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SOTHEBY'S IMPORTANT PAPERWEIGHTS THE PROPERTY OF THE NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY JANUARY 18TH 1995 THIS CATALOG CONTAINS 196 PAGES AND 316 LOTS Millefiori and lampworked paperweights were avidly collected from the moment these intriguing novelties appeared on the market during the mid-1840s. Introduced as the logical and attractive way to anchor the incessant handwritten correspondence of the middle years of the I (jth centnry, paperweights were inexpensive, decorative and colorrul. They were appealing to the eye as well as smooth and cool feeling in the hand. In fact, the early name for these glass novelties was 'letter-weights'. With 'letter-weights' appearIng From Italy and France, Bohemia and England, a great varict y of examples eonld be round in 'indnstrial art' exhibitions, trade fairs, stationery and novelty shops. It was inevitable that perceptive connoisseurs began acquiring a variety or the better-execu ted, more int rigu ingly patterned, subtly and brilliantly colored exam pies. In the early decades of the I9th century, white plaster-like erystallo-ceramie (colloquially sulphide) portraits of well-known statesmen, military officers and nobi lity appeared in many forms of colorless glass objects such as vases, decanters, door and furnitnre knobs, letter seals, ornamental panels and candlesticks. In the 1840s and '50s similar portraiture styles appeared in paperweights, orten depieted against a brilliantly colored ground. Paperweights arranged on tables or mantels, or positioned invitingly on display cabinets highlighted the good taste and connoisseurship orthe owner. The Francis Macdonald and Jennie H. Sinclair Collection of paperweights was the primary hobby ofJennie Hankinson Sinclair (I869 - 1965), an activity she pursued enthusiastically prior to Mr. Sinclair's early death in 1918 and continued for the next 46 years. As a young man, in 1890, Mr. Sinclair entered in a business partnership with Theodore Searing Valentine to form the Scaring and Va]entine Co., manufacturers of printing inks in Nnv York City. The enterprise prospered and expanded, operating numerous branches in the U.S. and Canada. The Silll:lairs lived on a 36-acre showplace estate in Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, on a hill overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee. The large wooden house was designed by Jennie's father William Augustus Hankinson, a builder. From Wolfeboro, Jennie Sinclair made day-long automobile excursions, frequenting antique shops along the way in her seareh for paperweights. She was very particular about qua]ity and selective in her purchases. In the mid-twenties, motoring about the countryside in her chauffeur-driven Locomobilc, .Jennie Sinclair could be found as far from home as Ogunquit, Maine, where she visited a local antique shop. Mrs. Sinclair also acquired paperweights at auction sales and trips aboard. During her extensive period of collecting, Mrs. Sinclair amassed a collection of Fine French and Amniean paperweights that would become one of the largest in a private collection. However, she was as generous as she was acquisitive and gave many away. A friend remembers that Mrs. Sinclair had paid $2500 for a lizard weight, which she later gave to him. However, her final gift of her paperweights (along with her collection of earJy American glass and toby jugs) was to the New-York Historical Society: showing one of the finest collections to be seen, which constitutes the present sale. To select paperweights for a "dream" personal collection is a dallnting task: there are so many varieties (497) that each choice demands one to ponder the previous selection. Nevertheless, a random citation of a few European and American weights of cxceptional qua]ity and rarity might be helpful. The ever-satisfying concentrics rest naturally within the circle forms of the paperweight. Several from Clichy are footed, and the large example (3 1/4 inches) in its basket of translucent and white staves shows perfect alignment, with I') large pink Clichy roses encircling the outer ring (lot 26O). A rare red, white and blue St. Louis concentric holds the historic significance of the French tricolor, which made its appearance during the revolution of 1848 (lot 135). A delicate, tightly designed miniature Clichy concentric pedestal weight with pink and spaced white staves, grass-green canes and a central white rose (lot 259). Perhaps the ultimate form of the concentric is the mushroom shape and lhere arc sllperb examples from Baccarat, Clichy and SL Louis, some faceted, others cased. The most unusual must be the faceted Baccarat. Despite its 11 pale, Clichy-style roses, the other canes and the blue and white torsade that spirals to the !crt confirms that the weight is from Baccarat. Clichy weights lack the torsade, and t hose from St. Louis spiral to the right (lot 208). The single white casing (colloquially overlay) on this Clichy mushroom is not only unll.sual, it lends a bridal purity to the ensemble, enclosing the delicate blush imparted by the pink and white stave sheath (lot 43). For perfection among St. Louis millcliori, the 1'0u I' CI0 s e - pac ked qua d ran t s 0 f can e s arc divided by a cross of white canes borderecl in pistachio green, a favorite St. Louis color, with a furlher twisting ofvetro a fili threads. This rare example is superb (lol 136). Garlands are a Clichy specialty. This large example shows intertwined loops of canes set in a moss ground. The weight suggests the finest woven carpet (lot 266). The St. Louis marbrie with its rich cerulean loops is as line as they come-a rare form and difficult to achieve synlmetrically (lot 290). The faceting on the Baccarat butterlly over white clematis may or may not be original, but it docs dramatize the transitory alighting of the colorful lepidopter, notably where the petals of the flower appear fragmented by the faceting, as if shaken by the butterfly (lot 220). The pink and white encased St. Louis overlay with panels showing a hare and two hounds was a triumph of technical skill. The colorless glass weight had to be cased with colored panels which were annealed, then cut to reveal the animals, reheated and once again cased in colorless glass, then re-annealed. The very rare cncascd overlays in this collection are among the finest and most numerous in any major collection (lot 115). The same technical dirIieulties apply to the pink and white Bacchus encased basket with its mushroom of close milleiiori, and il is doubtlld that more than two or three were made (lot 198). The sulphide of Napoleon crowncd with laurel is stunning ;Igainst the rayed ruby base, yet it is only one of many subjects, including, among others Louis Philippe, Lafayette, Wellington, queenVictoria, Washington and Frank]in on rich colored grounds. There is a scnse of classic permanence about these lincly detailed portraits (lot 122). Single flowers and bouquets abound in this collection, but one would be hard put to better the magnum Clichy bouquet with its 12 flowers and buds, or the five-flower bouquet with its I hree-dimensional, striped eandycanc petals achieved from Inillciiori canes split lengthwise. Lighter in weight than the lead glass of Baccarat and St. Louis, C]iehy's limpid soda-based zinc oxide glass brings out the saturated colors of flower petals as if they were close enough to touch (lots 313 and 113). For a complimentary pair of roses, the pink rose on white ground ane! white rose on brilliant pink ground, both probably from the I'antin Elctory, would compose a happy flora] marriage (lot 192). The ripe pear with branchedlcaves on turkey red ground, probably also from Pantin, is a treasure among fruit weights (lot 317). Ilow many handcoolers do you own? This close millefiori example is composed of the earliest St. Louis canes and is signed and dated SL 1845, the earliest recorded date in any French paperweight (lot 168). The squirrel and the little bird on berried twig are rare charmers that someone will prize (lots 312 and 314). a well-designed Bohemian paperweight vase cased in white and attractively cut to reveal the pink interior, and set on a spaced llliliciiori paperweight, is bound to adorn some eye-catching arrangement (lot 165). My favorite among the South Jersey flora] weights is the aboutto- blossom waterlily; but the obvious favorite among collectors is the fat til tecl rose on pedestal base, probably made by Ra]ph Barber before 1920 ( lot 64 ) Collectors could compile a dozen different lists. But it seems unlikely that any paperweight collection of this size and quality will ever again come on the market.
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