The "classic" paperweights from the St. Louis factory date from the 1840s. After a hiatus of many years the company revived the production of weights in 1952 "for a short period" (Hollister 1969, p. 271). Later, commercial production was resumed on a regular basis.
The collector can come across easily-recognizable paperweights from the 1950s as they usually contain date-canes. Typically these are close concentrics -- as in the example below -- but double overlays and pedestal weights were also made. The canes in these weights have been criticized as being "really too small to see" (Hollister 1969, p. 272), and this is the case in the example shown here. One must use additional magnification to view the finely-detailed individual canes in this example.
A modern close-concentric paperweight by St. Louis. Signed with a SL 1953 cane, seen in the seven o'clock position, third row. Image slightly enlarged to show details of the individual canes. D = 3" (7.6 cm). Sold for $150 in 1992.
Updated 18 Jul 2002