Bristol Glass & Paperweights 2
Isaac Jacobs of the Bristol works made imitations of Venetian glass to great perfection. He was especially successful in glass ornamented with white and colored threads like those we find in paperweights and goblets. Large amounts of faceted glass were also produced, and this helped to spread the fame of Bristol throughout Europe.
A typical Bristol paperweight subject is a deep purple and yellow pansy with green leaves and stem and a star center. While butterfly and fruit subjects were numerous, the small coiled snake on a latticinio background is very rare and much sought after. The weights with the high crown containing a red glass flowerpot out of which grow flowers on a long stem or a cactus design are supposed to be English.
| It may be said in general that good English weights are hard to find.
Those we have are huge, rather clumsy, and unimpressive-utterly lacking
in the delicacy of the French. The illustration on the left shows an English fake
which carries a date. These, ironically, are now so old that they are
worth keeping. It will be observed that these weights have a large date
directly in the center. This is in sharp contrast to the French practice
of inserting dates in small character and in inconspicuous positions.
These weights were probably made for one of the expositions in Paris or
London which were held during the height of the paperweight popularity.
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