Scottish Caithness glass paperweights, from the 1960s onwards

Paperweights, used to hold down papers, and most commonly made in glass, evolved in Venice in the early nineteenth century, and spread to France via Bohemia about 1845, where the finest examples were produced by three factories: Baccarat, Clichy and St Louis. Examples from these manufacturers are mostly unmarked and widely faked and imitated and thus a minefield for the uninitiated. The most popular motif is millefiori ('thousand flowers'), though fruit, single flowers, insects, and other small objects are often used as well as portraits and view. The cheaper paperweights use air bubbles as decoration. The classic paperweights are round more... and domed, but lesser weights were also made in the form of pyramids and rectangles. The early period of paperweights is reckoned to have ended in 1870 but some 20th century manufacturers such as Lalique, Kosta Boda, Whitefriars and Caithness Glass have produced some fine examples. The great majority of paper weights are unmarked, and glass rarely shows its age.

Paperweights are also made in gold, silver, silver plate, hardstone, amber, ceramic, ivory, timber and other materials. less...

Caithness Glass was founded in Wick in North East Scotland in 1961. In 1962, Paul Ysart, who had worked for Moncrieff glassworks (Monart) in Perth, Scotland, and whose father was a glassblower, joined as supervisor and the company started producing paperweights.

Its early tableware and decorative production was very similar to the Scandinavian glass popular at the time, being mould blown with thin rims, heavy bases and strong colours. Colours were inspired by the Scottish landscape, hence names such as ‘heather’.

Before 1968 few pieces were engraved. Some engraved pieces were produced after that year when Colin Terris, who had more... studied in Norway, joined the company. Most designs are abstract, but some ranges were inspired by natural or marine subjects, and lead to the realease of a new modern style range of paperweighs.

Tableware remained in production until the 1980s, when the factory began to concentrate further on paperweights, with a few decorative glass ranges still being made, primarily in mottled coloured glass and often with ‘painted’ enamel effects.

In 1988, Caithness bought the Wedgwood Glass factory at King’s Lynn and at one point had three factories. In 1996, the company, now with headquarters in Perth, was taken over by Royal Doulton and then by glqass tableware producers, Dartington Crystal in 2006. and is still in production today, primarily producing paperweights. less...