Bristol Paperweights
| An early English weight containing a pink flower has been much copied in modern Czechoslovakian weights. The modern imitation is found on the counters of many gift shops and it is quite hard to distinguish the imitation from the original unless it is known that the antique English weight has a more sandy appearance in the ball and that the pink of the flower is a much lighter shade in the original than in the imitation.
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| Glass having an interesting shade of sapphire blue is usually Bristol, but Bristol is by no means always blue. Yellow and opaque white were frequently used. The unusual richness of the characteristic Bristol blue is due to antimony in the sand. Many small birds were made of the Bristol blue glass, and these are interesting despite the fact that they are fashioned somewhat crudely. A butterfly on a sapphire blue background, as shown to the left, is another good example.
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| On the left is a blue glass bird on a hollow mottled glass base which contains the colors found in an old Nailsea witch ball.
The opaque and royal blue glass made at Bristol is considered by some to be the finest product from this source. Its brilliant quality often causes it to be mistaken for Venetian glass. It must be recognized that opaque glass has been handed down from ancient days and from many makers. In order to classify paperweights properly, it is therefore necessary to understand the characteristics of the various factories. |
The Bristol opaque glass is solid white, never yellowish; and, when it is held to the light, it is semi-transparent like certain types of porcelain. It is fairly heavy, and it is entirely free from any bluish cast around the edges. Much of the American opaque is translucent but not transparent, and it has a somewhat cloudy quality. It is also thinner than the English, although both the English and the American are quite fragile. The French opaque, on the other hand, is solid, fairly heavy, and it is not easily chipped or broken. Another identifying feature is its bluish cast.
