Most expensive paperweight sold at auction

A glass Clichy Millefiori basket paperweight c.1840 was sold for $258,500 (£149,422) on 26 June 1990 at Sotheby's, New York, USA. The paperweight, in the shape of a basket (but with its handle missing), with floral designs in a multitude of shades, such as cobalt-blue, coral, yellow, claret, purple, red, pink and green, was created at the Clichy factory, one of three major French paperweight factories in the 19th century, the other two being Baccarat and Saint Louis. The Clichy glass factory had been cited for its coloured and overlaid glasswork at the Paris Exhibition in 1844, and continued to win accolades for the quality of its designs in glass. The millefiori basket paperweight was probably made the mid 1840s, when Clichy produced some of its greatest work.