World's Columbian Expo Heavy Glass Libbey Paperweight

This paperweight is in better condition than the majority of Columbian paperweights, which generally have flawed prints showing through the glass AND significant damage to the reverse paper or fabric.

The very heavy glass is in excellent condition, as is the color picture of the Libbey Building (and glass factory) on the Midway and the reverse material glued to the bottom of the paperweight. The latter tends to be dog-eared on a high percentage of paperweights from the era, but this one is surprisingly almost perfect.

The volume of glass work made and sold at the Libbey Building was huge by late 19th century standards. The Toledo, OH, company was quite new and took a major risk in building and operating a complete glass factory at the WCE. Most of you reading this are quite familiar with the myriad Columbian souvenirs sold at the fair, a great many of which were made onsite at the fair by Libbey.