paper weights

It is not known for sure who first thought of using a piece of decorated glass as the means to keep your paperwork tidy. Probably various things were used to stop it blowing away in a breeze prior to this. I often find myself reaching for a tumbler or some other nearby object which may be lying around in the chaos I call a desk.

 
George Bacchus millefiori weight circa 1870

The techniques applied to the manufacture of glass paperweights however have been around for an awfully long time. In fact from Egyptian times the production of disks of glass made from coloured rods rolled together in the manner of seaside rock and grouped together have been used to decorate the walls of vessels giving the “Millefiori” effect and the predecessor  to the “latticino” technique was developed by the Egyptians. These terms coming from the Venetian glass houses of the middle part of the second millennium and with the Venetians being such great glass makers it is probable that the inspiration for the idea originated here as balls of glass containing millefiori appear to pre-date any officially recognized weights as such.

Of course the wide spread use of paper did not take place until the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries so the term “necessity is the mother of invention” is probably applicable hear as much as anywhere. It is quite possible that someone. Perhaps involved in the glass industry, had one of the Venetian balls of glass on their desk and utilised it to hold down paper leading to the development of the glass paperweight.

 
Venetian weight circa 1850

The Venetian millefiori wares were somewhat random in decoration being encased in glass only to hold the pieces together whereas the weights of the nineteenth century were made in a much more ordered and artistically advanced way. Then the multicoloured rods were arranged into regular patterns sometimes being divided with latticino and covered with a thick layer of glass which served not only as to add weight but also to enhance the effect by magnifying and distorting the image depending on the angle of viewing. Sometimes the whole was encased in coloured glass which was cut through on a wheel to form little windows.  

Probably the invention of the paperweight as we know it dates from sometime around the late 1830s and seems to have occurred simultaneously in a number of different countries. Although in Britain Apsley Pellatt was producing weights containing sulphides from around the 1820s but these were officially called letter weights. Presumably whoever got there first was keen to market their invention and imitations quickly followed. 

The French produced some excellent weights and whilst there were probably many factories making them the best known and most collected are those made at Baccarat, Clichy and St. Louis. These are the ones which are prised above all others and generally fetch the highest prices at auction. In the 1830s and 40s the French glass industry was at its peak and with the use of lead glass they were able to at least equal anywhere else in Europe for the quality of their wares. They also seem to have produced paperweights in large numbers and most glass sales at the major auction houses contain a healthy number of French weights.

 
Baccarat weight circa 1850

At Baccarat decoration such as little silhouettes, flowers, animals, fruit and so on as well as the usual millefiori was incorporated. These weights are generally of strong brilliant colour and were made in a number of shapes. Sometimes they contain sulphides, a snake or a flower which takes up a large part of the weight. Often rods containing a letter B can be found set above a date.

 
St Louis weight circa 1850

St. Louis again made a number of different shapes but are famous for their overlay weights as well as one in the design of a crown which are hollow with ribbons of coloured and latticino glass surrounding millefiori. They also produced weights containing flowers, snakes, lizards, fruit and vegetables and a wide variety of these can be found. Weights were produced with the letters SL above a date as at Baccarat.

 
Clichy weight circa 1850

The paperweights produced at Clichy are different from those made at Baccarat and St. Louis in that whist the other two used lead glass here the metal used was of boracic glass. This is lighter in weight than lead glass and causes the image to be more concentrated and to appear sharper. They produced paperweights in the shape of baskets of flowers as well as using the overlay technique. Sulphide weights were also made here along with an array of different shapes.

 
Bohemian weight circa 1860

Weights were produced in Bohemia which were quite similar to the Venetian ones and probably pre-date those made France. In Britain weights were made in London by James Powell and Sons in the middle of the nineteenth century but are cruder in design than the French. George Bacchus of Birmingham produced some weights which are again crude in comparison but tended to have good light diffusing properties an attractive attribute in its own right. America was home of a number of producers making some interesting pieces but the French still seem to have the edge over them.

 
English weight circa 1860

Paperweights are probably the most beautiful things that have been made from glass and even now with fibre optic cables diffusing light in multicolour we cannot come near to the technical excellence achieved in the production of these little balls of glass made in the nineteenth century. There are some glassmakers who produce paperweights now and whilst these are beautiful to hold I have not come across one which can quite come up to the standards of the best made at Baccarat, St. Louis and Clichy.