Tag Archives: Deco

Merry Deco Christmas Card!

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Visions of the past

Nothing says you care more during this season than spreading your love and thoughts via a Deco Christmas card. But first, a brief history.

Sir Henry Cole, a civil servant in the United Kingdom in 1843 helped set-up the new ‘Public Record Office’ (now called the Post Office). The concept of the Christmas card was a bid on how to get this new service used more by ordinary people.

His first card was a collaboration between he and his artist friend, John Horsley. Their creation was a tri-panel card that sold for 1 shilling (about 8 cents) and was met with mixed reviews. The outer panels featured people caring for the poor. The central picture depicted a family having a Christmas feast. What was so controversial? The center panel featured children drinking wine!

Although started in 1840, only very rich people could afford to send anything in the post. Because the new railways being built, could carry much more post and could go faster than the horse and carriage, the introduction of the new “Penny Stamp” made sending mail affordable to the masses. Cards became even more popular in the UK when they could be posted in an unsealed envelope for half the price of an ordinary letter.

 

By 1860 and with improved printing methods, Christmas cards became much more popular and were produced in large quantities. In 1870 the cost of sending a post card and Christmas card dropped to half a penny. Now affordable, even more people were able to send cards.

Meanwhile, across the pond in the United States, Christmas Cards started to make an appearance in the late 1840. They were very expensive and most people couldn’t afford them.

Enter Louis Prang in 1875. Originally from Germany he was a printer who had worked on early cards in the UK. He started mass producing cards so more people could afford to buy them. In 1915, John C. Hall and two of his brothers created a small company you may have heard of called Hallmark Cards. As you may have guessed, they are one of the largest greeting card companies in the world (though their cards don’t cost 8 cents!).

In the 1910s and 1920s, home made cards became popular. (Remember those homemade invites from my party series?) Often in unusual shapes and with delicate trims such as foil and ribbon, they were usually too delicate to send through the post and were given by hand.

Deco Christmas Cards would also commemorate significant world events.

Amelia Earhart’s 1928 transcontinental flight.

As for the mass produced cards, unlike Halloween, they got the majority of them right…but then again!

 I hope you enjoyed this post.  Sending wishes to you and yours for a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

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

If you enjoyed this look at Art Deco Christmas Cards you might also enjoy these earlier Holiday posts:

A Deco Valentine’s Day Party!

Time for a Deco-ween Party!

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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).

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Deco / Not Deco: Desk Lamps. A Quiz!

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Deco / Not Deco Desk Lamps.

Welcome to the first Driving For Deco Quiz. This short ten question quiz will test your knowledge of Art Deco desk lamps. All of the lamps below were listed either on ebay or in online stores and had descriptions using either Art Deco or Deco. Some are and some are not. Next Friday, we will post a follow up explaining why or why not the lamps in the quiz were Deco. Have fun!
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Kensington, Deco Aluminum Gift Ware

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Kensington Compass Platter, brass detail.

Kensington Compass Platter, brass detail.

 

The Chase, Brass and Copper Company was in the business of making brass and copper pipes, nails and toilet bowl floats, Revere and Alcoa both were in the business of cookware (pots and pans). In the early 1930’s as the depression deepened to its lowest point, Chase decided to expand its sales base and go into the giftware business. Giftware that spanned the gamut from smoking items to cocktail shakers, electric buffet servers and lamps. Made of chrome and copper, their giftware line was such a success that Revere and Alcoa followed a few years later with their own lines. Revere, like Chase made their items of chrome, brass and copper. Alcoa, an aluminum company had developed a new, special type of aluminum for their giftwares; they christened the new line Kensington, after the town the company was in, New Kensington, Pennsylvania. Introduced in the fall of 1934 the Kensington line was modern with classic accents, usually in brass. All the items were created by industrial designer Lurelle Guild. Here is the Stratford comport and Thistle dish, both of which were among the first items when Kensington hit the market in October of 1934.

 

If you go to antique shows, antique malls or stores one often comes across giftwares made by Chase. Chase collectibles command pretty high prices, with items made by Revere not that far behind. But pieces of Kensington can often be bought for a fraction of the cost of Chase and Revere. The irony of this is, in the 1930’s Kensington was the most expensive of the giftware lines. I think that most people who sell Kensington at flea markets, thrift stores and antiques stores believe these are mid-century items and do not realize their 1930’s deco pedigree. Plus the fact that it is aluminum, a big selling point 80 years ago, is seen a cheap alternative to the chrome and copper of Chase and Revere. Here are some close up details of a few of the pieces in my collection –

 

 

Other Kensington items from my collection, all bought for less than $15.00 – –

Mayfair Tea set

Thistle Dish – Aztec Platter

So the next time you are at a flea market looking for a genuine deco piece, don’t pass up these shiny and very affordable items.

Anthony & Chris

Compass Platter

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