Coach Lamps and Consolidated Glass Co. Fixture

Nadja,
Attached are two images of the lights. Both are in excellent condition with no glass chips or cracks. The chandelier brass has been polished and clear coated I think. I am not certain but I expect that the coach lights (they are a pair) have also lost their original (black?) paint. The coach lights were from my mother’s family funeral home coach. Her great-grandfather started the funeral business in the 1850’s , and was the first to use embalming in Ohio!
I recently was able to look at the chandelier again, and found: “ 40719 PATENT MAY 31, 1910” pressed into the glass rim of the large main globe. I found no markings on the coach lamps. I look forward to hearing from you.
I have more photos.
Thanks,
Chip
Response:
I can give you a little bit more information about the grape “blow-out” glass chandelier than I can about your lovely carriage lamps. The carriage lamps are often sought after by folks who are restoring old carriages for museum and historic house exhibit purposes. Designed for use with kerosene and wick perhaps, I’m not certain whether or not they were painted black but I suppose that would be appropriate for a funeral coach.
A own the sister to your chandelier and it was actually on the cover of the first edition of Antique Lamp Buyer’s Guide. The glass globes were manufactured by the Consolidated Glass Company in Coraopolis Pennsylvania. Some of their work is often confused with the blown-out shades created by the Pairpoint Glass Company in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The brass metalwork design of your fixture is not quite as elaborate as mine, however the price range in the current edition puts the value at between $2600-$3800.

How to Pack Away Your Antiques

This weekend Hurricane Irene came to town. She forced me into my basement to assess the safety of my antique lighting collection, primarily stored in the basement. If anyone out there in internet land wants to buy an antique lighting collection, just give me a holler via email or blog reply , but until that happens, I am the proud caretaker of various shades and lamp parts for late 19th and early 20th lamps. My son has been packing up his apartment to move to a new job, and he was asking my advice on how to pack dishes, which reminded me how little people know about safe packing protocol. So here are a few tips.
1) Strong waterproof containers that can withstand a flooding situation are imperative. If you buy containers that are all the same size they are easy to stack in your garage, basement, or when moving them in a van or truck.
2) You want to wrap your items in something which will provide protection and padding, so if jostled they will not bang against one another. Newspaper is the material of last resort because it turns your fingers black when packing and becomes yellowed and brittle with age. If you have the time, the best packing stuff are the hospital pads that are cotton and blue plastic–designed to protect the bed from “accidents”. You can order them online. They cost approximately $45 for a box of 200. If you can’t find those pads, then I recommend rolls of bubble wrap combined with sheets of white newsprint that are often available places that rent trucks for moving or at a printing plant. To economize, you can also use old towels, sheets, or old T-shirts.
3) Never pack the box or bin to the very top, because if you put weight on top, the items pressing against the lid will snap and break. Always try for approximately one to two inches of insulation at the bottom and the sides. I usually leave six inches at the top.
4) Label everything on the top and on the side where you can easily read the contents of what is inside each tub!

Is it an Antique?

While an antique is supposed to be at least 100 years old, many of the items for sale in antique shops are not that old. To many folks, antique is something no longer used. With that definition, a record player made in 1970 could be an antique. No one ever plays records on a turntable unless they have an old record. Do they? But 1970 is only 41 years ago, which doesn’t even qualify as semi-antique.
Semi-antique is a term often used with oriental rugs signifying that a rug is 50 to 75 years old and of an earlier vintage.
We have the other category “collectible” which describes something that people value because it was either made in limited quantities and now prized, or because it is a good example of an item that people like to collect and also limited in availability.
Some “collectibles” are part of a created market, for example collectible Christmas plates.
With the advances in technology, certain items are going out of fashion at a faster rate than in previous centuries. Typewriters, eight tracks, VHS tapes, slide rules, cameras with film, transistor radios.. the list goes on and on. Will they be collectibles? Well they are not something you are likely to want to display but the old LP covers are nice. The advertising posters for some of the aforementioned items are future collectibles can be attractive. And yes when any of the above mentioned items or a game from our childhood reach 100 years old they will be antiques.