Whitall, Tatum and Company Paperweight
date: label: date made
content: ca 1900
name: label: maker
content: Whitall, Tatum and Company
notes: label: Description (Brief)
content: In the 1700s, paperweights made from textured stone or bronze were part of the writer’s tool kit, which also included a quill pen and stand, inkpot, and blotter. By the mid-1800s, decorative paperweights produced by glassmakers in Europe and the United States became highly desired collectibles.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Decorative glass paperweights reflected the 19th-century taste for intricate, over-the-top designs. Until the spread of textiles colorized with synthetic dyes, ceramics and glass were among the few objects that added brilliant color to a 19th-century Victorian interior. The popularity of these paperweights in the 1800s testifies to the sustained cultural interest in hand craftsmanship during an age of rapid industrialization.
label: Description (Brief)
content: Whitall, Tatum & Company of Millville, New Jersey was formed in 1901 and employed first rate craftsmen who created outstanding paperweights.
label: Description (Brief)
content: This Whitall, Tatum and Company paperweight features a powdery white sailboat and blue water suspended vertically in a clear glass ball and is attributed to Michael Kane. Kane is known best for his “frit” work--the act of fusing powdered glass to create an image or scene, as in the paper thin ship in this paperweight.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: place made
content: United States: New Jersey, Millville
setName: label: See more items in
content: Home and Community Life: Ceramics and Glass
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content: Paperweights
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content: Art
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content: Domestic Furnishings
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Mrs. Florence E. Bushee
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: CE.65.477
label: catalog number
content: 65.477
label: accession number
content: 264964
label: collector/donor number
content: 152
objectType: label: Object Name
content: paperweight
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: glass (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 3 27/32 in x 3 1/2 in; 9.779 cm x 8.89 cm