Description
References to the Passmore Paper Company out of Butte Montana are increasingly rare, and specially on eBay. I’m sure there are some people who still know of it that might have interest in this item beyond its normal “collectible paperweight” status. But even in that latter case it is an interesting and rare find. I can’t date it conclusively, only by its font, color scheme, and three digit phone number. Early 1900s. Almost certainly before 1920. As they were very proud of it being FINALLY the Twentieth Century, I would suggest even pre-1910. All other references I have found so far are from between 1904 and 1907. It has some factory imperfections in the glass itself as well post consumer surface scratches. Seen at certain angles with certain lighting but not immediately apparent in all lighting. There are also a few minor chips on the underside, on the textured “rim” of the otherwise concave base. Easy to miss in photos due to the pattern and the factory imperfections. There is one millimeter diameter round chip to the topside, just out of the field of the advertisement itself, about a quarter of an inch from the edge. It could have been a surface bubble in the glass that got smoothed out or it could have been something very hard but very small and sharp hitting the glass directly. Hard to say.