Terrestrial Globe Paperweight, United States by Lundberg Studios

The whole of Asia, in silver, floating on a deep blue sea.

This terrestrial globe paperweight was made by Lundberg Studios in the United States and is dated 2002. It is blown glass. Glass paperweights became a celebrated art form in the nineteenth century, and American studio glass makers have since pushed the form toward painterly effects inside the clear dome. Here a sphere of cobalt and turquoise swirls is laid with silvery, speckled continents, the outlines of Asia and Australia clearly legible, with scattered islands between. A clear glass layer encases it all and catches the light. It is 2.5 inches wide, 2.5 deep and 2.5 high.

Holding down papers is the least of what it carries.