Standard lamps

[plasticpigeon]

Were these around at the turn of the 20th century, or are they from a later date? I can't imagine a gas light on a standard lamp with those cloth lampshades.

 

[Flyfisher]

I also can't really imagine a gas standard lamp would be very practical, but more from the pipework aspect than the gas mantle itself.

I suppose it depends on the definition of 'standard lamp'. If it is something like 'light on a moveable pole' then I'd guess that early forms could have used candles or perhaps oil lamps, which would certainly date them before the 20th century.

Just random wine-fuelled guesswork though, while doing the Sunday roast dinner

 

[mims&pip]

William Arthur Smith Benson was producing floor or standard lamps at the turn of the century - and indeed before as iirc he opened his shop in the late 1880s, selling all manner of metal wares including lamps of various kinds.

According to 'W.A.S. Benson Arts and Crafts Luminary and Pioneer of Modern Design' (a great book that I highly recommend ), he had a design for a 'standard lamp for oil incorporating possible height adjuster' registered in June 1889 and by 1899-1900 his catalogue had electric lamps listed for sale "Floor standards" apparently being fitted with seven yards of cord "measuring from the lamp holder."

His lamps had shades of various kinds - Vaseline glass, metal, fabric and shell.

Mims x

 

[plasticpigeon]

Interesting, I just found an old standard lamp with an oil lamp top that has been converted to electric! Thanks for the info Mims. My front room is getting better!!!

 

[plasticpigeon]

I'm a bit impulsive, so I bought a standard lamp. It is nice. It was an oil lamp but is converted to run on this new fangled electricity. However I can't fit it anywhere. Ther space that I hoped it would go in is too small, and my house is generally small. I also bought a large tropical palm that I can't fit anywhere. Wasting money and filling up the house with crap. Does anyone else do this?

 

[Feltwell]

Wasting money and filling up the house with crap. Does anyone else do this?

Ohh yes - and not just the house. Having kids takes the whole "filling up the house with crap" experience to a brand new, and substantially higher, level. There's even a special festival once a year to celebrate it, that and a chap's birthday I believe.

Bah humbug! :wink:

 

[skier-hughes]

DO you want to get rid of it PP? Post a picture, may be interested, I'd fed up of putting new crap fittings into our standard lamp every year...............

 

[mims&pip]

DO you want to get rid of it PP? Post a picture, may be interested, I'd fed up of putting new crap fittings into our standard lamp every year...............

Good idea......I may also be interested and was going to say so, but wasn't sure whether that sort of thing was allowed on PP :wink: :roll: First dibs to S-H, of course!

 

[plasticpigeon]

Blimey, I wasn't expecting anything other than empathy or mickey taking. Ok, it is the base that is interesting, the shade is neither here nor there. The oil lamp part has been converted in a very basic way, if I was keeping it I would put a nicer fitting in, and sort out the earthing. I shall take some better pictures in a bit, but here is one I took yesterday. The stand is mahogany and the oil lamp is veritas. I assume these aways went together, it looks a good fit, I found it interesting anyway.

 

[skier-hughes]

Looks beautiful, but comes with standard fitting. I find these break so easily, as our std lamp gets moved around a bit and the weight of the shade just ruins the thread or snaps it off completely. I was hoping something so well done might have had a different fitting, although, I have no idea what, as all my searches for something better have drawn a blank.
If Pip&Mims is interested, that's fine by me.

 

[mims&pip]

Apologies for the late response - have been busy removing a disgusting carpet :roll:

I'm afraid I was expecting an ornate brass/copper/iron stand similar to one we picked up (for the princely sum of £15!) at Malvern fleamarket, PP........so I don't think it's for me either, unfortunately

Are you sure you can't find a spot for it somewhere? If not I'm sure you'll have no problem finding someone else that will love it.

Mims x

 

[plasticpigeon]

Well not at the moment. I am getting rid of the shade, but I like the stand, the mahogany base section is very nicely figured, so I'm not sad to hang on to it for the time being, and see if it might fit in another room. Perhaps the stand and burner are a marriage. Doing an internet search doesn't bring up any other oil burning standard lamps with wooden a wooden stand, only with metal stands.

Not surprised it's not for you Mims. I thought the copper would appeal, but I was expecting you to be after some kind of simpler oak affair as you seem to be after arts and crafts stuff. I went to malvern flea this weekend. I buy almost nothing every time I go as it seems to be full of expensive stuff in bad condition, so you did well there. Is this the sort of thing you were hoping for?

 

[skier-hughes]

Could a candle be put in place of the electrical socket? How much is it?

 

[Lime]

Gas floor-standing standard lamps were quite common when I was young.
The junk shops were full of them.
They used a gas plug similar to one used for a cooker or gas poker/lighter back in the day.
My grandparents had one in their drawingroom.
The light given out was very impressive and much, much more bright than electric lamps.
My grandparents only had gas up to the 1960s and supplemented their upstairs lighting with fancy torches, some looking like candlesticks that lit when you picked them up.
Many people rewired gas fittings for electric light.
However I wouldn't recommend poking the wire through the gas pipe as many people did.
The problem was the pipe usually included a gas tap that, if determinedly turned, would cut the wire in half!

 

[Lime]

.............................
Doing an internet search doesn't bring up any other oil burning standard lamps with wooden a wooden stand, only with metal stands.

You don't want to rely on the internet for anything old.
Mostly you will only see things for sale and very few facts about the past.
What you do find is often incorrect or wrong but you have to be old like me to know it and have taken an interest in/lived with them when young.

 

[Flyfisher]

Thanks for those interesting points about gas standard lamps Lime. I don't know why I didn't think about some form of rubber hose to connect to a gas tap, it seems so obvious no you're mentioned it - much like a laboratory bunsen burner really.

However, I'm not at all surprised that such gas lamps were very bright as I well remember camping in my youth and using a 'tilley lamp' that used a gas mantle, and very bright it was too. We also used to cook on 'primus stoves' that worked on the same principle of vaporising pressurised paraffin and using methylated spirits to provide the initial heat for vaporising before the main burner itself took over. Such things have long since been superseded by much simpler 'camping gaz' canisters. I wish I'd kept a primus stove as they were lovely things really, very solid and heavy brass construction as I recall. My father also had a blowtorch based on the same principle, so it was a versatile technology in its day.

 

[mims&pip]

Well not at the moment. I am getting rid of the shade, but I like the stand, the mahogany base section is very nicely figured, so I'm not sad to hang on to it for the time being, and see if it might fit in another room. Perhaps the stand and burner are a marriage. Doing an internet search doesn't bring up any other oil burning standard lamps with wooden a wooden stand, only with metal stands.

Not surprised it's not for you Mims. I thought the copper would appeal, but I was expecting you to be after some kind of simpler oak affair as you seem to be after arts and crafts stuff. I went to malvern flea this weekend. I buy almost nothing every time I go as it seems to be full of expensive stuff in bad condition, so you did well there. Is this the sort of thing you were hoping for?

Yes, that's the type of thing

We missed the Malvern flea this time - it was Easter when we found the lamp base (currently sporting a basic shade I picked up in Been & Queued and awaiting the arrival of a more appropriate silk example I found on eBay :wink: ) and I almost fell over in shock when the seller said she wanted £15 for it. I couldn't knock her down any further as it already felt as though I was getting a bargain!

About fifteen years ago - before we discovered the delights of eBay (for which I remain grateful to a dear friend who was in the antique taxidermy field - sadly now departed) - we responded to an ad in our local paper (Hampshire) for some Art Nouveau furniture pieces. We were rather disappointed when we turned up and declined to part with our hard-earned cash as the furniture pieces were too muscular gothic for my taste. One of the items on offer was a rather spectacular, ornate copper & iron standard lamp (converted from gas to electric), which at the time I remember thinking was absolutely hideous, reminding me of the ghastly balustrade my parents fitted to their 1920s staircase in the 1960s/70s. I think the guy wanted about £50 for it. Fast forward a couple of years and I regretted my decision immensely and whilst there are a fair few examples about, I've yet to find another quite as nice......

Mims x

 

[plasticpigeon]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111849192566?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

One for you Mims?

 

[mims&pip]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/111849192566?_trksid=p2060353.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

One for you Mims?

Thanks PP