Glass Paperweight Book

[hazeleyes767]

Does anyone know a good glass paperweight book to purchase. As you know all collectible books are not created equal and when I go online there are dozens. I know from experience there are good informative ones and ones that do not really enlighten you much. I went to an auction Friday and ran across some paperweights. I knew about St. Clair, but there were others I didn't know. I also ended up with a Joe Burdsall and an Anthony Depalma signed TDW. Not much online about either of these people except this Anthony DePalma retired in 2004, I think and his last paperweight he sold went for $4,000. Really interesting. I sell glassware and it was not my intention to get involved with paperweights, but they are really beutiful so now I am hooked. Any help you can give me is greatly appreciated.

http://us.ebid.net/perl/account.cgi?...nding&start=75

I am hazeleyes767

[Cancelcollector]

I should preface this by saying that I have been out of the paperweight collecting market for a couple of years... however, I cannot think of any ONE definitive guide to paperweights; as a collector, I worked from about 10-12 reference books. And yes, since they are highly specialised and printed in small numbers, I spent a small fortune on books.

"All About Paperweights" by Lawrence Selman is a pretty good basic reference, but by no means exhaustive.
"The Encyclopedia of Glass Paperweights" by Paul Hollister is pretty good, too... but a little out of date.

The both primarily deal with "known" and "famous" makers... very little about common Murano, Chinese, etc. weights.

Hope that helps a little...

Cheers,
Peter

[hazeleyes767]

Thanks so much, I have been able to identify partially both of the paperweights. One is Joe Burdsall. He is somehow connected with St. Clair out of Elwood Indiana. I haven't found much more than that out though. At least it gives me some reference point and I will probably list it tonight and use St. Clair prices as a guideline for what to charge. It is really a beautiful paperweight. It is cobalt blue with white swirls.

The other is an Anthony DePalma and has his signature which is TDWV. That stands for Tony DePalma Wheaton Village. I have emailed Wheaton Village and will not be putting his online until I get some kind of an estimate of value because he retired in 2004 and the last one he sold went for $4,000 so you can see why I would not want to put it on too low. The one I have is cobalt blue with controlled bubbles, it is beautiful. They were kind enough to reply to my email and said send them a picture because they do have some in their gift shop and that they would try to get an estimated value for me.

There is not much info on the internet about him. I live in Chicago Illinois and we have huge libraries but they do not carry much on any collectible glass. I have purchased books on blenko, depression, Murano and many others. Now I am scouting for paperweight books. This is one of those accidental purchases at an auction that I go to on Fridays. This auction house must have had about 250 paperweights and one was more beautiful than the next. I was more than a little overwhelmed when the first group bid up to $55 or $60 for one. I just thought I am not getting any of these, way out of my price range. I did end up with 10, I have 7 of them listed. I just love auctions, they are such an adventure.



http://us.ebid.net/perl/account.cgi?...nding&start=75

I am hazeleyes767

[Cancelcollector]

You are welcome!

I looked at the weights you have listed-- very pretty... glass paperweights always have felt like "little miracles" to me.

Since you like paperweights and live in Chicago, you might be interested in the paperweight collection at the Art Institute of Chicago-- over 1000 of them, from all different makers. Last I know, it was still a bit poorly lighted, but well worth a visit... but it has been many years, so you might call ahead and ask, if you decide to go. Here's a link:

http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/107288

Wheaton Village is also an excellent source of information about glass paperweights.

Cheers,
Peter