I have purchased some odd things in my life, but this lamp ranks up there with the top few of the weirdest. It's clearly old, probably dating to 1910's-1920's or so and most likely made in Vienna, Austria. I've never seen anything quite like it and I sincerely doubt I'll ever see another one. I just knew that at the reasonable eBay starting bid, I had a little wiggle room to play. I'm lucky that I was only bid up a few bucks by a last second would-be sniper.
I finally figured out the original purpose behind this lamp. It was originally a tabletop cigar lighter, most likely made during the 1910's-1920's when the majority of similar figural electric lighters were made. The bulb socket would have originally had a heating element in it (which are still available, believe it or not). The push button is a momentary switch that shows a fair bit of electrode erosion but cleaned up fairly well. I'm keeping the Edison bulb because the effect is cool, but I have one of those new-old-stock elements on the way.
I had the thought that this may have appealed to a man like Buffalo Bill Cody. His taste in furnishings was somewhat suspect, if his gift to the Mayor of Paris of a nine foot tall floor lamp made of steer horns and hooves with a lurid scarlet red fringed velvet shade and topped with a taxidermied bison head is anything to go by. The Mayor turned down that gift and it is unknown which fine French parlor that lamp eventually graced. I haven't looked into the whereabouts of that atrocity. As far as I'm concerned, it can remain lost. The description is enough to make me queasy. But to my thinking, anyone who thought that such a thing was appropriate as a gift to anyone much less the Mayor of Paris would have seen this lamp as positively tame and probably quite attractive.
This luminary came out of Studio City, a section of Los Angeles where lots of people in the entertainment industry live and work. I imagine this coming from the estate of a wealthy filmmaker, possibly someone involved with making Westerns. Perhaps it came from a prop stash. I don't know for certain, but it's fun to speculate!
Is this fine art or a grotesque? Is it a sculptural work or a lighting fixture? Perhaps all of the above and possibly more. What was the original intention behind this piece? When placed on a table, the similarities between this lamp and traditional depictions of the head of John the Baptist (at the "on a platter" phase of his existence) are noted. Is that incidental or intentional? The debates are ongoing. If you, dear reader, have some knowledge of this lamp, please share!
What we have here is the face of a Native American Indian man presented as a high relief plaque. He is youthful, his face unlined, jaw square and firm. His expression is not one of distress. He is wearing a feather headdress and bone choker necklace. His mouth is open wide, as if he were shouting or singing, and shows a porcelain light bulb socket inside. In the center of the choker, right over his Adam's apple, sticks out a cylindrical bronze button which operates the lamp. A cut off red-cloth-wrapped wire exits from the feathers covering the neck below the button. Closing the back is a soldered on piece of tin that is covered with stiff Manila paper-backed green felt. The whole was beautifully sculpted with a high level of detail and was cast and finished very nicely. The lamp has very little wear and requires only a good cleaning (now done) and new wiring (parts are on order) to function properly.
I'm not sure how I'll display this bronze lamp. My original thought was that it was meant to be hung on the wall, but looking at it I realized it was more likely made to sit on a table or shelf. That said, I think I'll hang it up after I clean and rewire it. I'll use red cloth lamp wire and a Bakelite plug to keep it as close to original as possible, but will be replacing the momentary switch with an off/on push button. This will look awesome with an Edison style filament bulb or a vintage Ball-O-Fire bulb (sadly these are no longer available).
The lamp has arrived. I've restored the socket but I'm now awaiting the replacement parts to return it to functionality. The original wiring is shot and the old phenolic momentary switch (it's a truly momentary switch, contact is broken when the button is released) has a fair bit of arc related erosion on the contact lugs. The switch screws into a threaded bung in the bronze which makes replacing it a bit tricky. As I have been unable to replace this switch to date, I will rewire the original switch and leave a bulb in the socket and purchase a screw-base cigar lighting element which I'm now nearly certain it once had. I will take new photos once I have it working. These I saved from the auction listing. I am hoping someone recognizes it.
Enjoy!
