I’m very pleased to offer this striking 1941 chandelier by Globe Lighting of Brooklyn, New York.
GLOBE LIGHTING
I own a late 1930s Globe Catalog. It may be 1940. To me, the catalog is rather poignant. It is filled with some of the most stunning fixtures ever created – and most were already discontinued.
In the 1930s Globe produced extremely high-quality lighting fixtures, and of superior design. Then something happened. Maybe the company was losing money? Perhaps a management shuffle? I don’t know, but later Globe catalogs reveal a significant shift. It was if Rolls-Royce switched to making Chevys.
Looking through the 80-page catalog, and at light after light after light that I would frankly kill for, and to know that most were discontinued, seems, well, so sad. What happened?
Today, Globe fixtures from the late 1930s and early 1940s are rare. Finding one is always a special thrill.
Historically, this is a fascinating fixture. The frosted white shade (it looks pinky in the images, but really is white) is called slumped glass. Slumped glass shades were introduced after WWII, and became popular. Wildly so. Before the war, cast glass shades were the norm. This fixture is the only pre-war fixture I’ve ever offered with a slumped glass shade.
And what a shade. It is, again, frosted white and features lilies. In the 1941 catalog image (see picture) the lilies are much more pronounced. I doubt they ever were as such in real life (the catalog image is a drawing not an actual photograph).
The finial is also amazing. It is a hand-blown sphere. It is also a switch! Which works! You can turn on just one bulb, three, or all four. In the days before dimmer switches became common (a post-WWII development), the ability to control the amount of light must have seemed a technological wonder – the very acme of modernity.
Above the shade is a fountain effect with eight delicate glass spheres (I love it), and above that is a cast glass flourish.
The metal components retain their distinctive Globe finish which is sorta bronze-like with a greenish hue.
As the 1941 catalog image attests, the fixture is impressively original and retains all its original components.
The chandelier was originally priced at $26.85. I know, you laugh, but that was at the higher end for such a fixture.
FOR THE LIGHTING GEEK
On this Globe chandelier, the cast metal socket cluster (see second-to-last image) is wildly over engineered. You would think it was designed to support a bridge and not four Bakelite sockets! I’ve never seen sockets held in their own custom, cast cups. Yep, pretty cool.
Wholly restored and with new wiring, this fixture is ready to hang, and comes with all the mounting hardware needed!
DETAILS: The fixture accepts standard base 60W bulbs. I recommend appliance-size bulbs.
COLOR: Frosted white shade. The metal components are bronze-like with a greenish hue.
SIZE: The fixture hangs down about 33-inches and the shade is an impressive 17-1/2-inches wide. I can remove up to 12-inches of chain; I can add chain.
CONDITION:
I love writing this: there’s no damage.
The sockets are original (and in fine shape) with new wiring. The vertical wire is cloth-covered like the original.
All the metal parts have a bronze-like finish. This looks very good with only small, subtle bits of loss and small age spots.
SHIPPING: Insured shipping in the Continental US will be…FREE!
