Help me identify this lamp?

Greetings! I am wondering who made this bridge arm floor lamp? It does have the markings on the bottom of RMC 905. I have uploaded the photos to an album here and I'll link to it in comments.

 

Rindsberger Mfg. Corp., 18 E 24th Street, Chicago, Illinois. 905 is model #

 

Is there any way to know what year it was made? What it might be worth? I use it daily in my home.

 

Nice looking floor lamp! Personally, I like the traditional styling.
Often, much of a lamp's worth (if it has any) includes its shade. Your shade looks like a plain modern replacement?

 

Yes it is a replacement.

 

Also, it looks like brass? It is very heavy, so I'm assuming it's cast iron underneath. How should I clean it?

 

It's probably a mix of metals. A lot of these vintage lamps are assembled with disparate parts from various manufacturers. Looks like the extruded bridge arm tube is brass, then the decorative finial section and column spacers look like brass plated Spelter (pot metal/zinc alloy), the tube might be brass, and the base could be plated cast iron (take a magnet to it, if it sticks, it's iron).

A damp rag won't hurt anything unless you have it plugged in and hit the electrical! If the base is cast iron, don't get it too wet...or dry it quickly if it does. Don't use any harsh chemicals like Brasso on it.

If the lamp holder/socket ever goes bad, try and have just the guts replaced, but keep the original shell. Nothing kills the look of an antique/vintage lamp like a modern bright yellow brass plated light socket. You can find complete legit vintage ones on eBay, if needed.

 

Great advice re lamp holder/socket shell. I might add -- speaking generally -- one should never discard a period lamp shade. They can always be recovered with new cloth should the original be damaged.

Debora