Pair of 50s 3.5' Woolums Cone Lamps on cover of May 2 Antiques Week Central Edition - email offers to me!
kilgore...@yahoo.com
On the cover of the May 2, 2005 Central Edition of Antiques Week
magazine/paper is a cover story about the Burlington Outdoor Antique
Show and Sale. The photo to the right showing two astounding 3 1/2
feet tall mid-century torchiere-style wood (black), brass, and plastic
(deep amber) lamps was of my booth (my name is not really Kilgore).
These are truly one of a kind (well 2 of a kind, I guess) lamps. Many
people have seen them and drooled over them and no one has seen
anything like them. I had a hard time talking to anyone else at the
show with the never-ending stream of people who were marveling and
asking about them!
A still photo cannot do them justice. As you move around them, the
swirly patterns move, rotate, expand and contract, as if the shades
were some sort of animated projection on Star Trek! I have no idea how
the material was made to do this. When the lights are on (3-way bulb
sockets), and the shades are illuminated from within, the effect is
even more dramatic. When placed symetrically in a room, especially one
with any degree of retro, modern, Danish, Eames, etc. design esthetic
the impact is absolutely overwhelming; they become a part of the
architecture and completely enrapture one with a spell of flawless
elegance. I gurantee every single person who walks into the room where
they are displayed stop in their tracks, scrape their jaw off the floor
and exclaim in one fashion or another.
If anyone does make me the right offer I will miss them VERY
badly...they are centerpieces of my living room now, hence the price of
$1500 for the pair (and due to their desirability and rarity). But it
is time to redecorate, so they are now for sale.
I have other pictures of them I can email you if interested.
The shade material is some kind of plastic. There are microscopic
ridges much like you would find on a 3D postcard, which no doubt has
something to do with how the "motion" effect was achieved.
As to their origin, I inherited them from a friend who I believe bought
them at the old Ferguson's Antique mall on Kellog Ave. in Cincinnati,
Ohio probably sometime around 1985-1990. That is all I know for sure.
There are no marks or labels.
However, after searching and searching and searching, I finally located
one rather different lamp that nonetheless has many significant design
similarities at the following internet location:
http://www.planetoranj.com/picpages/lm0196.htm
Or look about 1/2 way down the parent page:
http://www.planetoranj.com/light1.htm
The shown lamp, which was sold, with no price listed at the site, is
from V.M. Woolums Mfg Co. The similarities are too close for mine not
to be by this same very rare and hightly sought-after maker: The
tripod design of towering wooden shade supports; the interesting
angular treatment at the top of the supports; the pull-chain with
wooden ball at the end; the shaping of the tripod supports where they
meet the base; the shade that slides into the tripod supports; the
brass support rods.
However, the pair that I am offering are far more interesting visually
and are just too elegant and beautiful for words IMHO.
That's all I can say about them, except that they will only be sold as
a pair.
Let me know if there are any questions or offers. Email at this Usenet
address (Kilgore...@yahoo.com), and if you like I will give you my
private email address if you wish more validation that I am indeed the
person named in the Antique Week piece.
Steve Roussos
Kris Baker
<kilgore...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1114974347....@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> However, after searching and searching and searching, I finally located
> one rather different lamp that nonetheless has many significant design
> similarities at the following internet location:
>
> http://www.planetoranj.com/picpages/lm0196.htm
My daughter has a pair of those; cost her $5 each at
a yard sale two years ago.
>
> Let me know if there are any questions or offers. Email at this Usenet
> address (Kilgore...@yahoo.com), and if you like I will give you my
> private email address if you wish more validation that I am indeed the
> person named in the Antique Week piece.
>
> Steve Roussos
When will you quit spamming us?
Kris
kilgore...@yahoo.com
formal business operation, just an individual cleaning house and trying
to raise funds. This is the first time I have mentioned items for
sale, while I have asked questions about a number of items.
Obviously the person selling the very different lamps like the one
shown at the planetoranj page at the yard sale for $5 had no idea about
the desirability of their lamps. Look at the prices of the other lamps
at that site, search ebay for "eames lamps", especially in
seach-completed.ebay.com to see what these kind of items go for these
days.
FYI I emailed the owner of planetoranj and was informed that his price
(at which it sold) for the Woolums lamp shown there was $350.00 Again,
mine are a very different design, and I referenced this commercial site
only for those who saw the antique week photo to provide some reference
validation of the probable maker.
I have never understood people taking umbrage at what someone says in
in a message in a public usenet group, that they themselves voluntarily
clicked on and read. Spamming is massive broadcasting of highly
commercial messages by a business directly intio peoples' private email
boxes or across multiple inapprpopriate newsgroups. I am a private
individual offering one single (OK pair) of items for sale, making one
single announcement in one group that is appropriate for the message.
Chill out. If you don't care, then ignore the post. Sheesh.
Kris Baker
<kilgore...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1114975962....@o13g2000cwo.googlegroups.com...
> I'm not spamming anyone. Thjis is an open public forum, I am not a
> formal business operation, just an individual cleaning house and trying
> to raise funds.
This is NOT a commercial newsgroup.
Kris
kilgore...@yahoo.com
messages to this group offering anything for sale.
Happy?
So, are dicussions about the identity of objects (like my post on the
fascinating Soviet Palekh playing cards, to which a very kind and
reasonable gentleman offered the answer I was seeking), or posts about
the rarity and possible value of objects that we mere mortals find in
our basements & attics (like mine on the Brush Leaf planter, to which a
very sweet lady gave me some useful tips) going to be permitted by you,
or need we fear your wrath on these type of subjects also?
One little tip: if you are ticked off by long or "inapproporiate"
messages from this or any group using up space in your personal
mailbox, then STOP USING auto-email-from-usenet services, as I suspect
you are doing. That's your own fault.
Smorgass Bored
find out the Woolums lamp pictured was just like a lamp that I currently
have in my bedroom. Now, I'm going to do a little exploring on my own,
wnen I get the time...
<previously>
However, after searching and searching and searching, I finally located
one rather different lamp that nonetheless has many significant design
similarities at the following internet location:
http://www.planetoranj.com/picpages/lm0196.htm
Or look about 1/2 way down the parent page:
http://www.planetoranj.com/light1.htm
The shown lamp, which was sold, with no price listed at the site, is
from V.M. Woolums Mfg Co.
The similarities are too close for mine not to be by this same very
rare and hightly sought-after maker: The tripod design of towering
wooden shade supports; the interesting angular treatment at the top of
the supports; the pull-chain with wooden ball at the end; the shaping of
the tripod supports where they meet the base; the shade that slides into
the tripod supports; the brass support rods.
Steve Roussos
Doug
~>*(((>< Big fish eat Little fish ><)))*<~
Kris Baker
<kilgore...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1114978353.9...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
I have NO idea what you're talking about.
Kris
John S.
<kilgore...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1114978353.9...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
Dear Mr Roussos,
It appears that you are not aware of a web page entitled "The
Quasiofficial rec.antiques FAQ"
http://lonestar.texas.net/~clough/rafaq.html
You really should make an effort to check it out before making more posts.
Should your schedule prohibit you from visiting that site please continue
reading. The following text was posted in this group on April 21st, 10 days
ago.
The short form of the rules for posting**
1. Do not post ads of any sort, we have seen them all, don't even
try.
2. Do not post images, post an url where we can go and look at
them.
3. Never, re-post private email
4. Always provide full information, the material the item it is made of,
it's length , width , colour and identification marks or numbers of
any kind.
5. Never just ask " What's it worth ", this group is for the discussion
of Antique & Collectible items at least fifty years old and is not
a buy and sell site . If you require an appraisal contact me and I
can give you the url's for several Appraisal Associations that will
be happy to help you out.
** The long form of the FAQS (posting rules) for rec.antiques are on the
web: http://lonestar.texas.net/~clough/rafaq.html
kilgore...@yahoo.com
>
> Just for the heck of it, I took a look at your links and was floored
to
> find out the Woolums lamp pictured was just like a lamp that I
currently
> have in my bedroom. Now, I'm going to do a little exploring on my
own,
> wnen I get the time...
Cool! Take very good care of it! I've been suprised to find how rare
these particular kind of mid-century lamps appear to be, with shades
that do not attach with standard wire "hangars" to standard lamp "harp"
fixtures, but rather are elegant, simple cylinders and cones but in
interesting materials and colors, that simply slide into some other
part of the lamp base. Don't know why they should be so rare, but I
have barely found any examples of them anywhere on the web or in shops.
You can find hundreds of really neat 1950s / 1960s retro design lamps
in a bewildering array of materials and styles all over the net. But
even their numbers must be dwindling over time as they tended to have
intricate, easily damaged constructions, and any of the more
interesting designs in excellent condition seem to have a rather high
value to collectors, as a review of completed auctions on ebay, and
prices in physical retro/antique shops will reveal ($5 yard-sale
occurences notwithstanding - snatch these up if you come across them!)
As we get further into the 2000s, swanky collectors and just those with
quirky, "futuristic" tastes seem to really appreciate the original
visionary designers of the 1950s, and their predecessors (in roughly
chronological order) Arts & Crafts, Art Nouveau, Art Deco, and
Modernism. There are a number of large shows and exhibits around the
country on the theme of Modernism, and they are one good way to see
lots of examples of these pieces of futurism from the not-so-distant
past.
Searching the web for terms like Modernism, "Danish Modern", Eames,
Retro, etc. is a good way to locate examples of these sorts of designs.
On excellent site sponsored by the Minneapolis Institute of Arts is:
http://www.artsmia.org/modernism/
Although they seem to stop in the 1940s. Some of the best and most
elaborately stunning (though perhaps to some stuffy types too
"popularized") examples were done in the the 50s through the early 70s,
and are actively sought after by collectors of these styles of design.
FYI, I've searched and searched for other information on the V.M.
Woolums Mfg. Co., using Google, Metacrawler, Highway61, Dogpile and
every other way I could think of, and found only that one page with
that one lamp at the planetoranj shop's site. So if you can find out
anything else about this outfit, please let me know!
I hope this has been interesting and useful (and very un-spammy).