Another question we get on occasion and one we recently received was if the multi-colors on a vintage fixture was original. Many vintage light fixtures had multi- colored highlights, often referred to as polychrome or polychromatic, from the Greek words meaning multi color. Monochrome is used to describe a fixture of a single color.
Some vintage fixtures have retained their polychrome finish very nicely, muted shades of reds, greens, and blues. This coloration was never meant to be the focus on the fixture, but rather the "accessory" to it. These colors were almost always pastel, and usually applied by air brush; the colors faded nicely into the background. Thinking of Linda's earrings here.
What we are seeing out there today are people trying to repaint the colors or simply repainting the entire fixture in colors, totally absent of any consideration of what the original fixture looked like. In the catalogue section of our website there are numerous fixtures with a polychrome finish, all in muted shades of color, all appropriate for the fixture and time. None of the examples have brightly painted reds, greens or blues, much less the bright purples, hot pink, or vibrant yellows some are using to re-paint vintage fixtures.
So yes, multi-colors were original to certain vintage fixtures, as in the images above, and they will look right when you see them. If you have to ask, then you know the answer.
Listen to Your Eyes. PB
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