How do I identify my lamp manufacturer?

Antique Lamp Supply recommends picking up the lamp and looking for a manufacturer’s symbol, name or date stamp embedded into the base. Also look on the lighting fixture itself; sometimes, the manufacturer includes a sticker that includes the name, or date of manufacture.

How can you tell how old a lamp cord is?

In an electric lamp, the cord often reveals the clue to the lamp’s age, unless the cord has been replaced. Inspect the cord; if it looks old, the lamp probably is as well. The metal prongs on the plug are likely the same size, rather than one end that is larger than the other.

What kind of things were made of spelter?

In this usage it was common for many 19th-century cheap, cast articles such as candlesticks and clock cases and early 20th-century Art Nouveau ornaments and Art Deco figures. Early twentieth-century Art Nouveau and Art Deco figures and lamps were often made of spelter.

When was Art Deco made out of spelter?

In the early 20th century, sculptors such as Jacques Limousin used spelter heavily in their manufacture of Art Nouveau and Art Deco figurines and other ornaments. Spelter is relatively soft and brittle.

How did the word spelter get its name?

Bronze will appear as bright yellow while spelter will show a silvery scratch. Philologist Walter William Skeat thought the word ” pewter ” might have been derived from the word “spelter”. Zinc ingots formed by smelting might also be termed spelter.

What’s the difference between a bronze and copper spelter?

Spelter is relatively soft and brittle. It can be distinguished from bronze by scratching its patina: untarnished spelter is white, while bronze is yellow. Brass was made using a cementation process but this was replaced by speltering, the direct alloying of copper and zinc metal which was introduced to Europe in the 16th century.