Baccarat Paperweights

Baccarat appears on more paperweights than any other name, and this page exists mainly to draw one line. A Baccarat weight from the classic period around 1845 to 1860 can be worth thousands. A Baccarat crystal weight or figurine from the last fifty years is usually worth a small fraction of that. Both are genuinely Baccarat.

Send photographs through our free auction estimate form — including the base and any box or paperwork — and we will tell you which you have.

What Is a Baccarat Paperweight?

The Baccarat glassworks in Lorraine has operated since the eighteenth century and is still operating. For a short period in the middle of the nineteenth century it made paperweights of the highest order, alongside Saint Louis and Clichy, and then largely stopped.

It resumed paperweight production in the twentieth century, making sulphides, limited editions and a large quantity of clear crystal ornaments and animal figurines. The modern output is well made and widely sold, and it is a consumer product rather than a collector object. The confusion between the two eras is the single most common misunderstanding we deal with in this category.

Antique or Modern? How to Tell

Classic-period Baccarat weights are millefiori and lampwork: close-packed and patterned cane designs, often with silhouette canes showing animals and figures, and single flowers, pansies, and butterflies. Many carry a date cane — B with a year, usually in the 1840s — which is the most useful single thing to look for. Bases are ground, often star-cut.

Modern Baccarat is usually marked differently: an acid-etched or engraved mark on the base, frequently with paperwork, a box and a certificate. Clear crystal animals and geometric ornaments are modern by definition. If it came in a red box, it is not a classic-period weight.

How Much Is My Baccarat Paperweight Worth Worth?

Several things determine what a work by Baccarat Paperweights brings at auction:

• Period — the classic period against modern production, which is the whole question
• Date cane — a legible B and year cane settles the attribution and materially affects value
• Design — close-pack and patterned millefiori, silhouette canes, and fine lampwork flowers lead; simple designs follow
• Edition and paperwork — for modern limited editions, the original box and certificate matter
• Condition — base chips, dome bruising, and repolishing

The honest answer is that no two are alike, and the difference between an ordinary example and an exceptional one is a conversation with a specialist, not a chart. Send us photographs through our free auction estimate form — front, back, signature, and any labels — and we will tell you what you have.

The Market for Baccarat paperweights

By volume this is the largest paperweight name in the market by a wide margin, and by median value it is one of the lowest — because the modern production dominates the count. That combination is exactly why owners are so often disappointed, and why the small number of classic-period weights hiding inside that volume are worth finding.

For a modern Baccarat crystal collection the sensible route is well-sorted group lots. For anything with a date cane, a star-cut ground base and hand-set canes, the answer is entirely different. The estimate is free and the sorting is ours to do.

How to Sell a Work by Baccarat paperweights

The strongest results for a Baccarat paperweight come at auction, where national and international collectors bid against each other. Revere Auctions offers free, no-obligation auction estimates: send photos and dimensions and our specialists respond with a current market valuation and a recommendation on how to sell. Consigned works are professionally photographed, cataloged, and marketed through our fine art auctions to a worldwide bidder base, and we regularly arrange shipping for consignors across the country. If you need a formal written valuation for insurance or estate purposes, our appraisal and valuation services team can help; you can also read more about how selling at auction works.

Related: studio art glass artists, our fine art department, appraisal services, free auction estimates.

Reviewed by the fine art specialists at Revere Auctions, St. Paul, Minnesota.

Baccarat Paperweights: Frequently Asked Questions

Is my Baccarat paperweight antique or modern?

Look at the base and for a date cane. Classic-period weights have ground, often star-cut bases and frequently a B and year cane. Modern pieces usually carry an acid-etched or engraved mark and often came with a box and certificate.

How much is a Baccarat paperweight worth?

Classic-period weights can reach thousands. Modern crystal weights and figurines are usually modest. Revere Auctions provides free estimates from photographs.

Are Baccarat crystal animals paperweights?

They are sold as ornaments and paperweights, and they are modern consumer production. They are not classic-period collector weights and are valued very differently.

What is a date cane?

A tiny cane set into the design carrying the maker’s letter and a year. On Baccarat it is a B with a year in the 1840s, and it is the most decisive identification feature.

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