John Derbyshire Glass Lion Paperweights

John Derbyshire Lion paperweights

Here are a handsome pair of Beasts. These pictures were kindly sent to me by a lady who wanted to know a little more about them.

 Fortunately they have  Victorian registration lozenges impressed in the bases and so its has been possible to exactly attribute them to the Manchester based manufacturer John Derbyshire. The design of these Lion Paperweights was registered in July 1874 and so these will date from shortly after that time. John Derbyshire also marked these lions with an Anchor and the initials JD. Apparently these Lions were created from an original design by Landseer and were intended to be used as paperweights. Although I have not been able to test these Lions they look to me like they are made from Uranium glass .

Thank you Karen for your permission to use your photos here.