Early Twentieth-Century Lamp Manufacturers

This table lists well known American lamp manufacturers of the early twentieth century, their locations, dates of operation, and marks. Many of the manufacturers listed here also worked in furniture, metalcraft, and other decorative arts. Manufacturer Location Dates of Operation Mark Bradley & Hubbard Meriden, Connecticut 1852–1940 Craftsman, Gustav Stickley Syracuse, New York 1901–1915 Classique […]

Tiffany Studios

Tiffany Studios, owned by glassmaker and artist Louis Comfort Tiffany, made lamps from about 1891 to 1928. It made many types of lamps for electric bulbs, kerosene, and oil. Tiffany was making student lamps, blown-glass oil lamps, and hanging fixtures with leaded glass globes by 1898. Bronze table and floor lamp bases were introduced in […]

Pairpoint

Pairpoint lamps were made from 1890 to 1929 in New Bedford, Massachusetts. The company manufactured glass and silver-plated wares as well as lamps. It made pressed, cut, and decorated glass shades. There are three basic types of Pairpoint shades. Some shades were made with vertical ribs, and occasionally these featured floral designs. The second type […]

Handel Lamps

Although Tiffany lamps are the most famous, many other glass-shaded lamps were made in the early twentieth century. Handel lamps made by Philip Handel are considered among the finest. In 1893 Handel bought out his partner, Adolph Eyden, and in 1903 changed his glass-decorating company’s name to The Handel Company. The firm closed in 1936. […]

Frankart

Frankart, Inc. of New York City mass-produced nude dancing-lady lamps, ashtrays, and other decorative art deco items in the 1920s and 1930s. They were made of a white lead composition and spray-painted. Frankart Inc., the patent number, and the year were stamped on the base. Photo: David Negley’s Art-deco lamps by Frankart often featured women […]

Emeralite

Office desks in the 1920s usually had a lamp with a green glass shade thought to reduce glare and eyestrain. Emeralite lamps were made from 1909 to the 1940s by H. G. McFaddin & Company of New York City. The lamps had a brass or bronze base and a green glass shade lined with white […]

Arts and Crafts

In the early years of the twentieth century, lamps in the Arts and Crafts style were made with hammered copper, bronzed metal, or oak bases and with mica, colored glass, or woven-willow lampshades. The uncomplicated metalwork designs, straight lines, and geometric shapes of the Arts and Crafts style contrasted with the organic, curved, floral art […]

Aladdin Lamps

Kerosene lamps became popular after the start of the modern petroleum industry in the middle of the nineteenth century. The lamps of the 1890s used round wicks with air supplied to the flame through a central tube. In 1905 a German kerosene lamp was made with a mantle that fit over the burner to give […]