Paperweights, art glass and objets d’art

The Object
Collective

A journal for those who collect, study and appreciate glass.

The Object Collective is a journal for glass — paperweights, art glass, and objets d’art, examined with the same care given the object itself. We publish guides for new and returning collectors, notes on individual pieces, and observations from the market.

A group of colourful glass paperweights arranged on a scalloped metal tray, their millefiori and floral canes lit from the side.

Recent Posts

A blown glass vase made from irregular squares of red, blue, green, yellow and clear glass fused together, with an asymmetric flared rim.

How to Start Collecting Glass Objects: A Beginner’s Guide

A research-led introduction for new collectors: the main kinds of collectable glass, the vocabulary that describes them, how to judge condition and attribution, and where
A close-up of multicoloured millefiori glass canes, showing the patterned cross-sections used to build paperweight designs.

How to Start Collecting Glass Paperweights: A Beginner’s Guide

A research-led introduction for new collectors: what glass paperweights are, the main techniques to recognise, how to read a base, and how to keep records
A millefiori paperweight seen from above: a pink and white flower at the centre, ringed by rows of small blue and white canes.

Reading the base: pontils, polish, and stars

The pontil, the polish and the star cut are a record of how a weight was finished, and finishing habits belong to workshops. What to
Several dozen glass paperweights arranged together in rows, showing a wide range of millefiori, floral and abstract designs.

What makes a paperweight valuable

Condition, attribution, rarity and fashion — the four things that decide what a paperweight is worth, and why a price on its own tells you
A close-packed millefiori paperweight seen from directly above, with concentric rings of white, yellow and red florets on a deep red ground.

Understanding millefiori

How a cane is built and drawn, why every slice carries the same design, and what to judge once you have stopped counting flowers.
A domed amber glass paperweight seen from above, filled with a rising trail of round air bubbles of varying size.

How to identify a glass paperweight

Where to look and in what order — the base before the top, the individual canes before the pattern, and why stopping short of a