Waterglobe history

Fact List

  • Water globes originated in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq and Syria) in the 3rd millennium BC.
  • There are traces of water globes manufacturers since 13th century in Venice
  • The first documentary reference to glass paperweights we have is by Venetian historian Sabellico. Describing Murano glass industry in 1474, he wrote: “But, consider to whom it first occurred to include in a little ball all the sorts of flowers which clothe the meadows in the spring.”
  • It appears that water globe manufacturing stopped until 1833 when a revival began with the production by a factory in Silesia (now Poland).
  • The sudden popularity of paperweights is not only due to their decorative appeal but also to a growing Victorian leisure-time interest in letter writing. Thus, water globes had for the first time their name as “paper weights” because of their use.
  • The period of competitive manufacture, which captures paperweight making at its best, had come to be termed the Classic Period of French paperweights. It ranged in date from 1845 to 1855, although the time span is arbitrary and may extend slightly earlier or later (possibly through 1860) than the given decade.
  • Some scientists think that the first documented appearance of paperweights can be traced to the Exhibition of Austrian Industry held in Vienna in 1845.
  • Water globes have been manufactured not only in France but also in Great Britain since 1848, in Belgium since 1850 and in US since 1851.
  • In Europe paperweight production was the result of commercial enterprise on the part of major factories, while in the United States it was more like a glassworker's hobby, during break time and after hours. Because the American industry was created by migrant glassworkers, mainly from France and England, American weights made in the 1850s and 1860s show strong European influences, although the quality does not match that of their French counterparts.
  • By the turn of the century European influence on U.S. paperweights had declined and a new generation of craftsmen had developed their own styles.
  • In 1953 the Paperweight Collectors Association (PCA) was founded. Nowadays there are 21 Chapters: 15 in the United States, two in Canada, one each in England, Germany, Venezuela and New Zealand.
  • The most valuable paperweight was sold at Sotheby's in April, 1998 for over $156,000.