There are alot of different kinds of paperweights. I found this out when I started collecting them many years ago. They are beautiful works of art, sometimes mesmerizing! Here is a guide to how they are made and the different kinds.

Millefiori canes: Solid cylindrical glass sticks are made by using an iron pontil, either by dipping it into pots of various colored molten glass and shaping the the results freehand; or by plunging the pontil, with its colored glass, into a heated metal mould, shaping it into a long, thin rod. Then another layer of color is added, and the rod plunged again into another mould with a different shaped outline, and so on. While it is still hot, a second pontil rod is attached to the other end. Two glass workers, rods extended horizontally , back away from one another, stretching it like taffy until it is many feet long, and thinner than a pencil. After cooling evenly on a rack, the cane is cut into hundreds of thin slices, each a cross section of the same pattern.

Filigree canes: These are started in a heated mould lined vertically with alternating rods of opaque-white, and clear glass. The pontil with a clear glass gather is worked into the mould and withdrawn, the upright rods adhering. It is then stretched, but also twisted to give the spiral with a lacy effect. Sometimes a colored rod is included in the arrangement. These are called color twists. Filigree canes are usually cut in longer pieces and arranged more or less horizontally as grounds for the millefiori, which are arranged upright in designs.

A group of glass-workers, headed by a gaffer was of course required to make a complex paperweight. The tiny cane slices were arranged upside down in a circular bed plate, or form. The gaffer lowered a pontil rod tipped with a gather of clear, viscous glass, and picked up the design, which adhered to the gather. A number of coatings of clear glass were added, and each shaped until the desired form and size were achieved. Then the weight was firepolished at the furnace to make it smooth and brilliant, knocked off the pontil rod, and placed in a lehr to cool slowly and evenlyfor many hours.. When cold , the glass cutter ground out the rough pontil mark and maybe cut an external design of flat facets or concave punties around the weight.

Lampwork: The lampwork process was used for designs with fruits, flowers, butterflies, birds and animals. A blow lamp or torch softened colored glass rods until they could be shaped, tooled, trailed onto and fused to one another to form the desired object, which would then be picked up in the same manner as the millefiori canes. Special care had to be taken to elliminate air bubbles, and still cover the fragile piece with breaking it.

Crimping: The crimping process involved use of a metal tool(crimp) in the form of a rose, tulip, waterlily, umbrella shape, etc. After an original gather of glass had been shaped, a wad of colored glass was fused to it by another worker holding a pontil rod. The gaffer then used the crimp to force the colored wad up into the clear glass. The impressed gather was then given further coatings of clear glass, and frequently a foot was added.

    The crimping process is usually associated with the Whitall Tatum Factory of Millville, NJ in the early 20th century, while European and American paperweights of the 19th century combined millefiori, filigree, and lampwork within one single weight.

These basic processes involve only glass in the design and its manipulation. Sulphide paperweights include, as all or part of the design, the clay silica paste cameos made from intaglio molds and known to collectors as sulphides.

Here are some names of collectible paperweight items:  Baccarat close millefiori, baccarat spaced millefiori, clichy spaced millefiori newel post ornament, clichy chequer, whitefriars chequer, bohemian paperweight vase, whitefriars miniature scent bottle, clichy concentric, saint louis concentric, bacchus concentric, clichy garland, clichy scent bottle, saint louis panelled jasper, baccarat double overlay, clichy colour double overlay, baccarat mushroom, bacchus mushroom, saint louis mushroom, baccarat carpet ground, saint louis carpet ground, gillinder carpet ground, bohemian crown, clichy swirl, saint louis crown, new england crown, baccarat anemone, new england glass co, pom-pom, saint louis pom-pom, baccarat butterfly over clematis, mt washington footed dahlia, saint louis dahlia, millville pink rose, sandwich pink flower, clichy flat floral bouquet, saint louis flat bouquet, baccarat floral bouquet, new england glass co floral bouquet, saint louis upright bouquet with torsade, saint louis fruit, new england glass co fruit, millville ship, clichy sulphide potriat, baccarat snake on upset muslin, millville inkwell, saint louis shotcup.

If you are lucky enough to have any of the above, you are a true collector!

If you have any questions about the different types and what they are or any terms used in this guide, please contact me. I hope i have shed some light on paperweights!