Here's a typical parallel wired outfit
from the Ringalite company, which was a brand name offered by the LECO
Electric Manufacturing Company. The set sold for $1.00 before
Christmas, and has been marked down to 65 cents for an after Christmas
sale. The LECO company made very high quality lighting outfits in their
own factories, and proudly offered Westinghouse lamps for many years
before being forced by high costs to finally include imported lamps in
their sets. |
|
|
This 1963 advertisement from General
Electric touts their new 100% made in America Christmas lighting
outfits. With the huge NOMA Corporation and other Christmas lighting
manufacturers struggling financially due to increased importing of
light sets, GE decided to "make their move" so to speak. Although the
ad says that this is GE's first offering of Christmas lights, the
Company is known to have produced Christmas lighting outfits in the
very early 1900s. |
|
This outfit is from 1962, and was
imported from Italy by the Kurt S. Adler Company, who is still in
business today. Made to resemble old fashioned lanterns, this set is
particularly pretty when lit. Chris cuff shares this set with us from
his collection, and reports that the AC cord is still stapled inside
the box-the set has not been used since it was made in 1962! |
|
Amazingly, this unbranded set of Italian
lights instructs the user that the permanently-wired lamps are easily
replaceable, by simply cutting out the bad lamp and splicing in a
new one! The set is not UL listed for obvious reasons... From the
collection of Chris Cuff. |
|
|
Also from Chris Cuff's collection, here
is another of the myriad novelty outfits available from Italy in the
1960s. This outfit is a 10 light set of jeweled, elongated diamond
shaped lights from 1962. |
|
Here is a set of jeweled eggs from
Chris' collection, also from Italy. The set is circa 1962. |
|
This interesting C-7 outfit from Peerless
has been kindly shared with us from the collection of Scott Sutter. The
set is special because it can easily be dated, as it belonged to
Scott's father's aunt, who worked in the Peerless factory for many
years. She brought home the outfit from the final production run the
last year the Company was in business- 1968. |
|
|
STILL UNDER
CONSTRUCTION-MORE TO COME!
BACK
|