Antique Lighting Fixture tip # 6

I had just finished rewiring a nice little 2 bulb vintage bathroom fixture, turned it on and ... nothing. Odd, I thought that both bulbs would be bad, so I changed the bulbs to ones I knew were good. Turned it on and... nothing. OK, out with the continuity tester. Both sockets and switch tested in good working order. Sometimes switches have intermittent problems so I changed the switch, replaced the light bulbs which were good, turned it on and ... nothing.

That's when that little vintage light bulb went off in my head.

I remembered talking to an old timer about restoring antique lighting when he mentioned he had just fixed a fixture brought to him that was not working. The problem was so simple I had forgotten about it until now.

People have a tendency to screw the light bulb down TOO TIGHT. The metal contact point which the light bulb hits at the bottom of the socket is a thin piece of bendable copper. Repeatedly screwing the bulb down as tight as you can bends this contact point down. Then when you replace a light bulb with one which may not be as pointed at the bottom as the burned out one you are replacing, the bottom of the new light bulb doesn't hit the contact point on the socket. So you think it may be a bad light bulb and you try another light bulb which does work, after screwing it down really tight. So you throw away the new light bulb which did not work when in fact the light bulb was perfectly good.

So, when putting light bulbs in vintage lighting fixtures (or any fixtures for that matter) screw them in to where they just light up, and then no more than a quarter turn.

This will prevent the bottom contact from being deformed to where it will no longer make contact with the bottom of the light bulb.

The images show a cut-away view of inside an antique socket with two different light bulbs having very different bottom profiles.





Listen to Your Eyes. PB

How to tell if an antique shade is really old?

A customer recently asked me a question I remember asking a mentor many years ago: "How can you tell if a shade for an antique fixture is really old or a reproduction?" My mentor's first response was, "You can just tell."  Frustrated by his answer, I asked him to elaborate on the signs which indicate a shade is vintage and old. I thought I would share what was shared with me back then. The following is more a guideline than a rule for vintage and antique shades.

First, look at the top opening of the shade. Vintage shades were hand blown into a mold and resulted with the top edge of the shade nicely rolled and smooth. Reproduction shades have a flat ground top which is much faster and easier to finish. This is about 95 % accurate. Some vintage shades are very thin and this indicator is not there.

Second, look just below the top rolled edge of the opening. Antique shades will have a thin ring which is rough, where the hand blown glass was broken out of the mold. If these first two are on shade it is a good bet it is antique and vintage.

Third, there will be small seams in the glass where the mold is clamped together. Vintage shades will have 2 to 4 "mold marks" where reproduction shades will usually have only 2.

Fourth, vintage and antique shade often have slight imperfections such as air bubbles, insignificant discoloration, minor unevenness in the finish and thickness of the glass, and trivial deformities. For collectors these imperfections are looked for as they indicate the human touch imparted to the vintage shade.

In addition, vintage shades have a look and feel which reproduction shades just do not have. This is what my mentor was referring to when he said "You can just tell." And after handling thousands of shades over the years, both vintage and reproduction, I too can "just tell."

My customer was spared the frustration of "You can just tell" and was was given the rest of this short lesson on how to tell if an antique shade is really old.

Listen to Your Eyes. PB

New vintage lights inventory posted to flickr, twitter, and facebook

Starting this month all new inventory being put up on our website will also be placed on facebook, flickr, and twitter. Please bookmark, add as favorite, or join your favorite way to stay in touch and be one of the first to view the new inventory. Yesterday we just had one disappointed customer because the fixture she was interested in was sold yesterday morning. Hate it when that happens!

Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50643466@N05/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/vintagelightscom/110983695607214

Twitter: http://twitter.com/lightsvintage

Listen to Your Eyes. PB