Collectibles – Glass Paperweights

When one considers beginning a collection of some type, it’s fairly common to think of stamps, weaponry, stuffed animals, or even famous dolls. But paperweights?

Yes, paperweights. Astoundingly enough, there are roughly twenty thousand(20,000) people that collect paperweights.

Glass paperweight

The following is so large that there are paperweight festivals, conventions, and even museum exhibits and auctions dedicated to the beauty and artistic wonder that is the paperweight.

To the casual eye, a paperweight is a paperweight, but to a collector, there are many different styles and  types of paperweight.

Some of these include, Millefiori, Lampwork, California style(also known as torchwork), Victorian portrait, Sulphide, and Swirl.

Millefiori paperweights have small cross sections of circular composite canes. These canes are formed from rods of varying colors and often look like small flowers. There are also many variations of this type of paperweight such as scattered, close concentric, carpet ground, and patterned.

Mushroom paperweight

The Lampwork paperweights usually have objects placed into the dome structure of the paperweight. These objects can be anything from flowers to fruit and are usually made from colored glass.

Sulphide paperweights have a medallion of three dimensions  or a ceramic plaque placed inside the paperweight. Swirl paperweights are fairly self explanatory with a swirl of colors starting from the center and expanding toward the edges.

California style paperweight domes are made by having their surface “painted” with varying colors of molten glass.

The paperweight’s surface is also manipulated by using picks and other tools. These paperweights may also have an iridescent look created by spraying the glass with metallic salts while the glass is still hot. Victorian paperweights have portraits done in milk glass that are then placed inside the paperweight dome.

Glass turtle paperweight

Paperweights can cost anywhere from two or three dollars to costing thousands of dollars.

The Paperweight Collectors Association, Inc has a website containing links to some of the best paperweight makers in the world. A visit to this website also contains museum information about where and when paperweight collections will be on display.  If you’re thinking about collecting paperweights, obtaining a few books on the subject would give you a good start.

Such books will help you in paperweight recognition, artist recognition, knowing which style of paperweight you’re looking at and of course, there is The Encyclopedia of Glass Paperweights. So the next time you see a paperweight, keep in mind that it’s not really just a paperweight, it’s a work of art.