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Celluloid figural lamps made their appearance in the late 1920s, in an effort to offer a figural lamp that held paint better than glass. They were not an effective product, however, as celluloid is highly flammable and is very sensitive to high temperatures. During use, the lamps soon distorted from the heat of the light bulb within them, and as the celluloid dried out it became extremely brittle and delicate. These lamps are hard to find today, due to their extremely low survival rate. Those that did make it through the years were most likely never used as lights. Below are a few examples, circa 1925. The lamp base protrudes from the back of the Kewpie and Girl with Dog figures. |
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Offered by Peerless, this is an unusual set containing intermediate base round GE Mazda lamps. Originally sold as outside painted bulbs in 1927, the lights were not popular as Christmas lamps and by 1928 the more appealing flame or swirled shaped bulbs had replaced them. In an attempt to re-introduce the cheaper to manufacture round bulbs to Christmas decorators, GE offered an improved version of the lamp with inside coloring to last longer as in the outfit above. But, just as before, people preferred the more traditional cone shaped flame bulbs, and the rounds were no longer marketed as Christmas lighting by 1930. |
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| Metal Tree top stars were first introduced in the early part of this decade by the Propp Company. Consisting of a five pointed star and three candle lights to make a string of 8 lights, the set was a popular seller and continued to be offered by NOMA after their merger with Propp. Starting in 1928, NOMA also offered a "pigtail" version of the topper which is pictured below, designed to screw into an existing string of lights as a substitute for a single bulb. These stars continued to be sold well into the 1930s. Paul Boehland and Company sold the unusual tree topper on the right, called the Fairy Crown Christmas Tree Tip, beginning in 1927. It was patented in 1928 and assigned number 1,690,397. The purchaser supplied their own lighting outfit of eight sockets, which were then placed into the socket holders surrounding the device. When new, the metal star had much more metallic glitter on it. | |||
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| The light set | Sunburst Disassembled | Sunburst Reassembled | Pine Cone Santa | 20s Style Flapper Girl |
| A product of NOMA, these very large lamps are called Dresden Fancy Lamps, and were an attempt to introduce a figural light with a replaceable light source. The large painted glass envelopes were imported from Germany, and the lamps were assembled in the United States. They were first distributed in 1929. These units had several distinct disadvantages that made them almost unusable. First, their weight made it hard to decorate, as they would not remain upright. Secondly, the parts that held the actual light socket were made of dissimilar metals, causing them to corrode and fuse together, making lamp replacement impossible after a year or two. A third disadvantage was that the paint flaked off horribly, as shown in these pictures. These issues, plus the fact that they were a high priced product offered for sale at the height of the Depression, led to their discontinuance in 1933. | ||||
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Note: This is an archive of the late Bill Nelson's "Antique Christmas Light" web site as it existed in 2001. Except for contact information, link updates, and some information that has been lost, we have attempted to keep the text and illustrations as Bill presented them. However, the original pages included much outdated HTML code and graphic conventions, so we have done a lot of work "behind the scenes" to bring you this archive. Consequently:
OldChristmasTreeLights? and FamilyChristmasOnline? are trademarks of Breakthrough Communications? (www.btcomm.com).
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