Morton D. Barker Paperweights

George Washington Sulphide Portrait Circular clear glass plaque Baccarat, circa 1800

PlaquesPlaques are glass ornaments that were hung on a wall by a metal finding at the top. There are nine plaques in the Barker collection. Sulphide portraits are contained in paperweights that are from 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches, while the plaques are approximately 1/2 inch think. Most of the sulphide images were created using medals or coins that commemorated a person or an event.

MillefioriTazza or Wafer Dish Saint Louis, circa 1845-55

Vessels and Bottle Shapes

The Saint Louis Factory manufactured the two wafer dishes in the collection. Both feature rims of spiral twists. One has a paperweight base of scrambled millefiori and the other sports a ring of millefiori and an inner ring of flower-like arrangements of white, pink, and green millefiori. Apsley Pellatt is the attributed maker of the collection's sulphide portrait of King George III. The bottle itself is remarkably like one manufactured by Baccarat. The collection contains two identical Baccarat bottle shapes with stoppers. They are not hollow, but consist of a paperweight base with added neck. The pieces were possibly reworked from wafer dishes or some other form. The design on each is a garland of millefiori arranged in the shape of two interlocking trefoils.

Lampworked Handcooler Saint Louis, circa 1845-55

Handcoolers

Handcoolers date back to ancient Rome. It is said that Victorian ladies used the egg-shaped glass objects to keep their hands cool and dry in hot weather or inside muffs. The shape of the glass is also like that of darning eggs. Whatever the use, the handcoolers in the Barker collection were made by the Saint Louis company. One is a scrambled millefiori design in many colors mixed with short filigree twists. The other two hold upright bouquets and are ringed by rows of printies (windows).

Presidential Doorknob New England Glass Company (attributed) circa 1852-1880

Doorknobs

Another utilitarian object that was decorated with paperweight designs was the doorknob. The one in the Barker collection is a double sulphide of Presidents James Monroe and William Henry Harrison. It is attributed to the New England Glass Company. Other American glass companies made similar designs.

Apsley Pellatt Sulphide Obelisk circa 1830

Sculpture

Apsley Pellatt is the attributed maker of the obelisk containing a sulphide bust of a man.

Sulphide Marble factory unknown, circa 1920

Marbles

The collection has a clear glass marble containing a sulphide figure of a dog. Sulphide marbles were made in Europe and the United States from approximately 1878 to 1926. Most were white in clear glass, and contained figures of animals.

Lampworked Bead Necklace factory unknown Early twentieth century

Beads

The bead necklace in the collection is made up of thirteen beads, each of clear glass partitioned by mauve glass that serves as a backdrop for the two tiny lampworked pink roses with green leaves, one on each side of the bead.