Date |
Manufacturer |
Notes |
Outside of Box |
Inside of
Box |
ca
1924 |
Five
Seas Trading |
Louis Szel's Five
Seas Trading Company offered this outfit in both the United
States, and, a bit later, in Canada. This set employs carbon
filament pine cone lamps imported from Germany. Szel was one of the
founders of the famous NOMA Electric Corporation. |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Brite
Lites |
Another typical
miniature base series wired outfit from the 1920s. The set uses
Japanese tungsten filament lamps that had poor paint adhesion. |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Dealites |
Although in a box
nearly identical to the one from Brite Lites above, these two
companies are not connected in any way |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Dealites |
This is a battery
outfit, intended to run from radio storage batteries or liquid
filled battery jars. Sets like these were sold to farm families who
did not have city electric power. The set uses the same box cover as
above. The lamps are 6 volts each, and the sockets are wood. |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Dealites |
This set by
Dealites features their newly-patented "constant Contact" spring
loaded sockets, that reduced set failures because of loose bulbs.
The close up to the left is from the box lid, and shows the details
of the new socket. |
|
|
1925 |
Triangle |
A most unusual
outfit, designed to solve the "if one goes out, they all go out"
problem with series wired lights. The control box allows the user to
simply turn a knob when one lamp went out. The device bypasses one
socket at a time as the knob is rotated, until the string lights
again. Once the string is lit, the burnt out lamp could easily be
seen. |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Premo |
Here's a set of
figural lights by Premo. The Premo name
was
used for Christmas lights for only one year, so it is easy to date
this extremely hard to find outfit. Many of the figural lights in
the set are original, as they match the box art perfectly, as does
the string. My search continues to find all of the proper figural
lights to complete this set. I've seen only one other example of
this outfit, and it was missing the lid to the box. |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Monowatt |
Monowatt, a major
electrical device manufacturer, sold these lights under the name
Cheer-I-Lights. A most unusual outfit, this is one of the very
few that I've found to originally offer pine cone shaped lamps from
the factory. The set is presented in a very creative box that when
folded turns into an attractive counter display using the inside
flap pictured above. The lamps are German carbon filament exhaust
tipped, and the outfit originally sold for $2.35. Notice the metal
spring attachments on the sockets, used as an aid in positioning the
lights upright on the tree. Monowatt made electrical devices,
including plugs and lamp sockets for many years, but offered
Christmas lights under their own name for only a very short time.
|
|
|
ca
1925 |
Monowatt |
In a
box identical to the set pictured above, this Monowatt outfit
features candle light sockets instead of the standard green
composition type sockets. Both boxes feature an interesting and
inventive countertop display feature, whereby the box can be folded
into its own display as pictured above. |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Zelco |
An inexpensive offering from
Zell Manufacturing Company, this set features imported Japanese
carbon filament lamps. |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Zelco |
Another outfit from Zell Manufacturing Company, this set features
high-quality Mazda lamps from the General Electric Company. |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Monowatt |
In a
box similar to the two pictured above, this is a box of figural
lights from Monowatt. The lights are German imports, and some have
exhaust tips. These are very high quality lamps, and this outfit is
most uncommon. It has kindly been shared with us by Bob Iwamasa,
author of a wonderful book on figural Christmas lights. |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Propp |
The
Propp Glo Lite was advertised for use on wall lighting fixtures, but
could also be used as a tree topper. A most unusual product that is
hard for the collector to find today. |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Matchless |
This
set by the Matchless company is very hard to find, and was made by
the same company that later manufactured and sold the famous
Matchless Wonder Stars. The set is pictured as found with Mazda
lamps and the original cord. Interestingly, even though Matchless
was a lamp manufacturing company, it does not appear that either the
lamps nor the cord were made by them. Other known boxes similar to
this can be found marked #160 and Mazda, indicating lamp production
by an outside company. The Matchless Electric Company is not known
to have ever produced Mazda licensed products. See
The Mazda Story on this site
for more information about the Mazda name. |
|
|
About this time (1925), the industry started to use the "new style"
GE ribbed cone lamps
instead of the smooth cones. The ribs added to
the flame effect, and it was this final design that was made well
into the 1960s as the preferred shape.
|
ca
1925 |
Tinsel Corporation of America |
This Santalites
outfit is one of the very few outfits that I've found that
advertises a specific brand of Mazda lamps, in this case, Edison
Mazda. The box does contain the specified Edison Mazda tungsten
filament lamps. |
|
|
ca
1925 |
Tinsel Corporation of America |
Here is a set of
imported German light reflectors, intended for use behind the
electric light bulbs to enhance their brightness and sparkle. These
were offered by Santalites, the same company who manufactured the
light set pictured above. The reflectors are made out of thin copper
with various colored coatings applied to the reflective surface. The
inner ring is made of pressed cardboard, to electrically insulate
the conductive copper reflector from the light socket. |
|
|
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