Opalescent Vaseline Art Glass Candle Lamp, ca 1890

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Opalescent Vaseline Art Glass Candle Lamp, ca 1890

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Sold Date: 12/31/2006
Channel: Online Auction
Source: eBay
Category: Glass

Up for auction is the finest opalescent vaseline candle lamp (moon lamp) I have ever seen, and likely the finest available anyw for any price. A candle lamp like this will likely not be seen again.From the late Victorian or early Art Nouveau period (1890+- 5 years), this piece was bought by me in Northern Europe. Its likely origin is Bohemia, although it could be from any of the finer glass houses of Sweden. This candle lamp measures approximately 14 inches in height overall, 9 inches for the glass only. It is about 8 inches in overall width. It is in two parts, the glass and the metal top, bottom and chain. The condition of the glass is essentially perfect with no chips, cracks, breaks repairs or damages. The glass has been black lite tested, and it GLOWS, but all the photos in this listing were in natural light.

The glass is opalescent vaseline, which has a base glass of true vaseline (grey green, like true vaseline color, not the more modern yellow green glass called vaseline as well). The opalescence is a white glass overlay which constitutes the vertical stripes on the glass sp The manufacture is by hand, hand blown glass. The glass shows the signs of hand manufacture, including small bubbles, swirls and variations in the thickness and color.

The lamp functions as an early candle holder. It is designed to hang from the ceiling or some other suitable location w people will not walk into it. Look at the pictures of the lamp, in particular the first picture in the series. The lamp and its parts consist of: the brass top which has the hook that hangs the lamp from the ceiling; the three chains; the metal top flange/rim which attaches to the top of the glass sp and into which one end of the chains attach; the metal rim that attaches to the bottom of the glass sp; and the bottom metal cup into which one places a candle and into which the chains terminate. The bottom metal cup is not attached to the glass itself and the glass sp can be lifted by hand away from the bottom cup tby exposing the candle holder. The three chains are long enough to allow about 15 inches of travel for pulling the bottom cup away from the bottom of the glass sp The chains move freely via three rollers located in the top (see photos). The lamp is simple and elegant, and VERY easy to hang, use and change candles. You can electrify the lamp by running a thin wire down one of the chains and placing an electric light bulb socket into the candle holder. If you use low voltage lighting, the wire can be VERY thin and the socket tiny, still throwing a lot of light. 120 volt will also work fine, and you can use a small lamp socket with a flame style bulb. I would limit wattage to about 10-15 wats to keep the heat low and tby not risk cracking the glass, although this would be HIGHLY unlikely unless the bulb came into direct contact with the glass sp The metal parts including the chain are OLD brass, hand hammered into a classical Greek Acanthus leaf motif with an artichoke final a the very bottom. The metal is original, complete and in perfect condition. I have not cleaned the brass, and it has over 100 years of patina. It will clean and buff to a HIGH shine if you want that. But I wont do it and would not advise it. Once its yours, do as you wish...but once removed, it takes another 100 years to attain this kind of patina!

Overall, this fantastic piece of history is of the finest example of the form and style of the period, and the quality is the highest attainable. If you collect vaseline glass, late Victorian/Art Nouveau or just general antiques, this piece is it! Perfect in condition, large in stature, fantastic in appearance, this is the top object! Authentic, old, and beautiful, this piece is THE top object...and of course once lit with a candle, its SO beautiful!!!!!

Good luck and happy bidding! Any questions please feel free to ask. Darrel Zbar, DZANTIQUE