late 19th century original chicago world's fair souvenir in the form of a solid glass paperweight featuring a black and white image of the fairgrounds set against a white opalescent or "milk" glass bottom or "disk" with a clear polished dome. the victorian era portrait and advertising paperweights were fabricated through a process patented by william h. maxwell of pittsburgh, pa. the intact paperweight was made in the libbey kiln (see pictures) constructed at the world's fair or "columbian exposition." the libbey glass company was founded by edward drummond libbey in 1888. he was known as "the father of the glass industry in toledo, ohio" where his operations or factory was based out of. prior to forming the libbey company, he was president of the new england glass company until 1886. during the 1893 world's fair or "columbian exposition, libbey sponsored a massive demonstration plant that contained its own building and brick kiln. the success of the libbey glass company relied heavily on the inventions of michael joseph owens, who was an inventor of machines that could automate the production of glass bottles. in 1903, libbey founded the owens bottle machine company (later owens-illinois) and in 1916, the libbey-owens sheet glass company, where libbey served as president of both operations.