Topic: Advice and help please

[Straiton]

We listed this paperweight on EBay last year.
Given it’s poor condition we were not expecting any interest. However, we immediately received multiple DMs offering to ‘buy it now’.
A helpful collector from America contacted us, recognising the maker and that it could be worth having repaired.
Unfortunately, we have lost both the messages and her contact details.

Can anyone please tell us anything about this paperweight and whether it would indeed be worth repairing; we live in Scotland.

Many thanks in advance.

[Derek]

Hi Straiton

Your paperweight is "Old English". I suspect the rush
of requests to "buy in now" was because they suspected
that your weight was made by Bacchus a firm located in
Birmingham who's weights made in the 1850's are very valuable.

I also suspect that it could be a Bacchus, HOWEVER BEWARE
as many weights thought to be Bacchus were attributed as
such based on the information in Bob Halls book on "Old
English" paperweights which was printed in the 1990's
based on his research in the 1980s- 1990s.

Many of these attribution have now been called into doubt principally
by a member of this board TROPDEVIN and you need to have
his opinion before being able to correctly attribute this weight.

If you want to consider having the weight restored your best bet
as you are in Scotland is to contact Deacons Glass.
They have a web site and are in Crieff.

Looking at the picture there appears to be a large bullseye on the
the right hand side of the weight caused by the weight having
being knock against something hard! If this is damage is deep
it may not be possible to restore the weight.   

It would be useful to all  if you could post more pictures, side
and base view and a better shot(s) of the damage.

Hope this helps!

Best regards

Derek

[tropdevin]

***
That is a genuine Bacchus paperweight. Worth getting restored IF that is possible - damage often runs deeper than you suspect, and if the cracks run close to or into the canes then it cannot really be repaired.
Alan