The second is cut crystal of supreme quality made by a French firm dating back centuries. Since I know nothing about the former, and it's out of my league anyway, let's talk about Baccarat glass.

In the L.H. Selman Ltd. printed catalog today you can still find spendy paperweights: a 1829 Saint Louis Factory paperweight is listed at $7,500; a 1849 Clichy Factory collectable at $16,500.

Casper, Geraldine J. Glass Paperweights of the Bergstrom-Mahler Museum. Richmond, VA: United States Historical Society Press; New York: Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, 1989. Dunlop, Paul. The Jokelson ...

Paperweights first appeared in Europe in the mid-1840s, according to the Corning Museum of Glass. Venetian glass-maker Pietro Bigaglia created and exhibited the first signed and dated weights at ...