Large Faceted Baccarat Limited Edition Fruit Basket Paperweight. Classical design with a lampwork basket of fruit set over an opaque white milk glass ground. The basket is filled with luscious strawberries with leaves attached. It is signed with a Baccarat signature cane “B 1976″ and also signed again on the base with the Baccarat logo. The paperweight is faceted with a large concave top facet and six smaller concave side facets. This design was produced only in 1976 in a limited edition of 300 paperweights. This is number 57 in that series. There is a signature cane “B 1976″ shown in the pictures. The base has the acid etched Baccarat logo plus it is engraved with the year (1976), the edition number (57) and the size of the series (300). It is unusual to find a Baccarat paperweight with a white opaque ground as they produced very few designs with this choice of ground. It works perfectly as a contrast to the delicate fruit basket. Please Note: The stand shown in the pictures is not included with the paperweight. It is shown for illustration only. Note on white glare : Please ignore the white areas, they are glare from the light. Large size: 3 1/16″ diameter by 1 7/8″ high. The base is polished flat. Faceted with a large top facet and six side facets. All the facets are concave. There are some scratches on the base, but no other wear or damage was found on inspection. No cracks, chips, or scratches on the body. Signature: Made by Baccarat in France in 1976. Signed in cane and on the base. Baccarat was founded in 1776 in Alsace-Lorraine with the name of Verrerie de Sainte Anne. The original location was near the town of Baccarat. Today the firm is known as Compagnie des Cristalleries de Baccarat. Most collectors refer to three periods of Baccarat paperweight production. This classification is definitely an over simplification. Baccarat continued to make paperweights after the classic period, but little is known about the extent of the product line or who made the paperweights. What is known is that by 1910, the offering in the catalog had dwindled to pansy paperweights, simple open concentric paperweights, and rock paperweights. Dupont, who supposedly was the last worker at Baccarat to know the secrets of paperweight making. No collector or scholar ever met Mr. Dupont although at least one visited the Baccarat factory and asked to meet with him. The weights stopped appearing in the shop in 1934. In 1952, Paul Jokelson approached Baccarat with the idea of making sulphide paperweights again. In 1953 Baccarat resumed paperweight production with a series of sulphide paperweights the first of which were the unsuccessful Eisenhower sulphide followed by the Queen Elizabeth coronation sulphide. Millefiori paperweight production was resumed in 1957 and lampwork paperweights were re-introduced in the early 1970s. Baccarat stopped making this type of fine glass paperweights in 2002. You can read more about the Baccarat paperweights in the new book Baccarat Paperweights – two centuries of beauty by Paul Dunlop or one of the older books on paperweights in general, such as The Encyclopedia of Glass Paperweights by Paul Hollister or World Paperweights by Robert Hall. Allan’s Paperweights is owned by Allan Port. If in doubt, please check with me first. Please do not ask me to declare this a gift.