Recent Activities Of Interest

Gary Underwood Exhibits Paperweights at Library

Gary Underwood exhibited a selection of 35 of his paperweights at the Southwest Branch of the Arlington Public Library during May 2002. The exhibit included books donated for the exhibit, "All About Paperweights", and the 2002 PCA Inc Bulletin. Also included were a PCA TX mission statement, and the PCA TX Membership Information Brochure.

The case displaying the exhibit was well located near the entry doors of the library, and during the month, 22,573 people passed by it. The librarian reported the exhibit generated much interest and discussion. Gary hopes others will enjoy the experience of exhibiting their weights and become paperweight ambassadors to the public and help them understand the joy of paperweights. He is already considering another (and larger) library for a future exhibit.

Good Job Gary!!!

Jayne Gilbert (Vice President and Membership Development Chair) has designed and printed an excellent new PCA TX information brochure that includes a membership application form. The brochure is being made available to glass related businesses and organizations to be given to interested people who might consider membership. Please let Jayne know of any organizations or shops in your area that may help us distribute them to interested people.

We thank Jayne for producing this much needed information brochure, which will help to inform the public about our organization.

George wrote the following letter of appreciation and thanks for PCA TX sponsoring his talk at Wheaton Village.

"Please convey my gratitude and appreciation to all the members of your generous organization for sponsoring my talk 'The Three Enigmas' at the Paperweight Weekend held at Wheaton Village in Millville, NJ.

The content of my talk was about three 19th century groups of paperweights whose provenance continues to be controversial: Questionable Pantin, 'Early Clichy', and the Port Elizabeth Problem. Needless to say, although I based my comments on careful research, the subject did generate some controversy.

I found the other lectures, the paperweight making in the factory, the artists' reception, and the Paperweight Fair very exciting and informative, and well worth the long drive to the East Coast. I might add, the food was delicious!

Mention was made of your thoughtful gift in the Paperweight Weekend brochure, also by Gay LeCleire Taylor before I spoke, and by myself to all the attendees.

Please give my greetings to my many friends and thank them for sponsoring my talk.

Sincerely,
George Kulles"

Gay LeCleire Taylor, Curator of the American Museum of Glass, wrote the following review of the George Kulles' talk given at The Wheaton Village Paperweight Weekend which was held in Millville, New Jersey from May 16-19, 2002. Thanks Gay, for providing the following excellent summary of the talk that PCA TX sponsored. We were pleased to support George.

"George Kulles' lecture titled 'Three Enigmas' began with the definition of 'enigma' which means puzzle or mystery or something to be solved in Greek. George stated that the Three Enigmas would remain unsolved but we, as an audience, would learn something about all three. The first is a 67 year old case of mistaken identity. The second involves a hidden cachet from an unknown source. The third is a mystery that is almost solved.

As George usually does in his lectures, he demands audience participation. The audience was divided into four groups. Group 3 he directed to practice the sound 'M' and when he pointed to the group, they had to make the sound. Group 1 had to give a happy sound, like the word 'Gay' as in the name of Gay Taylor. Group 4 was directed to make the sound of a motorboat 'putt, putt, putt' but only the first 'putt' when George pointed at the group. Group 2 was to say the word 'Back.'

The first enigma is 'The Questionable Pantin.' Albert Christian Revi discovered the fourth French factory Pantin and wrote about his discovery in the 1965 PCA Bulletin. Revi has found a report of the 1878 Paris Exposition that mentioned a lizard made in parts put into a lump of glass. Fruit weights, leaves, and a curious description 'millefiori rose' were listed. In the Bulletin article, Revi included ten paperweight photographs he thought fit the Pantin examples discussed in the report. Four of the ten weights were correct. The wrong ones were a Baccarat snake, New England fruit weight, Sandwich poinsettia, two Mt. Washington weights and the Questionable Pantin which causes the problems. In 1977, Tim Clarke, the Sotheby's auctioneer, found an official catalog from the Paris National Museum of Arts and Trades which received the best items from French companies for display and storage. The catalog listed a three dimensional snake and a three dimensional lizard by Pantin. Dwight Lanmon, the Deputy Director of the Corning Museum of Glass, went to the Museum three years later to see the paperweights. The museum authorities stated that the lizard weight was missing. The loss very likely happened during World War II when the Germans occupied Paris and artifacts were lost. However the snake was there and when Dwight Lanmon saw the weight, he was surprised to see that the snake was made the same way as the lizard in the Corning collection. The head was erect, the body the same size, the eyes and the mouth the same. Lanmon knew that the same maker made both weights. There are now about a dozen of these weights known in the world and if we study these weights, we can apply the characteristics to other internal decorative elements.

True Pantin weights have five different grounds: 1. Is the rock ground, which eleven of the twelve lizards have as a ground. 2. Is opaque blue with rayed filigree. 3. Is clear. 4. Is spiral filigree. and 5. Is parallel filigree. The Questionable Pantin ground is the opaque white, off white or red. Next we compare the leaves, mentioned in the 1878 report. Pantin used three types of leaves. 1. Striped leaves, 2. Large spear shaped with fold in the middle, and 3. Wide leaves with deep veins. The leaves are serrated and bottom leaves instead of being connected, encompass the main stem.

Next we looked at the curious phrase 'millefiori rose.' George examined all the Pantins; he found only one with a tiny millefiori cane that resembled a flower. Questionable Pantin flowers are usually large open roses that are floating above the ground. Other questionable examples that were shown included a cluster of currants with opaque ground and a serrated leaf surrounding the stem and a fruit weight floating above an opaque red ground. Questionable Pantins fluoresce yellow -green while true Pantins fluoresce blue-green to greenish-gray.

Who made these Questionable Pantins? The densities are different. True Pantins are very heavy and the questionable ones are much lighter. George does not know who made these weights but suggested that they be kept as a group for further research.

The second enigma concerned Clichy. In 1849 Clichy changed it glass formula. Before that date Clichy used a lead glass formula. The new formula was a soda-lime glass. They experimented with the formula to make certain it was just as clear as the lead glass. Why did they change? It was because of monetary reasons and they wanted a lighter glass for telescopes and optical glass. At one point, Corning fluoresced 80 Clichy weights. A large number of the group fluoresced yellow to lime-green and a smaller group fluoresced blue-green to gray-green. The third group called 'early Clichy' is the enigma. Early Clichys include monograms, newel posts, with scattered millefiori and checker designs. Other companies made these as well. To recognize early Clichys look for: 1. A striped lobe cane with a bold or subtle stripe, 2. A cockscomb cane, 3. Cross star cane (green cross in a white 6 pointed star), 4. Stardust cane larger that others, 5. Edelweiss cane with different center, 6. Two roses- slabs of opaque white or collapsed tubes, 7. Honeycomb cane either 4x4 or 5x5. George suggests that this group also be kept together and still call them 'Early Clichy' until their identity is discovered.

For a break before the third enigma was discussed, George had the four groups practice their words. He also wanted the entire audience to practice a moan. The third enigma concerns three large frit paperweights that were once on display at the Museum of American Glass at Wheaton Village. The large low-domed weights were removed from exhibit because they were believed to be Belgian and were not appropriate for an American glass museum. Their history begins in 1938 with an article by Edward Minns in the 'American Collector,' who came to South Jersey and visited glass workers. A photograph of a paperweight made in Port Elizabeth, a town just south of Millville, was included in the article. The article was reprinted in the 1955 PCA Bulletin. The next time we hear about Port Elizabeth, is in Hollister's 'Encyclopedia of Glass Paperweights' in 1969, where two of the large weights are illustrated. Twenty years later, Clarence Newell, doing research for his book, 'Old Glass Paperweights of Southern New Jersey: An American Folk Art,' interviewed a Port Elizabeth resident Ed Griner. They discussed many weights including two large flat weights which Griner said were made in Port Elizabeth.

At the PCA convention in Springfield, Illinois in 1985, Theresa and Arthur Greenblatt showed a Port Elizabeth weight they had for sale to Dwight Lanmon who wanted the weight for Corning, and to Don Pettifer, the then Director of Collections for Wheaton Village who wanted it for the Museum of American Glass. The weight was acquired by Don Pettifer. The Museum of American Glass eventually acquired another example from Paul Hollister, which resulted in the museum owning three.

George then had the audience moan because a disaster was about to occur. The Corning Museum of Glass receives numerous catalogs, brochures and writings about paperweights. They received a catalog in 1985 of a retrospective of Belgian glass held at a Belgian museum. Dwight Lanmon saw the catalog, which included weights similar to the Port Elizabeth weights and attributing the large weights to Val St. Lambert. He sent the catalog to Gay Taylor. Paul Hollister was chagrined when he saw the catalog but asked Gay if there were any Belgian glassblowers working in South Jersey. George went on to discuss famous European paperweight makers who came to America to work. Gay Taylor found no Belgian glassblowers in South Jersey and with this evidence she removed the three weights. In 1991, the Greenblatts wrote a PCA article in which they discussed changing attributions, which included the Port Elizabeth weights. Their last statement was 'Goodbye, Port Elizabeth; Hello Val St. Lambert' driving the last nail into the coffin. The audience was asked to moan.

George then stated that luckily this was not the end of the story and a little research may resuscitate these three Port Elizabeth paperweights. Gay subsequently met a man whose hobby was collecting old newspaper articles about South Jersey glass. She examined his collection and found a gold mine of information - newspaper articles about Belgian glassblowers working in South Jersey. They were scabs working for reduced costs causing 'Much Discontent Among Our Native Workmen.'

Now we know that Belgian glassblowers were working in South Jersey before the turn of the century. George stated that when he was writing his new book, he called Gay to ask her to fluoresce the three weights. They fluoresced bright yellow, where Val St. Lambert fluoresced cloudy pink or cloudy lavender. Millville weights fluoresce bright yellow. On George's density chart, the Port Elizabeth weights' density is just below Millville, much lower than Val St. Lambert. George urged Gay to put the weights back on display with the label of 'possibly or probably Port Elizabeth.'

George called Gay to come forward to the front of the room. He then directed the audience to call out their words in reverse order 4-3-2-1, which became 'Put M Back Gay."