During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, women used hand coolers to prevent the embarrassment of offering a warm, sweaty palm in social situations. Typically palm-sized and egg-shaped, and made from glass, stone, or ceramic, hand coolers were a common accessory at dances.

Baccarat and Clichy of France have both been suggested as possible manufacturers of this paperweight, though it may have been made in the U.S. The form of the flag is unusual, with thirty-two stars arranged in the shape of a star. The paperweight may commemorate Minnesota's admission as the thirty-second state in 1858. It is also possible, however, that the flag represents Texas, the Lone Star State, which was admitted in 1845.