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curb rescued MCM ceiling light fixture

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Collectables59's loves136 of 2719“Parlor Glow” cast iron wood stoveGerman WW1 M1916 Stahlhelm helmet
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    Posted 4 years ago

    AnythingOb…
    (1778 items)

    I stopped just to grab a typical modern (and busted) floor lamp (because they always have nice extra-long and imminently re-usable line cords on 'em if nothing else) and found this in the same pile...needless to say this one was probably the true prize which also went right into the back of the truck somewhat more carefully. ;-) :-) :-)

    Pictured here in 'as found' condition, maybe after spending its most recent decades in a crawlspace instead of a dining room, it has indeed had kinda a rough/dirty ~70yr life, but near as I can tell so far remains mostly original. Its 'cymbal shaped' reflector is about 20" across, the whole thing hangs about 20" down from whatever ceiling it used to be mounted to. Below the reflector are three 6"-ish dia. 'pods' with a perforated design on their sides, each with one ceramic light socket inside and one roughly 3-1/4" glass fresnel-lens at their bottoms. There is still evidence that it had some kind of label (Underwriter's Labs?) inside its mounting canopy, itself now long gone. All is presumably made from painted steel but I haven't yet taken a magnet to it to check for sure, no evidence that much of any of it might have ever been 'brass plated' or anything beyond maybe its short length of hanging chain and hardware.

    I can also say with reasonable certainty that it is indeed an authentic early 1950's fixture, because that is the time frame my entire neighborhood was first built.

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    Comments

    1. Watchsearcher Watchsearcher, 4 years ago
      What a cool light fixture!! I’m glad you save it.
    2. AnythingObscure AnythingObscure, 4 years ago
      THANKS, Watchsearcher! :-) :-) :-) Gotta admit my first thought when I picked it up outta the pile was "yeesh, how UGLY is this thing" (2nd was "I gotta have it anyway" <lol>) but everytime I've looked at it since, the dumb thing is growing on me...?

      My current dining room lights are just a boring little row of plastic track lights that came with the house. Mebbe I really *should* think about cleaning up/repainting/restoring this fixture to put up in there instead...really wouldn't be a whole lotta work to do that (maybe even just its reflector/chain/canopy even, the rest might clean up OK as it is) and it sure would be more-funner hanging in there instead...?? :-) :-) :-)

    3. AnythingObscure AnythingObscure, 4 years ago
      More THANKS to collectables59, fortapache, Watchsearcher, Brunswick, & bobby725 for tapping your <love it> buttons!!

      I'm GLAD y'all enjoy this funky old light fixture!! :-) :-) :-)
    4. Lizagnadish Lizagnadish, 4 years ago
      I kid you not, I just picked up the exact same light fixture from my local lighting shop this afternoon. I was curious if I could find any information on it, which led me to this post. What are the odds? :)
      I'll see if I can post some pictures soon. I'm currently working on cleaning mine up. The three globe things are all brass, as are the pieces that make up the middle stem. I've been using 800 and 2000 grit wet/dry sandpaper with soapy water to restore the brass and clean up the scum that's built up on the disk/canopy. So cool that you found one too!
    5. Lizagnadish Lizagnadish, 4 years ago
      Update: Did a bunch of research and found some information that I hope you'll find helpful. :)
      It's a 1950s fixture designed by Gerald Thurston for Lightolier. The cylinder around the middle post, the three "cups", the ring above the "shield", chain, and canopy are all solid brass. The "shield" responds to magnets but the rest does not. The top of the shield is a muted, neutral brown (similar to the color of antiqued brass) and its underside is white.
      Mine cleaned up pretty well and I posted pictures of it on my profile, in case you want to peek. Mine doesn't have the perforations in the cups, but I found several images online of ones like your that did. Must have been a variation offered at the time. They're worth a decent chunk of money, too! Mine had a couple cracks in a few places, but based on your photos it looks like yours is crack-free, so that's even better!
      I will warn you that the paints used on the under-side of the shield and the light-greenish piece in the middle do start to rub off with anything beyond a very gentle scrub. I was able to get most of the gunk off the under-side of the shield (mine was quite discolored as well), but it's far from perfect. The top of the shield, however, stood up to tough scrubbing without losing any paint.
      We hung ours up in our dining room yesterday and LOVE it. It looks so cool and moody at night when it's lit. Puts a nice focus on the table and chairs and makes the space feel inviting and cozy. I hope you enjoy yours, too! :)
    6. Vynil33rpm Vynil33rpm, 4 years ago
      Very nice rescue
      Other than that I can’t add to anything
      Nothing has been unsaid
    7. AnythingObscure AnythingObscure, 4 years ago
      Except Vynil, for my most overwhelmed (at the moment) THANK YOUS to Lizagnadish and keramikos for y'all's research (not to mention inspiration?!) to show me what my poor old curb rescue was/is and could be again!! <applause><cheers><bows> I've MOST DEFINITELY got a new 'project', not to mention a perfect spot for it replacing those silly plastic track lights in my ca.1954 little house!! :-) :-) :-) :-) :-) Thanks too y'all for the additional <love it>s, probably also iggy if I didn't inadvertently miss somebody else in that list?

      And for the record, all I've done with the fixture since I brought it home was to carefully wrap its lenses and stow the thing in a box in the basement, right after I took the pics here... <sigh>

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