Mary Sajdak wrote:
Hello! I found your web site through Web Crawler web search of
antique oil lamps.. I'm hoping that maybe you can help me..
My Mother is a collector of Oil lamps, old and new.. (She of
course prefers the older ones.. :o) But she found 2 small oil
lamps at an old "Junk store" a few days ago and is very
curious as to how old they may be.. I've written down some of
the information off of the boxs, (they are both the same) and am
hoping by sending this to you that maybe you can tell me the
approximate date of these lamps.. This is what the front of the
boxes said:
"DREAM-LITE" Perfume lamp // Ideal for blackouts //
Adjustable wick //
Actaully burns the liquid off and mildly perfumes your room.
//
Distributed by NOVELL Fifth Avenue, New York
On the side of the boxes there's a fragrance (we believe
that's what it's suppose to be) stamped there. we think
it says either PL Blossom or PE Blossom (It's getting hard to
see..) There was also number stamped on the top of the boxes
(95-8327) but we aren't sure if this was put on there by the
manufacturers or not.. My mother thinks that maybe the lamps were
during the war because of the box saying "ideal for black
outs".. (Being only 29 and not remembering and probably not
paying near enough attention in History class, *laugh*, my Mother
had to explain what the "black outs" were to me..)
Anyways, I won't take up too much more of your time, (As you
see I'm not very good at "Business like writing"
*laugh*, but I do hope I've given you enough information and
that maybe you can help us figure out the approximate age of
these lamps..
Thank you very much ; Mary Sajdak
Guild Answer: Mary: Very good guess! Perfume lamps date from the 30's and 40's, and were basically "Five and Ten Cent Store" items...not much light (hence "Good for black-outs") I guess the perfumed oils were supposed to make you feel better when the lights were out during Air Raid Drills! They are seldom found with any oil left in them...I don't know if refills were sold, but I don't think so; you bought another lamp! They haven't a lot of dollar value to collectors, but are interesting little beasties. There were MANY varieties, and are inexpensive to collect!
I hope this answers your question! have a good day!
:: Fil Graff, International Guild of Lamp Researchers
::