Mid-19th Century Paperweights

Murano Multicolor Art Glass Paperweight unmarked, maker unknown, 1970's "Millefiori is a glasswork technique which produces distinctive decorative patterns on glassware. The term m...

Vintage Beautiful Glass Paperweight Made Around 1960 Additional information: Dimensions: 6 W x 6 D x 5 H cm Period of Time: 1960 Condition: Good

We are delighted to offer for sale this extremely collectable original Victorian Marble Grand Tour Roman Ruin statue of columns A wonderful original piece, this is a desk sized co...

Beautiful hand cast bronze patinated gecko paperweight. The polished details in the gecko's feet highlight the characteristic rose gold colour of bronze. Each of these geckos are ha...

Wonderful very old professional office relic with a cheeky message; Hands off! Private papers. Reminiscent of the odd fellows Victorian Era designs.

Vintage Baccarat paperweight features complex patterned millefiori set around a large horse silhouette cane, with smaller animal silhouette canes placed on a white lace background. ...

A fine antique English glass paperweight. By Arculus. Of a medium to low dome form. Dates to the early 20th century (pre-1930). With a close-concentric millefiori design, featuri...

Vintage Perthshire paperweight features large central P cane (signature cane), surrounded by 3 rings of highly detailed millefiori can...

This is a superb decorative antique Italian Grand Tour marble Pietra Dura mounted desk paperweight, circa 1880 in date. This splendid rectangular paperweight is exquisitely inlaid with a sumptuous arrangement of semi-precious stones including malachite, agate, onyx and amethyst. It is beautifully inlaid on a slate base. Not only is this desk paperweight very functional, but it is also an exquisite mineralogical wonder that can be admired by all discerning collectors. Condition: In excellent condition, please see photos for confirmation, Dimensions in cm: Height 2 x Width 17 x Depth 10 Dimensions in inches: Height 1 inch x width 7 inches x depth 4 inches. Pietra dura is a term for the inlay technique of using cut and fitted, highly polished coloured stones to create images. It is considered a decorative art. Pietre dure is an Italian plural meaning "hard rocks" or hardstones; the singular pietra dura is also encountered in Italian. In Italian, but not in English, the term embraces all gem engraving and hardstone carving, which is the artistic carving of three-dimensional objects in semi-precious stone, normally from a single piece, for example in Chinese jade. The traditional convention in English has been to use the singular pietra dura just to denote multi-colored inlay work. However, in recent years there has been a trend to use pietre dure as a term for the same thing, but not for all of the techniques it covers, in Italian. But the title of a 2008 exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Art of the Royal Court: Treasures in Pietre Dure from the Palaces of Europe used the full Italian sense of the term, probably because they thought that it had greater brand recognition. The material on the website speaks of objects such as a vase in lapis lazuli as being examples of "hardstone carving (pietre dure)" The Victoria & Albert Museum in London uses both versions on its website, but uses pietra dura. "A method of inlaying coloured marbles or semi-precious stones into a stone base, often in geometric or flower patterns...." Giovanni Montelatici...

Gorgeous stylized frog sculpture / paperweight by Baccarat, circa 1990s. The piece is in excellent condition with no visible imperfections and has great clarity. Signed on the unders...

A magnificent c.1950s Baccarat Five Row Concentric Close-Packed Millefiori Paperweight. The base features the acid etched post-war Baccarat mark. Large and showy with great bright co...

The profile of Caesar in profile in high relief. The yellow marble base with stepped edges.