Were paperweights ever necessary?

[Scarby9]

On a wide scale?
I'm taking half an hour to wind down at the end of the working week, eating houmous and watching an old episode of the Antiques Roadshow on Yesterday. There is a beautiful old (18C?) paperweight which got me thinking.
Were old houses so drafty that people were always having to weigh down papers to prevent them blowing away?
Or were they originally the old equivalent of paperclips - a way of grouping papers into sets for organisational purposes?
Or have they always been a bit useful, but mainly an excuse for a decorative object?

Have you never watched Bridget Jones' diary?!? Poor Colin Firth could have done with one.

So if you're writing a novel outdoors by a lake, you definitely need a paper weight.

Oh dammit @abstractzebra got there first!

Thank you everyone - you have made my evening.
I wanted a quiet, relaxed, gentle, winding down time, and all this conversation about old offices full of flimsy old paper wafting in the breeze from creaking ceiling fans absolutely hits the spot.

Look, @WallaceinAnderland !
You can combine your stapler with a paperweight with a fond memory of a classic comedy.
www.amazon.sg/Office-Stapler-Gelatin-Paperweight-Yellow/dp/B083W6CQPG

Haha I love that that OP