Monday, July 8, 2013

Weekend Finds: the Lamp I Love

Good morning!

Two separate out-of-state vintage hauls, a trip to Home Depot, and an afternoon with my dad spent carefully tinkering over this trinket have all paid off, ladies and gentlemen. Check out my new/old/Frankenstein of a vintage find, the figural lamp of my dreams!


On the way back from Missouri, we stopped in Benton, Ohio to grab lunch, and I was pulled into the gravitational field of their town square. Anytime I see a tiny brown highway sign that reads "ANTIQUE DISTRICT -->" or "HISTORIC TOWN SQUARE--->", it's pretty much impossible for me to ignore the call of the junk. The first thing I saw coming into the store was an atomic aqua love seat and matching coral colored arm chair...while I caught my breath and began tabulating how much a Uhaul back to Nashville might cost, I was shot back down to earth by the price tag. $695 for the sofa, and $395 for the chair. WHAT. WHY. WHAT. WHY AGAIN. Most things in the store were more reasonably priced than that, but most things in the store also didn't have the knock-yer-eye-out curb appeal of the living room set. My heart momentarily thrilled at the sight of an Enid Collins bag in a case, but further inspection proved that it was missing several key stones and badly scratched. Boo. I was strikin' out on this trip, folks!


We were almost out of the store when I saw this two-tier, fiberglass barrel shade sitting on top of a cupboard in one of the booths. With the store's dubious-up-until-now track record, I expected to experience the sticker shock of a way out of price range shade. And if it was in my price range, it probably had a hole burned in one side or something else criminally wrong with it.  But no! $30 was inked on the little hang tag attached, and there wasn't a mark on the shade itself. After some booth-circling, I finally decided to just buy the thing, and carry it back to Tennessee with the hopes of attaching it to just-the-right lamp. I had one in mind, matterafact:



Do you remember the Louisville trip Matthew took me on last year for my birthday? This lamp base was one of the Peddler's Market finds from that fair city. I'm still groping for the correct term to describe his vocation, even a year later...matador? Harlequin? Matador-in-disguise? Man of mystery? At any rate, I had been looking for a crazy fifties' lamp-with-person for a base for the longest time, and now the opportunity to put shade-to-lamp presented itself! Only one impediment, there-- the lamp base's cord was cut, rendering useless its basic functionality. Dad-durn it. The harp was in pretty bad shape too, and I figured if we were going to go to the trouble of rewiring it, it might as well be with new parts. After picking up a "make-a-lamp" kit at Home Depot, I took the kit and caboodle over to my parents' house, and my dad and I fiddled with it until we had a working lamp!


I am still the world's worst blog photographer, so here's another shot of the lamp outside, which was taken in the vain hope that the outdoor lighting would help with seeing what the piece "really looks like". Something about the fiberglass of the shade just makes the lamp look so expensive when you turn it on and the light's coming through. $30 shade + $15 base + $10 lamp kit = $55 total for the lamp. Compare that to the $75-$125 price range of lamps I've had a little sorrow-induced tear over at Pre to Post Modern, and I think I might have come out a little ahead! Plus the fun of "picking it myself", one piece at a time, kind of adds to the value for me.

So! What did you find over the weekend? Do you have any fiberglass lamp shades or fifties' lamps (or both) in your collection? What's the story behind how you got them? Let's talk!

That's all for today, but I'll be back here tomorrow. Til then!

19 comments:

  1. i love it! i am on the lookout for a shade like that for my masonic temple lamp! i feel like i never seen them out, overpriced or not! i think you made out like a bandit with your lamp! i've seen sets not nearly as cool or interesting go for more!

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    1. YOUR MASONIC LAMP IS SO FREAKIN COOL! Can't wait to see it with a shade, I'll keep an eye out and tell you if I see one when I'm out any time soon! I feel like every time I look for something FOR FOREVER and just pine over whatever item it is for years, the moment I DO find one I find like ten. Fingers crossed!

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  2. What a great lamp! I never, ever, never, never find lamps out in the wild (and I am always on the lookout for them). I've always heard that rewiring was not too hard, so it gives me hope that you were able to do it (should I ever find a good one in need of a new cord). Great job!!!

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    1. The rewiring was like, a ten minute job except for the fact that the base's weird shape made it hard to get the unruly wires where they needed to go. I watched way too many fire safety videos as a kid, so I always rely on my (very handy) dad to supervise, but I did all the work on it myself-- and it was really not hard! So yes, don't let a non-working switch or a cut cord dissuade you, they can be had for seriously like ten bucks.

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  3. It is perfect for you. I am so happy you pulled it all together!!!!!!

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    1. Thanks, Vivian! I love switching it on at night to read a book before I go to bed. It looks so fancy!

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  4. great lamp puzzle :-)

    once we bought a box at a fleamarket with lots of very dirty crystals and some brass for 20€ - turns out we could sample 3 lamps out of it. one neo rococo chandelier and two art deco style..... there was a lot glass cleaner involved. at the end i trowed the crystals in the dishwasher. win!

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    1. DISHWASHER. I would have never thought of that! I bet they looked brand new after you put them through a soak and rinse!!

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  5. I was just myself squinting and asking myself if there was a superhero matador I didn't know about! I love it! The shade is gorgeous.

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    1. Haha, I agree-- I felt like I had seen one like this before in real life but I couldn't find another one like it online. I wonder what the pair of lamps looked like-- is there a masked lady flamenco dancer out there missing her mate?

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  6. Good god, I just saw two lamps very similar in a local junk/antique store (the oriental-looking figure is playing a lute). Can't remember if they had the shades, though; I believe they did, now that I think of it!! I'll have to go back and check the price on them!

    And, a Masonic temple lamp? I would like to see THAT.

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  7. Oh, and that leopard spot couch is to die for!

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    1. Thanks, girl! I love the heck out of that couch. Check out the SICKENING bargain I got on it inthis post ...it's really one of the great triumphs of my junkin'/collectibles-seeking life.

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  8. I have three lamps with the double decker shades and they were all less than $2 each. My mom bought them for me at auctions were she lives in Illinois. They just don't care about 50's stuff there, I've gotten so much cool stuff for next to nothing. Also, rewiring a lamp is about the easiest thing to do so never let a lamp that doesn't work stop you from buying it!

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    1. Dang, Jodi! That is AMAZING! I love tapping into an untapped market in a place where they don't really care much for this or that style. So cool!! Send me a pic if you get a chance, my email's shewasabird at yahoo dot com. And I agree about the rewiring, it was a cinch! And could probably be done for even less than ten bucks if I knew what items to look for instead of getting a "kit".

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  9. LOVE IT! I think Chalkware figure lamps are fantastic, and the more "out there" the better! I saw a TO DIE FOR Lamp of a Harlequin masked guy but they wanted a staggering $160 for it, and that just wasn't going to happen for me.

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    1. A hundred and sixty smackeroos! JEEZ LOUISE. I'm really about refusing to pay more than whoever initially bought it paid retail for something, and that seems steep!

      Still daydreaming about your Predicta find over on your blog, you lucky duck.

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  10. Oh, I went back to look at those lamps...they are a male &a female "oriental" looking figures playing lutes in a dramatic fashion (holding them up high like rock guitarists) No double decker shades but they look like the originals...somewhat chipped and flaking but in generally good condition otherwise...there is now also another pair of 'figure lamps', one a peasant girl with a basket of grapes on her head and a guy with a sheaf of wheat. No shades. Both in the $35. range but I could probably haggle them down to $25. Maybe I oughta buy them, clean them up a little and peddle them on the Net! What do you think?

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    1. Hm. I would get the Asian ones, and think about the pastoral ones. I bet you could find some pretty good repro shades on ebay, and I think if you could get them for $25, slap a shade on them, and sell them for $100, you'd be doing well, right? I guess it depends on how much the shade is. However, the Asian ones with shades you could just sell right there off the bat. Either way, those sound awesome! Let me know what you end up doing!!

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