PAPERWEIGHTS

Chinese Paperweights were made in the late 1920s and throughout the 1930s as an attempt to duplicate 19th Century antique weights made in the United States and France. Because they are almost 100 years old, they are very collectible and every collector should own a few of these as study pieces. The history of the early Chinese paperweights is mostly anecdotal as no written records have been discovered. The story is that an American dealer sent examples of paperweights made by the New England Glass Company (NEGC), Boston & Sandwich Glass Company (B&S), Millville makers, and French factories to a Chinese factory and requested copies be made. The results are interesting and sometimes confused with the originals by inexperienced collectors. The earliest pictures of these paperweights appeared in the book American Glass Paperweights by Francis Edgar Smith published in 1939. Smith was aware that at least one of the paperweights shown in his book was Chinese. Since Smith was not an expert..