posted on June 20, 2004 04:57:37 AM new
This lamp was my great-great aunt's and my mother gave it to me (dirt and all, lol). I know there's a term for this type of decoration, but for the life of me I cannot remember what it is. The piece lying next to the lamp is the finial. I love the lamp, but it has the original cord and I wouldn't dare attempt to plug it in unless I wanted to "light up my life". LOL!
I'd like to try and ID the lamp so my children will know more about it than I do right now. Thanks, all.
posted on June 20, 2004 05:21:34 AM new
Toile. That's it! And also transferware could be used in the description! Whew, now I can rest the old brain!
I'm soooo upset. There's a wonderful place here in town that sells lampshades galore and I planned to go today to find one suitable for this lamp as well as an antique floor lamp that was also my great-great aunts. The owner was killed last night outside the store. What a horrible shame. The place has been there for as long as I can remember (we won't say exactly how long that is). People can be so terrible.
I did see some great toile lamps shades on eBay, but none that would really suit this lamp. Sigh.
posted on June 20, 2004 06:49:52 AM new
Cheryl, your lamp is gorgeous! What a treasure.
If you get it re-wired maybe you can get a socket, cord and plug that will match the original. A while back I had a chandelier that needed to be redone and my lighting shop had new old stuff in the back that was perfect. The old-time repair shops that have been around forever hang onto old parts.
posted on June 20, 2004 07:46:31 AM new
LOVE the lamp!
This is one of those where you really need to be able to list it in a couple of places. I know lamps (sold several for $$) have two catagories, one in home, and one in collectible. The shame of it is, you should list it in the red transferware dish section too. I bet you could get an impulse buyer that wouldn't be necessarily be shopping in lamps but does collect red transferware. This would look great in a kitchen!
Do you have any red transferware plates? You might could list one and picture the lamp also as in: see my other auctions. If not, I'd almost list it under collectible lighting and dishes and leave out the home catagory of lamps and lighting, if it were me that is.
Don't touch the lamp! Don't rewire it, don't buy a shade for it!
Unless the cord has bare wire showing, plug it in and show it lit with a small wattage chandelier big base bulb. They sell much better if you can show them lit up even though it's a simple job to rewire them. You can photograph them like that, with it lit. Try some with your flash and without the flash. The lamp itself it what sells and anybody that buys it won't have a problem having it rewired themselves. And lampshades are a personal thing anyway...and very expensive for a good one.
DO go over it with a fine tooth comb for a makers mark of course. Use all the key words, toile, red willow, blue willow, transferware. Describe the scene on it. It might just be an important piece. Look on Google under transferware toile and there is a site that comes up with pictures. http://www.erasofelegance.com/winter2002_toile.html Toile being very hot these days this should do very well for you! I'd love to auction it off! Good luck!
Here's another link: http://www.transcollectorsclub.org/default.asp
They might could tell you something about your lamp and/or the links page has some great links.
[ edited by glassgrl on Jun 20, 2004 07:54 AM ]
posted on June 20, 2004 07:54:49 AM new
It sounds as if Cheryl said she wants to keep this for her kids? (being handed down from a relative) ... it IS beautiful! I love it ... and if the plug or wiring really does look even a LITTLE BIT bad, I wouldn't recommend plugging it in to 'test' it ... that could be really dangerous to self and home, and at least to your wall outlet ... I say this from experience ...
*pffssszzzzzzzzzzzzztttt!!!*
Matter of fact, I often mention in electrical appliaces' descrips that we list on ebay, that the buyers should always have vintage elec. items examined by a professional before trying to use them.
posted on June 20, 2004 07:55:23 AM new
If you are keeping the lamp in the family you should look for a shop that does resortation. We recently took in an old floor lamp that belonged to my husband's great aunts for work. We found a great lamp shop that does restorations and just peeking into their store room was like a time machine to the past.
If you plan to list it I agree with Glassgrl that it should be sold without any repair.
-----o----o----o----o----o----o----o----o
“The illiterate of the future will be the person ignorant of the use of the camera as well as of the pen.”
Maholy-Nagy, Vision in Motion, 1947
posted on June 20, 2004 08:05:58 AM new
I'm leaning toward keeping it although it goes with absolutely nothing in my house. I'm not going to plug it in because the plug itself is bad. I live in a 100 year old house with old wiring to begin with. Add the amount of eBay junk I have around here the house would go up in no time. LOL.
glassgirl
Thanks for the links. It looks like a country farming scene with the cows and cottages.
There's a dent to the bottom metal (brass?) and how it got there is a mystery. My aunt was a piano teacher in Detroit and died in the 1960's in her 80's. You should see the gorgeous dresser I have that was hers. It was made in New York and has the claw and ball feet. Unfortunately, it suffered some nicks during the move from Detroit. Fortunately, I know enough to leave it be. It's mahogony and a keeper!
posted on June 20, 2004 08:07:01 AM new
I would keep it too and start a new collection!
But I was going on when Cheryl said: "Toile. That's it! And also transferware could be used in the description!"
Sounded kind of like writing an auction description to me.
I was nervous a little the first couple of times I tried lighting up an old lamp. Then I figured, heck, they've been around a lot longer than I have, what's one more time? Those cardboard things in the old lamps is what made me nervous!
posted on June 20, 2004 08:10:14 AM new
Cheryl - Get the lamp fixed and a shade that goes with and put it on the dresser! Presto - instant redecorating!
LOL, the cardboard things! Yes, I cannot believe more homes didn't go up. That part is missing from the plug and the wires are sticking out a bit. I suppose I could fix that part. I'll get the "old man" to plug it in. A little zap won't hurt him any. LOL!
posted on June 20, 2004 08:21:52 AM new
cheryl, if the wires are sticking out of the plug, just take a butter knife edge or screwdriver and wind them around the appropriate screw. the cardboard piece can be replaced with a homemade one long enough to test the lamp.
in your description, you might want to use the word "mulberry". this is what some dealers call the red transferware.
it is a very pretty lamp. the maker name may be on the lamp part that is hidden by the metal base.
posted on June 20, 2004 11:25:03 AM new
If you have a VOM (volt - ohm - milliammeter) you can test the cord for breakage and shorts as well as for proper operation of the switch before you plug it in by using the ohmeter function. I always do this before I plug in anything I have any doubt about. If the cord is o.k., leave it with the lamp. Just rewire the plug so you don't have any loose wires that touch each other.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on June 20, 2004 04:11:51 PM new
Good Lord, just have the lamp rewired if you plan to keep it. It is a lovely, decorative lamp, but it was made to be used, probably 1940's era. Rewiring will not diminish the value. This was made to meet wiring standards of its day. Why take a chance. It is not as if it was hand-crafted by Thomas Edison.
When I sell lamps that should be re-wired, if for some reason I do not have it done, and the wiring seems at all questionable, I clip the plug.
posted on June 20, 2004 06:07:48 PM new
Shoot, she can get a kit at Home Depot or probably Walmart and rewire it herself if she's going to keep it.
I just thought if she was going to auction it, that it would indeed help date the lamp. I kind of like the old style of the cord myself.
I still think it would look too cute in a kitchen on the counter or a small table if you (she - whomever) had a collection of red transferware.
My old house never had under cabinet lighting, just the overhead light and that was too bright sometimes. I put a small crystal boudoir lamp on my counter and ltray laughed at it the first time she came over, but then a short time later had one herself on her own counter.
Ross, TJMaxx or Home Depot usually all have a nice selection of lampshades. Take your lamp with you though and try them on for size, rather than trying to guess. I wouldn't try to match the toile print myself.
The link I gave you earlier though had two ebay sellers of transferware. I think I'd almost run a picture of it by them and ask them if they've ever seen anything like it. You always have to try to figure out if you like the history of something enough to pass up something like $300.00 instead.
Lamps are almost like shoes and pocket books. And small tables. I have trouble passing up on any of those and you can never have enough. I have been highly surprised at some of the prices the ones I have sold have bought and my DH has been stunned. My favorite was a slip lamp chandelier and sconces in a box that I found at a yard sale one Saturday morning. Ltray had just shown me a couple of weeks before what they were or I probably would of passed them up, as they looked like they were just pieces of something. I can't remember what they bought but it seemed like it was somewhere in the $300. range...and they needed rewiring.
posted on June 20, 2004 08:38:10 PM newThis was made to meet wiring standards of its day.. EXACTLY! That's why you don't want to rewire it if you plan on selling it. That wire will be a critical point for dating it. OTOH, If you are going to keep it in the family, and you have any doubts about its safety, by all means rewire it.
A $75.00 solid state device will always blow first to protect a 25 cent fuse ~ Murphy's Law
posted on June 21, 2004 05:13:11 AM new
Well, neither of my kids want this lamp so I suppose I'll sell it. I guess you have to be my age to appreciate anything the least bit old. I'm not going to keep it. I have so much stuff now I can barely move in my house and my mother has tons more I'll be getting when she moves in a year or so. My grandmother had loads of crystal, cranberry glass, head vases, a HUGE antique Satsuma floor vase (aka, the candy wrapper vase, LOL!), etc. The crystal and cranberry glass items were from my great and great-great grandmothers. That stuff my daughter has decided she will eventually want. Sure, the most valuable of the heirlooms. LOL!
So, to summarize: I'll do nothing with the cord (however, I will urge whoever buys it to NOT plug it in until they are sure it's safe), I won't buy a shade, I won't polish the brass but will clean the crud off the glass and I'll try to find the pattern.
Thanks all! Your help, as usual, is invaluable.
Edited to add: I suspect I'm going to go out of my mind trying to put a value on this lamp! Check eBay completed items and couldn't find anything. But then, that's nothing new! LOL! I'm not a good searcher.
Cheryl
[ edited by cblev65252 on Jun 21, 2004 05:28 AM ]
posted on June 21, 2004 05:48:14 AM new
oooh. I envy you the cranberry glass. that is THE most gorgeous color. Even in stained glass it is one of the most expensive colors to buy.
that is what I found so unusual about the lamp...the fact that I searched and could not find another one anywhere. I wouldn't start it for less than $99. and I would email both the transferware ebay collectors/sellers and ask if they know anything about it. I would bet that the pattern is indicative of the manufacturer.
it's just got that feeling that it could be a good piece. I'd still list it under collectible lighting and again under the china transferware section (is there one?) or at the very least, find a transferware plate and show the picture of the lamp in the gallery picture maybe and point them to your other auctions to bid on the lamp. I would think that's the category where you would pick up the impulse gotta have it, didn't know I needed it bidders.
start it for $199.00 just for kicks and then you always have the free relist that next week when you could lower the price. I've had stuff that I think they would of paid any price for it and I started it too low.
posted on June 21, 2004 05:52:43 PM new
Thanks for the link. Mine is bigger and, IMO, in better condition. It's 22-1/2" including the finial which is milk glass!
posted on June 21, 2004 06:22:57 PM new
Honestly, Cheryl, I like the shape of your lamp, too. It's different from the other seller's, and it's a very pretty lamp. Please do let us know how you do with selling it! I would love to cheer your auction on. But it is a shame that your children don't want it. I have been collecting things from my childhood for my daughter and it will crush me if she doesn't want them.
