Wednesday 2nd May: Change of plans! We have just received news that - due to a cancellation at the Antique & Collector’s Fair next week in Shepton Mallet - we have been allotted a stand in the Showering Pavilion. Please note that, as opposed to what we announced last week (Stand 50 in the Edmund Rack Pavilion) we will, in fact, be in the Showering Pavilion again - Stand 108. It’s in the same aisle, directly opposite the stand we had last time. It’s the one virtually in front of you, if you approach from the Mendip Hall 2 entrance.
Wednesday, 27th April: we have just had confirmation that we have our usual Stand No 60 in Hall 2 at the National Glass Fair. We will be at Stand 50 in the Edmund Rack Pavilion again in Shepton Mallet, as, unfortunately there was no 12 foot Stand available in the Showering Pavilion.
Sunday, 25th March: there seemed to be fewer visitors at the Shepton Mallet Antique & Collector’s Fair in March - possibly due to the cold weather and the fact that the Sunday was Mother’s Day. Business, however, was reasonable and we felt that our decision to move to the Showering Pavilion was the right one - despite the fact that it could have been a bit warmer (!). Most of the collectors looking for paperweights seemed to find us and agreed that the new surroundings were more suited to the quality of goods we had on offer.
Wednesday,14th March: as we have to leave early for the Shepton Mallet Antique & Collector’s Fair which starts Friday at noon, I have deactivated those weights on the website, that we are taking with us. Having sold quite a few items at the PCC and NPS meetings and at the Cambridge Glass Fair, the website is looking slightly depleted. Hope we’ll be able to get some new weights uploaded once we get back next week.
Friday 2nd March: the 2 events in England last weekend were both well visited and most successful. We have bought-in quite a lot of new weights, which we will list on the website as soon as we can get around to photographing them. Any of you coming to the Antique & Collector’s Fair in Shepton Mallet (March 16th - 18th) will be able to get a sneak preview!
Monday, 2nd January: while site visitors were enjoying ( we hope!) a relaxing holiday season, we were beavering away trying to get (at least) our Antique Archive up to date. Unfortunately, having got texts ready and images re-formatted, we were beset with some technical problems that, initially, we were unable to sort out. With our website designer enjoying a well-earned vacation somewhere - we had to try and work things out for ourselves, which took longer than expected. But at least we managed - and we hope you’ll enjoy looking at some of the many beautiful weights we have sold during the 9 years we have been in business.
Saturday, 17th December: in addition to our new insertions today, we have reduced some of the prices on our Paul Ysart paperweights as we have quite a few more in stock that are not even on the website.
Wednesday 14th December: the news that Peter McDougall has decided to close down his studio in Crieff at the end of the year, will certainly come as a surprise -and a shock - to the many collectors of his work. It means the loss of another leading Scottish paperweight maker just some 10 years after Perthshire Paperweights shut down and Caithness downsized to a fraction of what it once was. We will miss our chats and meetings with Peter and Catherine on our trips up to Scotland and wish them all the best for the future.
Sunday 4th December: although our visits to Shepton Mallet during 2011 allowed us to meet quite a few new collectors, we will not be present at the January Antique and Collector’s Fair - due to travel problems during the winter. However, we have reserved a stand for March 2012.
Thank you to all those collectors who supported us and to those non-collectors who showed a great deal of interest, which next time - who knows - may lead to their first paperweight!
Tuesday 15th November: The National Glass Fair at the Motorcycle Museum on the outskirts of Birmoingham on Sunday 13th November was a most successful event with a steady stream of interested visitors during the whole time the fair was open from 10.30AM to 4.00PM - next date May 6th 2012 !
Sunday 16th October: Please note that we shall be present at Shepton Mallet Antique and Collector’s Fair only on Friday 11th and Saturday 12th November - NOT on Sunday. We have some new stock so it should be worth a visit !
Sunday 9th October: we are preparing our next updates - Modern French (St. Louis & Baccarat) and Whitefriars - including a beautiful Large Butterfly...hope to have everything uploaded by next Sunday.
Wednesday 28th September: our website pages look a little fuller again after re-activating those weights we had taken to the 2 Glass Fairs and PCC meeting we attended in England. As you will see, business at the fairs - and the meeting in Knowle - was good. We certainly plan to attend the November Antiques and Collector’s Fair in Shepton Mallet. However we will only be present on Friday and Saturday the 11th and 12th of November, due to a prior commitment on Sunday 13th November: the National Glass Fair at the Motorcycle Museum on the outskirts of Birmingham.
Unfortunately, there will be no further website updates before Bernd returns from his next visit to England. Should you be looking for a particular paperweight, do get in touch with us - we may well have it in stock, just not listed on the website !
Sunday, 11th September: we’ve listed some new Scottish weights this week but remember some may be de-activated as we will be visiting 3 events in England as of Thursday, Sept. 15th. (see Next Event box).
Sunday, August 28th: while filling up our American artist pages, we have taken the opportunity to reduce a couple of prices on some of the weights we already had listed...maybe worthwhile taking a look...it might just be those that you had been checking out.
Wednesday, August 10th; we hope we have sorted out the misunderstandings for customers buying as “Guests” on the first stage of the Checkout procedure and the payment problem in our Online Shop seems to have been resolved since our helpful web designer got to work on the problem. It certainly hasn’t occurred in the last few transactions, but should you have any problems please use the Contact button at the bottom of the page and send us a quick email.
Tuesday, July 12th: Please Note! We appear to have a glitch in the Payment System of our Online Shop - having added an article to their cart, some customers find they are unable to pay and complete a started transaction...We are currently trying to resolve the problem. Should you experience any difficulties in completing a transaction, please use the Contact button - at the bottom of each page - and email us the details of what you wish to buy and we will deal with the matter...either by telephone or by sending a Paypal payment request.
Sunday, July 10th: Good antique weights are becoming harder to find; however we have managed to acquire a few over the last couple of months and they will head up the new insertions we will upload this week: Bohemian/Silesian, English (including a medium-size Bacchus), French (Baccarat, Clichy, St. Louis & St. Mandé), post-classic German, Venetian and - although we don’t see many this side of the Atlantic - a good New England Scrambled.
Sunday, June 5th: check out the reduced prices and special offers on a number of modern weights...such as Caithness, some earlier pieces from Mike Hunter, Perthshire Annuals and Perthshire PPs, Modern St. Louis. Whitefriars, Paul & Salvador Ysart. Among the American highlights there are a couple of examples from Melissa Ayotte, Lundberg Studios, some earlier weights from Ken Rosenfeld, Debbie Tarsitano, Victor Trabucco and a couple of Mayauel Ward bouquets.
Friday, June 3rd: our next update - weekend June 4th/5th - will include weights from John & Craig Deacons, Allan Scott and - an artist we have neglected of late - Peter Holmes. These are new weights that we picked up when we visited the artists in the middle of May between the Shepton Mallet Collector's Fair and the National Glass Fair. Incidentally, we did quite good business at the the fair in Shepton Mallet and are certainly planning to take a stand again at the next one in September. So if you live around that area, or have friends who are paperweight collectors, please pass the word around.
Wednesday, May 4th; copies of Peter von Brackel’s book “Classic Paperweights from Silesia/Bohemia” will be available at the PCA Convention in Washington in mid-May and despite the ever increasing euro/dollar exchange rate we will not be raising the price.
Payment by check would be appreciated !
Saturday April 23rd: in our on-going attempts to meet more paperweight enthusiasts - or people who haven’t yet discovered the fascinating diversity of paperweights we have a new venue in our schedule this year - the International Antiques and Collector's Fair at Shepton Mallet - in the southwest of England - which takes place from Friday May 6th to Sunday May 8th.
March 28th: Due to an upgrade being carried out by our provider, our website will be offline between Saturday 2nd April ca 8 P.M. and Sunday 3rd April ca.8 A.M. We apologize for any inconvenience.
March 14th: Spring Break - and lower prices on a number of items...so why not browse through the website and see if something you had your eye on has maybe been reduced in price.
February 19th: the response to Peter von Brackel’s new book “Classic Paperweights from Silesia/Bohemia” has been overwhelmingly positive: “easy to read”, “clearly laid out”, “loads of fascinating information” ... these are just some of the remarks we have heard from collectors. Don’t miss out on this major new reference work - order a copy now thorough our on-line shop. Copies will also be available at the PCA Convention in Washington (May 18th - 21st) giving collectors a chance to study the book - and its numerous illustrations - at first hand.
January 2nd: copies of Peter von Brackel’s new book: “Classic Paperweights from Silesia/Bohemia” will soon be available through our online shop. German postal rates increased on January lst so check out the shipping costs to different destinations. Basically there are now only 2 categories:
National: (Germany) €4 Hermes Parcel Service (Please use German website to order)International: €19 (registered with tracking number); covers Europe (including EU countries), and all other countries. (All customers outside Europe please use the English website to place orders)
December 12th:
At this time we would like to say thank you for your support during 2010 and send festive season greetings to everyone and best wishes for the New Year...
December 10th
Don’t hold your breath, but the printer in Berlin has informed us that we should be receiving the first NEW copies of the book “Classic Paperweights from Silesia/Bohemia” by the end of next week...December 17th. We will then let everyone know whether the “gremlins” have finally been eradicated...and if so, we will go ahead with getting the books signed and prepared for posting. That should keep us busy over Christmas!
Please let us know whether you would prefer to have your copy shipped or whether you will pick it up at the Cambridge Glass Fair in February; at the PCC AGM meeting in March, at the first NPS meeting in Kendal or at the next auction in Paris.
Despite the wintery conditions, we will certainly try to attend the Christmas meetings of the PCC in Knowle and the NPS in Garstang as planned.
November 17th
November 11th:
Wednesday October 6th:
Thursday September 23rd:
Sunday August 29th:
Wednesday August 18th:
Wednesday August 11th:
Sunday August 8th:
Saturday July 31st:
Special Discount on all Trabucco Studio paperweights until August 10th 2010. The strawberry design “Mellow” has regularly been one of the most viewed weights since we started the new website 3 months ago at the beginning of May.
Sunday July 4th:
Friday June 25th:
Wednesday June 9th.
After it looked as though the museum - with its fine collection of English Glass - had finally been reprieved from the threat of closure, there is again talk that it might, in fact, be closed down. There was strong opposition to the plans to close it down last time, with a petition being presented to the local council. We’ll have to wait and see whether the rumors prove to be true and concrete steps are put in motion.
Monday 24th May.
Tuesday May 11th
The National Glass Fair, at the Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham on Sunday May 9th was well attended, with a huge queue snaking across the car park even before the doors opened at 10.30AM. Business was brisk and we were most satisfied with our sales. There was a great deal of interest in our featured artist, Cathy Richardson, and in paperweights generally.
Our visit on Saturday May 8th to Barkway Market - in Hertfordshire not Cambridgeshire as I mistakenly wrote last week! - was also most successful; despite miserable weather and almost freezing temperatures! Not the sort of weather you expect in May... and yet, despite the rain and cold, a large crowd turned out and some also discovered an interest in paperwights! Although by early afternoon, all but the most stalwart, had decided to call it a day!
The “volcanic ash” which caused Bernd to cancel his trip to Wheaton is back with a vengeance... so his reasoning for not going wasn’t as foolish as some people remarked. A number of Americans at the National Glass Fair in Birmingham were worried about whether they would get home this week! I was also caught up in the mélee trying to get home on Monday after the Glass Fair. Fortunately, although Munich was closed, Cologne was still open, albeit with some considerable delay. After standing waiting for what seemed like an eternity in the “holding area” - the only way to describe Gatwick beyond security! - up came the Gate Number along with a flashing sign: “Flight Closing”, which caused a panic. Everyone rushed to the gate, only to stand without moving for roughly another half an hour! Added to the nightmare of security, “volcanic ash” is just another irritation to make flying anywhere these days an absolute nightmare.
Thursday May 6th 2010
Please Note: due to our trip to the Glass Fair in Birmingham, we will not be available to answer calls or emails before Tuesday May 11th. We also have a stand at the Barkway Market in Cambridgeshire on Saturday May 8th. Looks like a busy weekend so let's hope the weather stays fine and we look forward to seeing some of our regular collectors at the fair on Sunday - and hopefully meeting a few new ones.
Monday May 3rd 2010
Well, finally we managed to get our revamped website up and running without entirely sacrificing our “Corporate Identity”. We hope visitors will find it easier to navigate and enjoy the advanced features we have incorporated.
The website has been completely redesigned and is hosted by a new server, which should eliminate all the problems that plagued us in the past.
Navigation is much easier; within each individual category you can move directly to the Next paperweight or back to the Previous one.
The Zoom function provides close-ups of details; whereas clicking on the picture produces an Enlargement.
Basically, we have retained the original structure: Antique and Modern Paperweights divided into countries (saves scrolling down long lists!) with artists, studios and glassworks listed alphabetically. If you’re unsure where to find an artist try the Search function.
Books & Catalogues is a new category, as we plan to publish the English version of Peter von Brackel’s excellent book on the subject of Classic Paperweights from Silesia/Bohemia...but more about that in a few weeks time.
We would like to thank regular visitors for their patience and hope that you will continue to check back frequently. It will take a while to upload pictures of those weights that were already on the website as the images have to be re-formatted. It will also take time to transfer all the images from our Archive; so that section will not be available for a while yet.
We hope we have covered all the important aspects with our new design and new layout - should you experience any problems, please email us and I am sure that our young web designer will do his best to rectify them!
