List of Reserve Prices for Unsold Lots

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As you may know, the auction is fully online, hosted on our AUCTION WEBSITE. A web friendly digital e-catalog can be viewed at E-CATALOG (also above), while a printed copy of the catalog (gorgeous, informative and printed in the USA!) is for sale at PRINT-CATALOG. For those of you who have enjoyed watching spin videos of featured pieces, they can be accessed via our YouTube Channel.

Initial Bidding will begin at 9am CST on Tuesday, February 20th. Initial bidding ends on Monday, March 5th at 5pm CST by phone and at 11:59pm CST by Internet. Competitive bidding typically continues during initial bidding, but officially begins Tuesday March 6th. (initial and competitive bidding explained below) For any questions about the auction process please contact us in the gallery at 800-583-1177, or email Paul via paul@paperweight.com.

During initial bidding, when you see an artwork that catches your eye, you may place a bid of ten dollars or more, in order to ensure that you have secured a position in the competitive bidding on that lot in the second half of the auction.) We recommend that you give the catalog’s Conditions of Sale a careful examination for a full understanding of the protocols, some of which have been updated. And don’t hesitate to just give us a call to enquire about our unique auction format or for condition reports. You can also make an appointment to view the auction in person at our gallery in Chicago, 410 S. Michigan Ave., suite 207. We would love to see and meet every one of you (not on the same day)! Please bring your best smile for a bonus – your picture taken with D.J. the Wonder Dog and chief of art glass security at the gallery. If you prefer to place any or all bids by phone, or have any questions, we’re at 1-800-0766.

(We can it call the Almost Springtime Auction if you would feel more comfortable…) Anyway we’d like to give you all a playful peek into a handful of the highlights and bright lights of the next carnivalesque melee we refer to as our slow close auction (we Are getting faster) and get you to forget about going to work or eating breakfast and instead just focus on which jewel-like art glass works you will suddenly realize you have to have to successfully continue on Life’s proper path. Seriously – if you are reading this you’re already in agreement that art is as important to the soul as bread (whole grain, no GMO, no bleaching) is critical to the body!

This is just a capricious hint of a preview – with 336 auction lots we can only offer a random handful of quick glimpses of what’s going to be available.

We also provide a good number of extremely helpful spin videos, which show the weights rotating in slow motion of a full 361 degrees. Yes, you read right, 361, because we bring an extra degree of effort to everything!

So let’s get to it, shall we?

Peace in Wartime

Lot 1. It is fascinating that such a precious and splendid object as this antique Baccarat 1848 white and red stardust carpet ground paperweight, was created during the greatest revolutionary period the world has ever seen. It feels perfect holding it today–imagine the respite it provided about 170 years ago when heads were rolling! At that moment the now famous Gridel silhouettes were scarcely a year or two in existence, but many of them grace this peaceful glass landscape with carefully positioned and finely delineated animals. The stardust flow gently around the canes like sea grass in an undulating current. Their red centers advance the sense of movement like minute sparks of electricity. There is a vibrancy to this calmness. Even the multi-colored signature/date cane seems unusually vivid and crisp. This is an outstanding example of an antique paperweight.

From top to Bottom

Lot 2. This antique Saint Louis formal design has on display an impressive variety of finely wrought complex canes assembled for your most orderly garden, one that you would never allow your friends to step foot in, but you might let them hold carefully in their hands. The complex center cane feels alive with those tiny bugles announcing the immanent arrival of royalty. For those of you with a really sharp eye for color, there seems to be a record number of subtle tones in this work. Descriptions with names such as coral and pistachio are applicable here. A very carefully considered arrangement of canes delicately fills each of the garden segments; each quadrant is precisely groomed with a pair of perfectly tapering cobalt, coral and white twists. Even the base of this weight is gorgeous, with the final row of millefiori drawn ever thinner to coalesce into a single pinpoint. Ask us for an image of the base – you’ll be very impressed!

Patriots can do more than throw a Football!

Lot 3. We’re again blessed with fine and rare examples of classic artworks for this outing. Word must be getting around we’re here to stay! (Don’t forget the gallery turns 50 next year!) Next up is a piece that could be called “Boston Strong!” American-made Yankee ingenuity, much of which we acquired somehow from our European cousins. Anyway, they did an outstanding job here. This “superb magnum” sports not only beautiful clematis, apples and blushing pears, but also an almost mathematically perfect double swirl latticinio. What supreme handcraft workers were capable of long before the cold faux perfection of so much that is mass-manufactured today. As you would all agree, there has always been an inimitable warmth to the hand-made.

And from our kinfolk who played opposite the Patriots…

Lot 4. No, we’re not referring to the victorious Eagles, we mean our irritable cousins from across the big pond that took exception to our yearning for independence. But since we’ve all been friends again ever since the Beatles conquered Ed Sullivan and America, I can without hesitation celebrate the virtues of this classic Bacchus weight, with its trademark color palette (no one does teal like Bacchus) and iconic canes. This weight has an exceptionally fresh look with a certain airy comfort within which the tubes and stars seem almost to float a little. Americans can take pride in owning this weight – it’s mostly reds, whites and blues!

They can do anything you can do, Better!

Lot 6. Fightin’ words I know. But that’s what happened when the French looked at the early weights being shown off in the Venice area. They took a good idea and made it theirs and then they made it great. Bragging rights are assured when one looks this thoughtfully constructed and unusually heavy weight. The maker here was particularly conscious of the interplay of positive and negative spaces. And the white double clematis, the Type II primrose and the Type I pansy elegantly unite as paperweight royalty in this star-studded offering. You’re lucky the French let this get out of their country. Of exceptional subtlety are the two top petals of the pansy; they exude radiant purples, lavenders and wine-colored reds. And the primrose petals boast translucent scarlet centers. Gorgeous – nearly edible!

This should come with its own magnifying Glass

Lot 8. Seriously, the roses in this Antique Clichy are so elegantly crisp in this work they deserve the closest inspection! This is a sumptuous production with the delicate mushroom topped off with a handsome coat of uniformly sized flowers and florets of harmoniously tinted colors. The rich cobalt over white double overlay adds class and style while the grid-cut base presents something of an under-lit dance floor in appeal.

This could have been from the Medici Family Collection…

Lot 10. Wow. This weight sports the richest, velvety blood red we’ve seen in quite some time. Of course this makes the blues, whites and greens jump in contrast as if they were levitating a micron off the ground. The blues are particularly lush in this paperweight. Wish you all could see this in your hands, but then we feel that way about all our offerings. This Clichy has a decadently rich, opulently plush feel.

Look down at the Stars!

Lot 15. Yes now you know what mushrooms that pepper the forest floors and celestial bodies of burning gas a billion light years away have in common. It is this rare antique Baccarat stardust staved mushroom boasting a delightful and generous variety of millefiori bursting up and out from the cap! The generous glass dome on this hefty art work projects an almost hallucinatory size differential!

It’s okay to behave like Animals

Lot 18. Here is an elegant and airy double trefoil wherein a half dozen animals in silhouette are quietly behaving, each having been granted its own lovely pen of both white and green and white and red millefiori. This is a lovely piece nicely proportioned, with a fortress cane at the center with an all-star (get it?) honor guard presiding over the tiny zoo that surrounds it.

Selling snow in the Winter

Lot 21. We hesitate to fully describe this so maybe we’ll just say it’s a lighthearted cluster of both simple and complex canes of every color shape and design you can think of, all under the same roof…I mean dome. Okay, okay, it’s on sodden snow! Lovely, wet, sodden snow. That may sound appealing by August – or not, but don’t let that dampen your enthusiasm! This is a lovely antique, corralled by a ring of complex canes with alternating red and white staves supporting it all.

Yes, good things still come in small Packages

Lot 50. Skipping way too far ahead, (but what can you do with an embarrassment of riches and a limited time frame??) we have a delicious little mini, one of several in this auction for those of you lamenting space considerations in your display cabinets. If you can’t fit this on your shelf – you probably can’t even close your cabinet door. This mini Clichy stretches just 1 3/4 “ in diameter but visually it punches way above its weight. It must; it jumped out at me from a field of beautiful glass works! Starting with the restrained beauty of the central white and green rose this little dense pack of complex and pastry mold canes has a very natural quality. Squint and you could be looking out your window at a corner of a royal garden.

All you need to decorate an entire Room!

Lot 71. I would expect to find this fancy-cut translucent overlay extravaganza on the desk of the owner of the finest hotel-saloon that San Francisco had to offer back in the days of the Gold Rush. This and Lot 70, really should be purchased by the same person. I can’t say enough about them; they’re very different but wow, what a pair they would make! Between the ruby richness and the cascading light play and the ornate elegant cutting, they could preside over a high-class soirée all by themselves! Don’t take our word for it – call for multiple views, and you’ll see we’re absolutely not exaggerating.

“But, you can’t just live in the glorious Past…
There are living artists to feed!”
(In other words we’re moving on to contemporary weights)

A complete garden that requires no Water

Lot 78. It will however demand your careful attention. Paul Stankard’s wizardry is on full display in this 2013 magical realm of lifelike buds, blossoms, branches and bees. You should really view the spin video of this. Casual visitors to the gallery look at us to see if we’re pulling their leg with a weight such as this when we say it’s all solid glass within solid glass. But you know…

You can’t not look at This

Lot 90. Talk about demanding attention! This Buzzini is not to be ignored, shimmering from every angle. This piece (from an edition of 15) offers an exquisite pair of roses in bloom but the glasscutter deserves equal billing on the marquee!

Better than real Life?

Lot 96. Almost better. Melissa’s bouquet of the lushest most romantic red roses and attendant bellflowers is so sumptuous that even if you’re a satisfied single man, you’ll want to meet someone special just to be able to offer this as a gift. We take pride in our photography but these are noticeably brighter than we could capture with the printing inks in our catalogue. Gentlemen – photograph yourselves holding this on your dating site and have multiple phone lines ready!

Meet the runner-up for a career with GEICO

Lot 115. This happy little salamander in a friendly marsh is so bright it is almost iridescent. Its head is lifted as though he just heard you looking at him. A colorful and lively tableau from Rick Ayotte in an edition limited to 50.

Make sure you have a Coaster!

Lot 120. We rightfully give a full page to this handcrafted triumph in the catalogue. Damon MacNaught, with the help of Andrew Najarian and wood artist Stephan Micheletto-Blouin here offers a stunning example of pushing the envelope in an art form. This magnificent collaboration has resulted in a table. A table like no other, since the tabletop surface is unique. There are to date, two such works, noticeably different as far as the millefiori on latticinio, but then Damon strives for each work out of his studio to be unique. The table also has a tilt function that allows a vertical viewing option. This art table could finish a room setting in a way that will make you want to embed all your weights in your furniture. This is serious glass with abundant class. Consider the envelope torn apart!

We know you have limited time so we’ll just say we have a wonderful variety of works by most of the names that come to mind in the field of contemporary fine art paperweights, including a half dozen gems each by Debbie Tarsitano, Victor Trabucco, Bob Banford, Mayauel Ward, Charles Kaziun, Deacons, Saint Louis, Baccarat, Lundberg, and many others – you get the picture! We’ve time to run just a couple more past you!

Hallelujah or is it Alleluia?

Lot 139. Either way there is a transcendent quality that is exuded by this masterful work. Ken’s arching bouquet truly radiates a sense of well-being and the melon slice faceting completes the celebratory visual with sunshine-like rays emanating in all directions. Ask for more pictures.

Worlds within Worlds

Lot 175. Cathy Richardson, as many of you know is not only a master glass artist insofar as what goes into her weights. She is a world-class designer and sculptor of the outside surfaces of her weights, etching, carving and sanding her visions onto the glass that cradles the treasures within. This one will take a dozen photographs to give you an inkling of an idea of what this accomplished beauty has to offer… Make every attempt to see this in person. No, we won’t pay your way to get here.

Okay Glass Lovers we think that’s about all you can take – so that leaves well over 300 weights for you to discover on your own, either when you get the catalogue in the mail or by perusing it online. Contact us with any questions and thank you for your time and attention, and the best of luck to all of you in the upcoming auction!