2022.01.18 Tuesday Stretch

Cal here. Happy third Tuesday of January; Happy New Year and let’s look at some stretch glass that lights up our world. Brian’s theme for January gives us lots of possibilities when we are looking at how stretch glass illuminates our lives, however, there are not very many stretch glass lamps and the ones we do have are quite rare. Dave shared stretch glass lamp shades and I am going to share some of the lamps.

The first was made by Northwood and it is similar in shape to the #651 four-sided 10+” tall candleholder. The lamp measures 11” tall and the base is 4 1/2″ square. Northwood evidently made a special mold for these as they have an opening thru the side of the base for the cord and there is, of course, an opening up the entire length of the ‘candleholder’ for the cord. These openings were molded, not drilled. The third photo shows the base of the Russet lamp. The lamp is known in Blue and Russet. I don’t know how many of them are known, but they are not plentiful.

This lamp is surely a whimsey. It includes a couple different pieces that are found in other Fenton stretch glass and then has a clever metal accessory to hold the shade. This was in Rosa Schlede’s stretch glass collection prior to me purchasing it in 2013 at Seeck’s auction of her stretch glass in Kensett, Iowa. Here is the cover of the auction brochure showing the lamp and a few of the pieces which were sold that day. You will see Rosa and Carl’s photo in the upper left corner.

I’ve never seen this third lamp in person but either Dave Shetlar or John Madeley saw it long enough to snap a photo of it as it appears as plate # 786 in American Iridescent Stretch Glass. It is noted that it is the only one known. We are going to feature examples of stretch glass in all the various purple colors in the 2022 stretch glass convention combined members’ display and it sure would be nice to have this lamp in that display for all of us to see (and droll over).

This lamp/aquarium combination came to me from John Madeley. He offered me the light shades and I said I wasn’t interested in the shades as I wouldn’t have a lamp to put them on. His response, “ok, I’ll sell you the lamp and the shades”. I was immediately interested and ended up buying several lamps and shades from him. Here is another of the lamps with Imperial stretch glass shades which John had in his collection.

As you know, most of the time we light up our lives with candles in stretch glass candleholders, of which there are many. But that is a topic for another time.