pwts.co.uk

This site exists to help anyone who is interested in paperweights to find the information that they are looking for: there are links to sites of dealers that sell paperweights, to various collectors clubs around the world, to books that can help you understand more about the fascinating and complex subject of paperweights, to other paperweight sites..... and to other related topics.

There are also pages to help you identify paperweights - but this is a complex and difficult topic, so there are no guarantees of success! These include a page of modern Chinese paperweights, which turn up in all sorts of places at all sorts of prices; some examples of the more common weights that turn up at car boot sales or charity shops; and the Murano project (updated 7 December 2009).

Advice and information - help with identification and valuation

We retired from our professional careers a few years ago to live in Somerset, and now spend a lot of time on what was our hobby. As a result we are specialists in paperweights, and we write articles and give talks about them in the UK and abroad. We do know enough to spot the occasional errors in the catalogues of major auction houses, for example - but we don't know everything: anyone who claims to is deluding themselves! However, we may be able to help you with the identification and valuation of your paperweights (whether for sale, insurance or probate).

Paperweights for sale

We usually have some weights for sale - please contact us if you would like more information. A few are shown on our sales pages. These include antique French, old English and various other paperweights. We sometimes have weights for sale on eBay - click here to check if any are listed at the moment. And, of course, we are always on the lookout for interesting weights - whether single items or a whole collection.

Contacting us

We have removed the direct email contact link to try and reduce the amount of spam that we receive. We can be contacted by email as follows: use the name alan.thornton and the provider physics.org - you will need to put an @ between the two parts.

Telephone: 01935 822316 (from outside the UK use 0044 1935 822316).

Articles

Old English paperweights: (article) (guide)

Recommended books

We recommend Miller's Guide as a good value starter guide ( usually under £5 ) to identifying and learning about paperweights. If you collect Caithness paperweights, then the Charlton Catalogue is very helpful, and for Scottish paperweights more generally, try Scottish Paperweights by Bob Hall. For an overview of paperweights more generally, have a look at World Paperweightsby Fleming & Pomerencke. There are many more books to do with paperweights and collecting more widely on the new Books pages.

We plan to add to this site some of the articles that we have written for various publications. We hope they are of interest, and maybe inspire you to join one of the collectors' organisations such as the Paperweight Collectors Circle. An article on Bacchus has been added (December 2005).

UK Makers

We have some very skilled and innovative makers in the UK, including well known names such as John Deacons, Willie Manson, Peter MacDougall, Peter Holmes, Richard Golding, Johathan Harris and Mike Hunter. There are many others not as well known. It is worth checking up on smaller glass studios in your own locality - you never know what you will find. In our area we have Siddy Langley and Will Shakspeare - both superb glass artists, who make some paperweights.

Please browse the site, and let me know what you think would improve it - and please send me useful links if you have any. We have included links to various useful Books, and also to Onspeed, which we have found very effective at speeding up image downloads - even with broadband.

Enjoy the site.........and enjoy paperweights......they are an art form, an object of fascination, an investment, and a topic of conversation..... and no doubt more besides. For example, seek out the Infinity Project on Josh Simpson's site for a different way to display (?) paperweights.

This site is updated regularly, so remember to check for news and additional information.

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