A large 19th century green glass 'Dump' doorstop/paperweight with internal floral decoration
.English circa 1850.
Height:14cm
Dump glass weights were made in England by various factories from the early 19th century all the way until the early 20th century. In the early 1800's demand for glass bottles grew enormously. At that time, all glass that was made at a factory was taxed, regardless of whether it was used or sold. If remainder glass from a day was returned to the furnace as a part of another batch it was literally taxed twice. To avoid wasting this remainder glass, factories began making thousands of these weights. They were likely given the name "dump glass" as the glass used to make them would otherwise have been dumped at the end of the day.