Remarkably Rare 1800s Adams-Bagnall Street Lamps

July 23, 2016 in Blog 0

If you search the internet for this Adams-Bagnall street lamp you will find out just how rare these are. They are on every lamp collectors wish list. It’s nice to hang a rare lamp but it still needs to look great as well. I think this was one of the most striking Industrial lamps made. It is a street light… but it has a sense of style rarely found in municipal lighting. I’m amazed that it still has the original 12 inch diameter 120 year old glass globe… as well as the blue porcelain shade. Its easy to spot a very early glass globe. It has a unique color all its own. The use of manganese in the original manufacturing process, combined with over a 100 years of sun and carbon arc light are responsible for turning the glass from clear to this beautiful subtle purple/lavender. These 1800s lamps were in use before the light bulb was introduced. Everything has been rewired for home use and is now illuminated by a cluster of five antique style filament candelabra bulbs. The lamp is signed and dated on a brass plaque… We have 2 different examples in stock.

SOME HISTORY…. The AB hanging copper arc lamp was designed and patented by Thomas E. Adams for the Adams-Bagnall Electric Co., Cleveland, OH. Mr. Adams was considered an expert in erecting and repairing General Electric light Apparatus. During the 1880s he patented numerous improvements on electric light and railway systems, including the wood segment commutator of the brush dynamo; the brush-adams arc lamp, the double pole trolley, etc. in 1895 he became associated with others (former workers of the brush/swan incandescent plant) in the organization of the Adams-Bagnall Electric Company.