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Home Decorating

Anyone know a site for postwar Italian glass table lamps?

15 years ago

I finally found a handblown postwar glass table lamp, hoping it's Italian, but even if not it's cool, at Goodwill yesterday. It's been one of my holy grails, along with Curtis Jere wall sculpture that I keep my eye out for all the time...and I would love to find any other listings or sites with information about them. I would have thought there would be sites devoted to them, but my shabby googling pulls up nada so far...any leads? TIA :)

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Comments (6)

reeree_natural
15 years ago
that is a hard one... here is a link to ebay. not sure if this is what you are looking for, but there are a few you can take a peek at. Also, if you send a seller an email and tell them what you are looking for, maybe they can be of some help finding one for you..good luck with your search
Ree

Here is a link that might be useful: Italian glass lamps
mahatmacat1
Original Author
15 years ago
Thanks, reeree--it's very kind of you to take the effort :). Amazing what a little kick in the right direction can do! You did lead me to find a page with more of what I'm talking about--I changed your search terms to "murano glass lamp" and voila :) I then found a book mentioned by someone in a listing, and googled that, and found it mentioned on the archives of a murano glass forum at a site I'd not known of before...so I went to the home page of that site, reaccessed the *current* fora (hey, it's Italy, I should use the language correctly :)), and WOW what a delicious place!

Thank you so much for breaking the Internet wall for me--so much appreciated :)

Here is a link that might be useful: a glass-loving girl could get lost in here...
Related Discussions
does anyone know what this item is?
Q
Comments (27)
There are many many baptismal fonts in Catholic churches that are short and lacking a cross or other symbolism. Also the cross might have been on a lid. Here's one at the Cathedral in Magdeburg, Germany. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/Baptismal_Font_Magdeburg.jpg&imgrefurl=http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baptismal_Font_Magdeburg.jpg&usg=__s2HUw0Vs7AnSG2w9F_SIdvAiII4=&h=1049&w=1162&sz=302&hl=en&start=6&um=1&tbnid=PHBODd5fvg4TLM:&tbnh=135&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dcathedral%2Babaptismal%2Bfonts%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG%26um%3D1 There are more. Check Google images. It's not uncommon for a font to be placed on a plinth and to have a lid. This piece appears to have had a lid at one time. I think it's European or American. I think it dated from about the mid 19th century....and it could have been used for a baptismal font. It could also have been used to hold sand to put out cigarettes and cigars in a fancy hotel...or to hold incense sticks. But it's unwise to say that a Roman Catholic baptismal font would ALWAYS have a cross or inscription. I can show you lots of pictures of Roman Catholic fonts without inscriptions. But, the more I think of it, the more I like the idea of a sand bucket for smokes. The handles would provide for easy emptying... But the piece looks like it had a lid.... Adds to the puzzle! Here is a link that might be useful: Italian font
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Round table, skirted, glass top - out of style?
Q
Comments (22)
"Do people with any taste still use these?" LOL! I ask myself that Q all the time! Here are my general opinions: I personally don't like much of anything skirted...but then my decorating tastes are more minimal. With that said, If was WAS going to skirt a bedside table, I would make sure I didn't overdo fabrics throughout the room so it appears everything is bathed in fabric. I prefer more balance of fabrics, woods, and other textures. I would make sure the fabrics on the bed & potentially on windows aren't matchy-matchy with the skirting. I would attempt to either play up the side table, or down-play it depending on what else is going on in the room...to create balance. Either create a focal point or be careful to not over-ride an existing focal point. So, with THAT said, I would personally not put glass on top. To me that's fussy (but then, that's me), so instead of glass tops, I would put a tray or some other nice-looking piece along-side the lamp (or whatever is on there) for the purpose of placing glasses & personal items in a contained and protected spot. Also, to me...when I see glass tops when nearby lamps/lighting are on...I just see the reflection of the glass more than I notice anything decorative. Again, light reflection draws the eye to the glass. Not sure if that happens to anyone else...but that's what I see. You might want to assess the lighting and determine if that's an effect you might be going for.
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Very frustrated with finding a lamp for the LR - help?
Q
Comments (36)
The purpose of the lamp on the table in the window would be a combination of ambient and task (reading). I volunteer at a nice consignment shop and am always on the lookout for nice lamps there. I think you are on to something, may_flowers, regarding the lamp shade. This afternoon, just for the heck of it, I put a lamp from the family room on the table and it looks so much better with a wide, drum shade instead of the flared lamp shade. This lamp(borrowed from the FR) is a little more than 27" tall. So, I guess I've been way off with my height restriction, too! So, all along I thought I was looking for a shorter, darker color lamp and now I'm thinking taller and lighter color. Yikes!
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Does anyone know what this is?
Q
Comments (111)
Ewww bragu, no. Even back then Madonna had better taste for her upstairs encasements that the OP vessel.
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Valerie Noronha
15 years ago
flyleft: You'e peeked my curiosity. You need to share a pic of what you are talking about. I'd love to see your Goodwill find.
amysrq
15 years ago
Okay, are you sitting down? Here's a link to Mariette Himes Gomez' site where I have seen Italian glass lamps before. There look to be only a few now. But, if you have any curiosity at all about what you might have paid for your lamp on the Upper East Side....well, have at it!

Your Goodwill rocks, btw. Maybe I'll go there instead of Rejuvenation and Dig!

Here is a link that might be useful: Lamps for a price
reeree_natural
15 years ago
flyleft
I am glad you are getting a little closer.. I hope you find exactly what you are looking for!

" a glass-loving girl could get lost in here" you sure can.. lol! :)
keep us posted and let us know if you find what you are looking for..
Ree
mahatmacat1
Original Author
15 years ago
From going through that forum, and following a link to a very wonderful site, I'm thinking it's not Murano, unfortunately, because there's no gold, but it's definitely handblown glass, gold color with some lighter gold opaque stripes, in a large-bottom-oval, higher-up round, and final vertical twist up to the mechanism. From the base it's 27" to the lightbulb. Wish someone had disposed of its pair, if there was one. It's not as fabulous as Murano. But I love glass lamps anyway :)

Here is a link that might be useful: well I know what kind of shade to get...

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