ARCHIVED Questions and Answers
Trying To Find Lamp (Double Student)
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Trying To Find Lamp (Double Student) by Larry
Posted: Dec. 20, 1998 @ 10:39.
When I was a child, we often visited relatives who had a beautiful home. I vividly remember a lamp they had which for some reason I always loved. When I grew into adulthood and finally had a home of my own, I wanted to acquire a lamp just like I'd seen at my relatives' house. I have searched for years to find such a lamp, to no avail. I now realize it must have been an alladin lamp, but with one important variation. The one I remember had twin fixtures sharing one pedestal. In other words, it was a double lamp. I continue to see this design in old movies quite frequently. In fact, if you ever watch the old "I Love Lucy" re-runs which are on the Nickelodeon cable channel, they have one of these lamps sitting on the desk in their living room! My relatives' lamp was brass and had bright red (ribbed) glass shades over the clear glass chimneys. It was beautiful. In recent years I have asked my family about this, and they told me they had had a kereosene lamp electrified. (They no longer have the lamp). Surely SOMEBODY makes a reproduction of this lamp. I can't believe a style that was once so popular has disappeared from the stores. You can occasionally find a lamp with a single fixture, but the doubles are impossible to find. Does anyone know the sort of lamp I am describing and do you have any source you could recommend that would sell an electric version of this style? I'd truly be grateful for any assistance.
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On Dec. 20, 1998 @ 11:31, Fil Graff, Guild Secretary
wrote:
Larry: I think what you remember was a double "student lamp". If it was an Aladdin, a bloody fortune was lost when it went to scrap, or the Big Lamp Shop in the Sky! Many of these old brass lamps DID get turned in during WWII to be melted down to make shell casings! Talk about beating plowshares into swords!
At any rate, the double lamp on single pedestal was made by MANY manufacturers in the US and England. The most commonly found ones here (and "commonly" is definately relative...there aren't many of ANY) are the Bradley and Hubbard, Plume and Atwood or Edw. Miller, all with Duplex burners (that's two wicks on the same burner). They DO turn up at auctions on occasion, and for sale by collectors and dealers. The red shades, if original, today would bring almost as much as the lamp!
If you start a search, be very careful about electrified lamps. These student lamps were generally prized by their owners, and when the "high line" came, were often electrified to keep them useful. "Electrification" can run from discrete and reversable (how we wish to find these!) to simply god-awful and destructive. Attempts to hide the wires often involved drilling tubes, and/or whacking up the font. In terms of desirability, lamps like this fall near the bottom of the list. The preference for returning these old gems to original kerosene burning condition is almost universal among collectors like most Guild Members. The gentler the job of wiring, the easier and less noticable is the reversal process.
You may want to keep them electric, if found that way, and that's OK too. There ARE excellent quality reproduction 10" ribbed red-cased shades from England still around, if serving the memory requires a match to your relatives lamp. Several Guild Members should have restored double student lamps in stock. This is NOT a commercial page, but if you would E-mail me, I can refer you to several possiblities.
I hope that by Christmas 1999, you can have your very own double student lamp with red shades lighting up the festivities in your home! Wishing you a Merry Christmas this year, and a 1999 that makes your dreams a reality!
:: Fil Graff ::