Click on the image to enlarge
Lot 3
*Rare antique Clichy clematis bouquet paperweight, with overlapping, ribbed flowers in amethyst, pink-hued and salmon-pink to crimson shaded blossoms. Tight green sepals, wrap the companion buds, and copious leaves fill out the body, while a demure pink ribbon bundles the group. Clichy made far fewer bouquets than their competitors, and so this rare design is considered more valuable than the popular "candy" weights. This exceptional design makes the most of blending millefiori (the stamen), crimped glass (the leaves), and lampwork (the pleated petals) in a plush, fulsome arrangement of flowers. There is a gestural quality to the ribbon-like petals, and the three-dimensional aspect of this antique can even be appreciated when looking at the work underneath.
Diameter 3 1/8". $14,000-16,000

--Provenance: Featured in Sotheby's New York Sale, 7123, 4/29/98, Lot 230, from a Private Collection

Click on the image to enlarge
Lot 4
*Rare antique Baccarat butterfly and wheatflower paperweight. The marbling on the butterfly's wings is rich, its velvety, deep-purple body is well proportioned, and the antennae are sensitively realized. It hovers just off-center from a splendid white wheatflower, with periwinkle dots on its furrowed petals, and evenly matched, fanning leaves. Both objects live in harmony under the glass, in this collectible antique. Star-cut base.
Diameter 3". $6000-8000

--Provenance: Featured in Sotheby's New York, Sale 7123, 4/29/98, Lot 45, from a Private Collection

Click on the image to enlarge
Lot 5
Unusual antique, possibly Pantin, green strawberries paperweight, on clear ground. Pantin is associated with lampwork flowers, fruits and reptiles with wonderful dimensionality seen in few other antique weights. The berries show realistic dimpling and proportions, and the trio of green crimped leaves are gathered around a separated stem. Strawberries of this late 19th-c. era were known for their sourness, so the bright green hue we think of now as under ripe was likely common to palates then. The Pantin attribution is not as well substantiated as other French factories, partially because this glass house produced so few weights.
Diameter 2 11/16". $3500-5000