Category Archives: Lamps

The Right Shade for the Lamp

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It is no secret that I love vintage Art Deco lamps. And over the 2017 Holiday season with time off from work Chris and I hit the local antique and thrift stores. We did have some luck in finding a “treasure” at a bargain price.

 

Greenovation, Rochester, NY

Greenovation on East Main Street, Rochester, NY. Image from Facebook.

Our first stop was Greenovation on East Main Street in Rochester, NY. Located in the former Vietnam Veterans Thrift Store, Greenovation is a combination thrift / antique store. While Chris and I have not have the same consistent luck at Greenovation as we did with the former occupants, we still get an excellent find now and then. This time Chris spotted a great Art Deco / Machine Age table lamp in need of some TLC. I have to admit that when Chris showed me this lamp, I was not enthusiastic about at all. The chrome looked pitted and stained and the black cast iron base was rusting.

 

Chrome and cast iron machine age lamp from the 1930's.

Chris taking the lamp to get rewired at Top of the Lamp in Victor, NY.

There were cobwebs on the underside of the base and in the light socket. We knew if we bought the lamp it would need rewiring, the rubber power cord was crumbling and the plug had melted. Now the moment of truth, how much? Because it was the Thanksgiving weekend Greenovation was having a “black Friday” sale and everything was 75% off. The lamp had a price of $30.00, but with the discount it came to $7.50! No matter what I thought of the lamp originally, at that price I wouldn’t have left the store without it.

After getting the lamp home, Chris started to clean it up. To his surprise, what we thought was pitting and rust was just dirt and tar stains from heavy smoking. The lamp started to come back to life. A little Turtle Wax on the base helped to bring back some of the original crackle paint finish. Now time for rewiring. In the nearby town of Victor, New York is The Top of the Lamp, not only a great place for lamps and lampshades, but also a great lamp repair shop.

Because the lamp is large, we had a three-way socket installed. I have no way of knowing if this was true of the original socket, but I assume it did. With the lamp repaired now it needed a shade that would be period appropriate.

 

Detail of the socket on the moderne lamp.

Moderne lamp socket detail.

 

Created in the mid-1900’s the Illuminating Engineering Society (I.E.S.) studied the relation between illumination and good eye sight. The I.E.S. designed lamps in the 1930’s that gave glare free light for reading as well as providing general room illumination. To do this a glass diffuser is the solution that I.E.S. came up with. These diffusers softened the glare of the light downward, while sending light up toward the ceiling to illuminate the room indirectly.

 

I.E.S. ad from 1935 in the Toronto Globe.

December 20, 1935 I.E.S. advertisement, Toronto Globe. Image from Proquest Historical Newspapers.

 

So now we needed to find a milk glass (called opal in the 1930’s) diffuser. Chris lucked out and found one for $5.00 at a small antique store near Clinton, New Jersey.

 

Milk glass diffuser.

Waffle pattern milk glass diffuser. Image from laurelleaffarm.com

But never use these diffusers for shades. I’ve seen them used for shades in period films, all I can say about that is . . . WRONG!!!!

 

The Aviator, 2004

The Aviator (Martin Scorsese, US 2004) Starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Set decoration by Francesca Lo Schiavo who wasn’t aware that diffusers need lampshades. Image from the DVD.

Finding a period 1930’s lampshade is almost like seeing a unicorn or big foot. On the whole they just haven’t survived. Dark Drum shades were popular in the 1930’s, usually with contrasting stripes. Today it is easier and cheaper to get a solid color shade than have one custom-made with stripes. So a simple black drum shade was our choice, since it would only send the light up and down, not out.

 

 

So if you have an Art Deco lamp in need of a shade,  remember diffusers are not shades. Try to be sensitive to the lamp’s time period. And simple is always better.

 

Anthony & Chris (The Freakin’, ‘Tiquen Guys)

Deco / Not Deco Desk Lamps Follow Up

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Desk Lamp 1

Desk Lamp 1

Ebay Description: Industrial Looking Vintage Art Deco Desk Lamp With Adjustable Arm

This lamp is definitely not Deco. We’re not sure what style it is – Arts and Crafts? Victorian? And we’re not even sure if it is a desk lamp or should be wall mounted. Chris’ thought on this is that it looks like a gas lamp fixture converted to electricity. Frankly it looks like a candlestick telephone from Count Dracula’s house.

 

Desk Lamp 2

Desk Lamp 2

Ebay Description: Vintage Chase Art Deco Machine Age Chrome C Table Desk Lamp Industrial Lighting

This is a classic Art Deco desk lamp. Made for the gift and specialty division of the Chase Brass and Copper Company was sold from 1935 – 1942. It has many attributes of the streamline era, including the fluted “C” shape arm and joining pieces. The indented, black painted circles on the base. This must have been a very popular lamp in the 1930’s as many of these can be found at antique stores today. We’ve seen the prices vary from about $50.00 on the low end (a really good price) – over $500.00 on the high end (way too much.) Originally these lamps came with a cone shaped paper shade.

 

Desk Lamp 3

Desk Lamp 3

Ebay description: 1920s Vintage Antique Art Deco Bohemian Czech Boudoir Desk Lamp with Shade

If something is from the 1920’s it doesn’t mean that it is Art Deco. That is certainly true of the lamp above. Art Deco as a design style did not really become available to mainstream consumers until the end of the decade. And even then it was not the most popular of styles. This lamp, which looks more like a table or nightstand lamp rather than for a desk, while pretty is not Deco.

 

Desk Lamp 4

Desk Lamp 4

Ebay Description: Black ceramic vtg art deco desk or table lamp no shade.

This is what we call “1950’s Art Deco”. The Art Deco era ended in 1940, but elements of it continued on in an exaggerated fashion into the mid-1950’s before mid-century modern really took hold. This nightstand lamp is 1950’s not Deco.

 

 

Desk Lamp 5

Desk Lamp 5

On line Description: Art Deco lighting. Polaroid desk lamp designed by Walter Dorwin Teague for the Polaroid Corporation.

This was a tricky one. This certainly looks like a lamp for the late 1940’s or early 1950’s but the design goes back to 1937. A creation of Walter Dorwin Teague and Frank Del Giudice for the Polaroid Company years before it started instant photography. This lamp design would bridge the end of the Deco era into the postwar Mid-Century Modern era. But it is a Deco lamp.

 

 

Desk Lamp 6

Desk Lamp 6

Ebay Description: Vintage Elwood, IN Mid Century Faries Desk Art Deco Cobra Style Lamp

Here was another tricky one. The Cobra Lamp is often attributed to Norman Bel Geddes, but it was actually designed by Jean Otis Reinecke. Reinecke was awarded a patent for it in 1947 and it was sold by the Faries Company from 1946 -1952. The actual name for the lamp is 60243 (not very catchy). Since this is a post World War 2 creation it is not deco. But the influence of the Walter Dorwin Teague Polaroid lamp above was certainly an influence.

 

 

Desk Lamp 7

Desk Lamp 7

On line Description: ADNET French Art Deco Modernist Chrome Desk Lamp c1930

Jacques Adent a famous French modernist designer created this lamp in the early 1930’s. The Deco pedigree is very high for this chrome beauty.

 

 

Desk Lamp 8

Desk Lamp 8

Ebay Description: Tiffany Style Stained Glass Table Lamp Desk Art Deco Victorian Antique Bronze

Our first thought when seeing this lamp was WOW!!!! We feel the less said about this the better. But really “Tiffany Style” that never spells D-E-C-O in our book. Then “Art Deco Victorian” those two design eras never met up with each other, I mean there was King Edward VII between Queen Victoria and King George V. “Art Deco Victorian” don’t get us started.

 

Desk Lamp 9

Desk Lamp 9

Ebay Description: Art Deco MARKEL Chrome Machine Age Antique Desk Table Lamp industrial modern

This is Deco, despite the somewhat traditional style shade. The Markel Company of Buffalo, New York produced many fine Deco desk lamps. And while this one is quite in the same league as some of the others it does share some similarities such as the chrome and especially the chrome discs and finial on the base.

 

 

Desk Lamp 10

Desk Lamp 10

Ebay Description: Vtg Art Deco Steampunk Fluorescent Office Banker’s Desk Lamp Industrial Student

Okay, this was another tricky one, but there was a big clue in the description – “Fluorescent”. Fluorescent lighting was introduced on a large scale at the 1939 New York World’s Fair. But it didn’t really start to become available for home use until after the Second World War. We think that what ever company produced this lamp used mold from prewar lamps for the ends of the shade and the pole holding the lamp up. And we will give you the fact that it is more Deco than “steampunk”.

 

Chris and Anthony (The Freakin’, Tiquen’ Guys).