Antique Paperweights

_It was not until 1815 to 1840 that cameos became popular in England. Apsley Pellat (1791-1863), who owned the Falcon glass works in London, took out a patent in 1819 on a process for making these sulphides which greatly reduced the cost and he called them Crystalio Ceramii. These were made by the same process encrustation used by the French, employing the composition of fine china clay and super silicate of potash. These were molded under a higher degree of heat than was required for working the glass in which they were encased. It is difficult to identify many of the Pellat sulphides today. Pellat seldom signed any of his work, and he never gave the names of any of the artists who modeled the cameos. Pellat's output was quite limited.

_In his book, "Curiosities of Glass Making," Apsley Pellat said, "The ceramics may be painted with metal­lic colors, which are fixed by exposure to a melting heat. In this way, every description of ornamental glassware has been decorated with every embossed white or colored arms or crest. Miniature landscapes, birds, and flowers are also enameled without losing any of their brilliance; and thus, instead of being painted on the surface of the crystal, they are ornaments embodied in it." Birds, crests, dogs, and flowers are indeed found in the paper­weights of Pellat; and, when the patterns are examined, it is found invariably that they are lined at the back with gold.

Pellat found by experiment that a star cutting on the base of the clear glass paperweights was effective in preventing the unpleasant refraction of light which oc­curred when the base was left plain. When cameo encrustations are applied to such articles as clear glass tumblers, bottles, and boxes, however, the glass on the back of the cameo is always left flat and uncut.