Everyone knows (just ask around) that if you find a Pairpoint Glass item that has a sterling or plated silver foot, you are looking at a marriage. A marriage occurs when someone has a broken item and figures out a way to attach the good portion of one item to the good part of another item. Most commonly you will find a glass compote top stuck into an old candlestick, or a bowl attached to some type of metal pedestal base.
Unless the item is a known and marked Fine Arts Line item, most dealers and advanced collectors will walk away from what they "know" (that's code for "believe") is an illegitimate marriage. That’s why Sandy and I have made so many great inexpensive purchases over the last few years.
Until we obtained a one-of-a-kind Pairpoint Engraving Department Supervisor’s personal notebook, that has scores of line drawings of Pairpoint Glass items, we would walk away also…and did. Until this moment, it has never been public knowledge that Pairpoint blew a number of their standard items with integral long glass mounting pins, intended to be mated with sterling or plated silver bases. These glass items were generally sold to fine jewelers and silversmiths to apply their own unique custom bases. We speculate that it is likely Pairpoint mounted some for their own account, as we have found numerous bases having the identical design, some being of plated-silver instead of the more common sterling silver. Pairpoint worked in plated silver wares regularly.
This entire topic is discussed in much greater detail in our Fine Arts Line book which is available in the Download Center of our Subscriber section. There is also a reprint of the Engraving Department Cost Book available in our on-line store. However, as a treat to everyone, we are sharing a number of the aforementioned sketches, as well as two real-life images of a Rosaria Comport showing the tip of the glass pin from under the foot. We have separated numerous so-called “marriages,” and found everyone with glass mounting pins. We consider the subject closed, and only hope that we are next in line as the knowing skeptic walks away from another Pairpoint treasure.
Marion & Sandy
Article No. 13-04-18
Unless the item is a known and marked Fine Arts Line item, most dealers and advanced collectors will walk away from what they "know" (that's code for "believe") is an illegitimate marriage. That’s why Sandy and I have made so many great inexpensive purchases over the last few years.
Until we obtained a one-of-a-kind Pairpoint Engraving Department Supervisor’s personal notebook, that has scores of line drawings of Pairpoint Glass items, we would walk away also…and did. Until this moment, it has never been public knowledge that Pairpoint blew a number of their standard items with integral long glass mounting pins, intended to be mated with sterling or plated silver bases. These glass items were generally sold to fine jewelers and silversmiths to apply their own unique custom bases. We speculate that it is likely Pairpoint mounted some for their own account, as we have found numerous bases having the identical design, some being of plated-silver instead of the more common sterling silver. Pairpoint worked in plated silver wares regularly.
This entire topic is discussed in much greater detail in our Fine Arts Line book which is available in the Download Center of our Subscriber section. There is also a reprint of the Engraving Department Cost Book available in our on-line store. However, as a treat to everyone, we are sharing a number of the aforementioned sketches, as well as two real-life images of a Rosaria Comport showing the tip of the glass pin from under the foot. We have separated numerous so-called “marriages,” and found everyone with glass mounting pins. We consider the subject closed, and only hope that we are next in line as the knowing skeptic walks away from another Pairpoint treasure.
Marion & Sandy
Article No. 13-04-18
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