The Glass Gallery - L H Selman Ltd — Attraction in Chicago

Updated review: I posted my original review several years ago when I was a newbie collector. I have since grown in my knowledge of and appreciation for the art form as well as for LH Selman (The Glass Gallery). Ben and his team have curated the best selection of weights, both on their website as well as through their auctions. If you love paperweights, you cannot miss the seasonal online auction at LH Selman, of which there are several during the year. I just received my winning bids in the mail yesterday and once again, the quality of their pieces and the customer service is second to none. Kudos to Ben, Paul, Penelope and the rest of the team on your professionalism, your eye for beauty, and for creating such a wonderful way of engaging with such beautiful works of art!

Original review: Many thanks to the Glass Gallery's leadership for having a professional of the caliber of Paul Berlanga on staff. I am a very new collector of art glass paperweights, having inherited two from my grandmother several years ago. Over the last year, I started to expand my collection and happened upon your website. I made an initial purchase of two smaller weights, one of which was no longer available. What a serendipitous purchase for it was Paul who reached out to counsel me on a potential substitution.

Paul’s patient and expert hand has guided me through several subsequent purchases. He has approached every interaction with me with professionalism, sense of humor, and a commitment to making sure that I was not only was satisfied with my purchase, and that it harmonized with my existing collection, but that I grew in my knowledge of the artist's work. Paul operates with integrity and a very clear commitment to his customers. He is deeply knowledgeable and very generous of his time. My initial purchase of a small Deacons and a smallish MacNaught has turned into the purchase of several Mike Hunter pieces and one Drew Ebelhare, all thanks to Paul’s engagement, love for art and the impact its beauty has on one's life, and his steadfast commitment to making sure that I am happy with my purchase. I mentioned to Paul in one of our early conversations that I had seen a MacNaught with a cane in the shape of Texas and without asking, he contacted the artist and located one for me.

Please know that thanks to Paul, L.H. Selman has gained a loyal and very happy customer. Your gallery and Paul are consistently my first point of contact for all of paperweight purchases. The quality of the selection, the stellar customer service, and the care taken in the packaging and shipment warrant more than a 5 star review!

Paul Berlanga is a gem of a human and a real asset to your gallery, his customers, and to the art...

To be clear from the beginning of this post, we have loved working with L.H. Selman LTD over the years. We purchased our first weight from Larry Selman in the early 1990’s at the Selman’s Chestnut St. gallery. We lived an hour or so away from the gallery and over the years made a number of trips there and then to the Selman’s Locust St. gallery to see the Selman collection and to sometimes purchase paperweights. We took a break from paperweight collecting around 2005. Our children were getting older and we found we had a number of other things to spend our time on and just lost focus on paperweight collecting. A little later, Larry Selman sold the gallery and the Selman collection was moved to Chicago. We had always purchased our weights at the gallery. We liked being able to see a weight in person and hold it in in our hands before thinking about adding it to our collection. Initially purchasing weights on line was just not the same to us.

That all changed when we stopped by the current L.H. Selman Gallery during a trip to Chicago in the summer of 2019. The first person we met at the gallery was Penelope Turgeon. She spent over an hour with us showing us the gallery and catching us up on major events and changes in the art of paperweights since we stopped collecting a decade before. We were both very impressed with Penelope’s knowledge and demeaner.

We realized upon returning home to California that our visit to the Selman Gallery and our time spent with Penelope had rekindled our interest in paperweight collecting. Soon after we started participating in the Selman auctions. Since then, we have purchased a number of weights through Selman auctions or directly on the Selman website. We are extremely happy with every weight we have purchased from or through Selman. Every weight purchased has been as advertised. The photography of the weights on the Selman site is excellent and the Selman team has always taken the time to answer our questions or forward additional information to us if needed. We have mainly worked with Penelope and we think she is marvelous and love working with her. We have also had very positive interactions with Paul and Marty.

The bottom line is that we have a very high regard for the L.H. Selman brand and really enjoy working with Penelope the Selman team. Our only regret is that we do not live closer to the L.H.Selman Gallery. There is nothing like visiting the Selman gallery and seeing their paperweight...

I miss the original LH Selman gallery in CA. Larry Selman was knowledgeable, professional, and honest and for decades ran one of the best places to buy and sell paperweights. Mr. Selman did a lot to promote glass and paperweights and even offered a collectors club. I always joined since he would provide free FedEx shipping, discount coupons for the next purchase, many sales booklets, small gifts and a free calendar for the next year. I spent many, many thousands of dollars. This club is now extinct. Larry was always available to give guidance on collecting and available to talk to. Mr. Clark never seems to be at the gallery. I did get one email from him about using the word tolerable for a condition definition in his auction. I have never seen the word tolerable used from any of the major auction houses. When my husband became ill, Larry and Suzanne were able to get some weights to auction within a few months. I tried selling a few weights a couple of years ago with Mr. Clark, and the wait was over a year. I was actually told by Penelope that lawyers are shipping them hundreds of paperweight to settle estates, so they can’t get weights to auction any sooner than 1- 1 ½ yrs. On one weight that I did sell through Mr. Clark previously, I got the final sales report with an additional charge for restoration. I actually had that weight restored by Mr. Poore just prior to shipping. Mr. Clark did refund the polishing fee after I showed him a receipt from Mr. Poore, but maybe this is what happens to glass when it is held too long and shuffled around. I did get an email from LH Selman a couple of years ago to look for my calendar. When the calendar never came I called them and asked why I haven’t received the calendar and I was told that they are only shipping them to people that made a recent purchase. Since LH Selman was sold, my customer experience has been taken from exceptional to,...