
Jacqui

 

Harrachov for an importer called Jaffe Rose.

 

Thankyou so much I’ll read into it!!
Jacqui

 

I have this one too. It’s one of my favourites but unsure who by

 

That's a seriously good weight. I suspect St Louis or possibly New England Glass. St Louis is more likely. Google on fruit basket paperweights, you'll see what I mean. The white strands are called latticino.

 

Thankyou so much!! I love this paperweight and wondered if it may be a bit special! I shall go and have a look and see what info I can find now you’ve pointed me in the right direction

 

Gotta luv them controlled bubbles !!!!!

 

From the few examples of each maker Google is deigning to provide, I would have guessed New England:

https://www.thepaperweightcollectio...-art-glass-paperweight-fruit-latticino-basket




The threads of the St. Louis latticino pieces looks finer; the NE more sturdy.

 

The counter on that is that the fruits on the OPs weight are more St Louis.

The only sure id is often a spectrometer: each maker had their own unique glass recipe, which gives different refraction indices.

 

Jacqui's fruit weight is from Murano circa 1970.

 

What do you base that id on, please? And which Murano maker are you thinking of?

 

The heavy filigree and the striation in the fruit is indicative of Murano origin. Also the weight will have a high dome and a flat polished base. Almost all Murano paperweights will have a flat polished base. NEGC and SL (and most of the antique makers for that matter) weights typically have a concave polished base and are made of heavy lead crystal. The Murano example will be composed of soda lime glass. I would guess that this was made by Fratelli Toso.

It should also be noted that glass formulas were not always the same it would depend a great deal on from where the factory sourced its raw material (specifically sand). With that being said, UV light tests and specific gravity testing can be of some assistance when trying to exclude or include a possible maker/origin but by no means is this a absolute means for identification. When identifying paperweights the most important clues are found inside the weight - the style and details of the encased setup. For instance, on these fruit weights with a filligree basket, antique SL consistently make a 36 strand basket and NEGC and consistently used 32 strands. The crimps used for the leaves would also be good identifying markers. When dealing with millefiori each factory had their own unique canes with minuet unique characteristics. Often many factors are used to identify a paperweight - Type of glass used, specific gravity, UV testing, and the characteristics of the things inside the dome.

Cheers,
Eric

 

Interested in that comment about flat polished bases. My mid 19th Clichy sodden snow scramble millefiori is a flat polished, rather than indent, for example.

RIs aren't related in any way to SG, of course.

 

Clichy Sodden snow paperweights are beautiful...I'd love to see a picture. Interesting about your Clichy. My guess is that either has a very faint concavity, it's been repolished, or perhaps it may not be Clichy.

 

It isn't concave, not repolished and has been conclusively id'd over here, not just by me. I've a fairly extensive collection of weights, some antique and have handled many more, including Bacchus and Walsh Walsh, hence the query. I'd have thought that fruit weight too muddy for a modernish Toso. Compared with this, for example:

 

While beautiful, this is not Clichy. This too is from Murano, probably made by Ferro & Lazzarini.

A true sodden snow weight has an opaque white ground.

 

I never said this was the Clichy, I've not posted an image of the Clichy on this thread. There's one of it over on the Finds thread I think, posted a while back.

I'm well aware the one I've shown is either Tozo or Lazzarini, more likely Toso though, recent and mass market. The point is that the clarity and termperature of the glass on this known Murano origin weight is far less muddy yellow than in that fruit weight: that's the comparison I'm making.

As in, these are Toso: dome of the third is the best example.

 

Welcome to the forum Eric sounds like you know paperweights

 

Murano glass varies greatly in quality as weights like these were made in the tens of thousands. The emphasis in Murano in the 2nd of the 20th century was quantity and not quality. However that is not to say that some very fine examples were not made. Here are a few nicer examples just for fun.