Antique Table Lamp - Buying Vintage Table Lamps
The most charming thing about an antique table lamp is that it reflects in the same time the technological advance, the social change and artistic movements of its time. In the United States, from colonial times to around 1850 candles were used for lighting. There were simple oil lamps available from the 1700s, but the use of candles was widespread.
In the 1850s kerosene lamp was invented it was quickly adopted and widely used until the 1930s. In large cities, gas was piped thorough the walls from the early 1800s to light the fixtures, and kerosene lamps were used only a portable light source. After the first commercially successful electric bulb was invented, the electricity became the first option for lighting in the 1880s.
The fixtures we now call antique table lamps were actually meant to be general lighting for the rooms, and not for task lighting: in the beginning, there were no sewing or reading lamps. From a stylistic point of view a lamp can be late Victorian (about 1880-1900), Art Nouveau or Arts and Crafts (both roughly 1895-1920). However, an antique lamp doesn’t have to embrace one particular style: some lamps have no style, or have multiple influences.
If you are thinking about buying an antique table lamp, first decide what is your purpose? Do you want to use the lamp for light, you want to display it without lighting it up, or you want an example of a particular type? Don’t let yourself carried away by your feelings: keep your mind busy by examining the lamp thoroughly from its shade to its base and working parts.
First look at the antique table lamp from a distance and ask yourself a couple of questions: how does the lamp’s proportion seem to you? Is the shade too large for the base, or vice versa? Are the different parts of the lamp consistent in its style and design? There are many lamps that had their shades changed, and actually there were times when the shades and bases were sold separately.
It can happen that one piece is much more recent, sometimes both pieces are of the same period or even the same manufacturer. There are many lamps that were reproduced or imitated, so you should search for the typical marks of aging. Examine the shade and the base thoroughly: it has to be complete, and it doesn’t have to have breaks. The manufacturer’s name or mark should be visible.
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Antique Table Lamp
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