Hi there!! PLEASE E MAIL ME IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS OR IF YOU HAVE ANY PAPERWEIGHTS FOR SALE OR TRADE. I AM ALWAYS INTERESTED IN BUYING ADDITIONAL PAPERWEIGHTS FOR MY COLLECTION. MY FAVORITES ARE THE ONES THAT WERE ONCE MADE IN THE WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA REGION BY EITHER WILLIAM H. MAXWELL OR ALBERT A. GRAESER. PLEASE FEEL FREE TO E MAIL ME ANY TIME AT: paperwghts@aol.com I collect Victorian souvenir, portrait and advertising paperweights. I am particularly fond of any vintage milkglass or glass bottom paperweight manufactured in Western Pennsylvania. My favorite paperweight makers are William H. Maxwell (some of his are marked Brown & Maxwell, Rochester, PA ) and Albert A. Graeser. William H. Maxwell obtained a paperweight patent in 1882. It is possible that the Pittsburgh Glass Novelty Company was an outgrowth of his operation. Albert A. Graeser was also issued his own paperweight patent in 1892 to make these using a different process he developed. Some of their paperweights may spell Pittsburgh as Pittsburg. I also collect paperweights made by J. N. Abrams. His various company names included: Barnes & Abrams Co., Abrams Paper, J. N. Abrams, Abrams Paper Weight Co. and Abrams PW Co. Many, if not all, of his paperweights were probably actually manufactured by jobbers or subcontactors in the Pittsburgh region even though these were frequently marked New York, Syracuse, Grapeville, PA, Monaca PA or Mystic, CT. Other milkglass or enamel glaze bottom advertising paperweights of interest to me include those manufactured by the following companies: American PW Co., Donker & Williams Co., Metropolitian Glass Co., Met Glass Co., Kyle Adv. Co., E. N. Smock, Brown & Chesney, Co., Jeff D. Nathan, H. D. Hardenburg, McKee & Slack, Samuel Ward Co. and Mid-West Ad. Co. My other related interest is in the glass 1893 Worlds Fair paperweights made by Libbey for distribution at the Chicago Columbian Exposition. These have the same distinctive milkglass bottom and are dated with Maxwell's 1882 patent (although the actual process used was really from the 1892 Graeser patent). I have written five different nationally published articles about glass paperweights. In 2000, I also guest lectured on nineteenth century portrait paperweights at the American Glass Museum in Wheaton, New Jersey during their bi-annual PCA "Paperweight Weekend." In May 2005, I spoke on the topic of Maxwell paperweights at the national Paperweight Collector's Association convention in Appleton, Wisconsin. I will be leaturing again at the 2006 Wheaton "Paperweight Weekend."

ADVERTISING PAPERWEIGHT COLLECTORS ASSOCIATION In 1998 I came up with the idea of forming the Advertising Paperweight Collectors Association. It is my dream to see a convention in Pittsburgh, where many of the vintage paperweight manufacturers originated in the 1880's. So far I have not had much success achieving this goal as there are so few advertising paperweight collectors and we simply have not yet formally organized.

TO LEARN MORE For more information about this hobby, I recommend the book "Advertising Paperweights" written about this subject by my collector friends, Richard Holliner and Stuart Kammerman. This was published in 2002 by Schroeder Publishing Co., Inc. They were very kind in listing me as a contributor.

Favorite Links Paperweight Collectors Association The International Paperweight Society Wheaton Village Delaware Valley Paperweight Collectors Association (DVPCA)

Miscellaneous search words: Pittsburgh paperweight, Pittsburg paperweight, Pittsburgh paperweights, Pittsburg paperweights, Wm H. Maxwell, W. H. Maxwell, S. S. Pittsburgh, picture encased in glass, portrait encased in glass, person's name in paperweight, paper weight, paperwait, paperwate, Buy of the Leaders, Buy of Your Jobber, Compliments of the Big 4 Four, Leaders in the Manufacture of jewelry, George I. Wilber, Crawford and Company, Ort & Company, J. H. Lesher & Co.