1958 Church Weight

An antique weight discovered when renovating a war-damaged church, inspired Baccarat to try and reproduce millefiori of the quality found in their 19th Century weights, which they succeeded in doing in this close millefiori example - held mainly in pastel tones with just a hint of a stronger red or dark-blue. Silhouettes of the 12 signs of the zodiac - (here there are actually 13, with Aquarius putting in 2 appearances!) - are believed to have been first introduced towards the end of 1958. A figure 8 (for 1958?) centres a cluster of peach-coloured tubes at ca. 12 o’clock in the first picture.
The multi-coloured canes around the perimeter -including the 2nd Aquarius silhouette - are drawn into the flat, polished base and meet under the acid-etched Baccarat insignia.
(For more details, see pages 50/51 in section I of Andrew Dohan’s DVD “Dictionary of Paperweight Signature Canes” ).