MT. CRAWFORD, Va. – Paperweights commanded strong interest March 23-24 when Jeffrey S Evans sold Part II of the colossal single-owner Barbara Sisson collection. The first Sission auction was held in February and saw an onionskin Lutz marble sell for almost $10,000. The March auction saw registered internet bidders from 46 different countries and commanded strong prices that far exceeded presale estimates.

Sisson, of Charleston, W.Va., acquired a massive collection across multiple genres, including rare marbles, paperweights, figural glass, and glass canes, as well as coins and jewelry and important literature pertaining to art glass. She wrote articles on American paperweights for various publications throughout the 1960s and 1970s and had a close friendship with Elizabeth Degenhart of the Crystal Art Glass Company, from whom she purchased numerous glass figures over the course of many years. She also assembled boxes of scrapbooks, including correspondences and ephemera on paperweights which were donated to the Rakow Library at the Corning Museum of Glass.

“Better, identifiable art glass continues to be a popular category with a large number of active collectors,” Evans said. “Competition for the rarer pieces is intense. Single-owner auctions like this draw strong interest, especially when they are unreserved and the estimates are conservative, which is the way we roll. Desirable merchandise that is fresh to the market, well promoted, appropriately cataloged, professionally photographed, and sold without reserve engages bidders and creates great excitement which usually results in strong prices.”

A 19th century French Clichy C-scroll millefiori paperweight was a star of the auction. The piece was faceted with panel and punty cuts and had an interior ring of Clichy rose canes and floral canes. There were polychrome C-scrolls to the exterior, above an opal filigree ground and a factory-polished base. The 3 inch diameter paperweight was in excellent overall condition. It opened at a conservative $400 and galloped past the high estimate of $1,200 to achieve $8,190.

A Baccarat millefiori and swirled basket paperweight was made with various colored millefiori canes with several silhouette examples above a white swirled basket with a factory-polished base. The 2 ¼ inch diameter piece, from France, 19th century, was virtually undamaged with minor wear and sold well past the mark for $4,095.

An antique concentric millefiori miniature paperweight shot cup commanded $1,170, against a high estimate of $300. It was made with two rings of complex millefiori canes and a central blue complex millefiori cane. The applied cut-fluted vase had a red and opal torsade decoration at the rim. The 19th century piece stood a diminutive 3 5/8 inches tall with a 1 ½ inch diameter base and was cataloged as possibly Baccarat.

Although the sale was expected to perform well there were some surprises. “The biggest surprise of the Friday session was a near-complete set of the Annual Bulletin of Paperweight Collectorrsquo;s Association,” Evans said. The 55-lot run opened at $20 and sold for a hefty $1,521. The lot included Volume 1, Number 1, 1954 to 2014, lacking just five editions, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1976, and 1984. The group consisted of both hard and soft covers and was in excellent overall condition.

A selection of hatpins performed well. Highlights among them was a lot composed of three vintage Satsuma ceramic examples, made in bamboo and floral botanical polychrome accented with encrustations of gold. One depicted bamboo leaves and one portrayed bamboo stalks in flower and the third portrayed a large butterfly against a kaleidoscope of small butterflies in the background. They outsold the high estimate of $150 to achieve an impressive $1,404.

Another grouping of seven vintage rhinestone and glass hatpins brought $1,638. The lot included colors of amber, green, blue, and topaz, set in silver and gold-tone mounts in various pierced and knopped collar settings.

Complementing the hatpin segment of the sale was an irresistible Royal Bayreuth porcelain hatpin holder made in the form of a figural penguin. The presentational piece stood 5 inches tall and had green and black glazing and dated to the late 19th century or the first quarter of the 20th century. It was undamaged and sold for almost five times the high estimate for $556.

According to Jeff Evans, Saturdayrsquo;s big surprise was the large lot of Avon jewelry that were still in the individual original boxes. “We started to leave these for the local Church Bazarr, but threw them on the truck at the last minute and they brought almost $500.”