MY "GRANDMA" LAMP
Growing up I often saw a beautiful cut glass lamp displayed in the home of my paternal grandparents. It was lovely and we were never allowed to touch it. My grandfather, Elmer Schulte, told me the lamp had belonged to his parents (Rudolph and Juliane, nee Feucht, Schulte) and had been displayed in their home at 521 St. Aubin in Detroit when he was growing up. His mother had loved this lamp, he said; he believed it had been a gift to them when they married in 1891.
This lamp is powered with an electrical socket from the Hubbell Lamp Company. The lamp in a mushroom shape has 40 prisms which hang from the removable cut glass shade. The prisms are staggered, one being long, the next shorter, the next long and so forth around the circumference of the lamp. There are two bulbs in the lamp with pull-chains to turn them on and off.
Over the years this lamp has been passed down in my family. After my great-grandmother, Juliane's death in January, 1907, my great-grandfather remarried and the lamp stayed in his home with his new wife. When my great-grandfather, Rudolph, passed away in 1940 the lamp went to the home of my grandparents (Elmer and Ella, nee Wellhausen, Schulte). My grandfather passed away in 1968 and my grandmother in 1989 at which time my aunt took possession of the lamp.
After the death of my aunt, her son had the lamp in his home. I had a deep desire for the lamp and approached my cousin about this. He agreed that the lamp was not "his style" and he was happy to pass the lamp on to me. I continue to display this lamp in my home. It holds a special significance to me as I can imagine my great-grandmother lovingly caring for this very extravagant lamp for the times.
A few years ago representatives from Antiques Roadshow came through my town and I took the lamp to them for appraisal. I was pleased to learn that it continues to be a very collectible and valuable item some 100+ years after my great-grandparents had it in their home.
A LITTLE LAMP HISTORY
Since my grandfather had assumed that the cut glass mushroom lamp had been a wedding present to his parents I took him at his word. However, when the Internet came on the scene I decided to do a little research on the Hubbell Lamp Company.
I learned that on August 11, 1896 a Bridgeport, Connecticut inventor and industrialist, Harvey Hubbell, patented a socket for incandescent lamps. It utilized a simple on/off switch contained in the base of the light socket and was controlled by a pull chain. This is a design that remains popular to this day. The above link to the Hubbell Lamp Company shows a socket that is a perfect match for the socket (labeled as Hubbell) within my "grandma lamp" and thus dates the lamp to no earlier than August 11, 1896. Therefore, my lamp was not a wedding gift for Rudolph and Juliane Schulte but something they either purchased or received later.
As my grandfather, Elmer, could remember the lamp in his childhood home and could remember his mother caring for the lamp, and as he was only twelve when his mother passed away, I can safely date the appearance of the lamp in the Rudolph & Juliane Schulte home to between 1896 and 1906.
Note: A similar cut glass lamp in a slightly different pattern recently sold at auction for $14,000!
2 comments:
Fantastic lamp! The Antiques Roadshow connection makes the story even better.
Thanks for your comment, Barb.
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