Banker’s Lamp ID Help

I inherited this late vintage or antique banker’s lamp. I know nothing about it, not even sure if it originally came from a grandparent or a great-uncle (my best guesses).

What materials (brass?? marble/onyx/granite??), era/approximate date, country/area of origin (USA? Ohio?). Can anyone tell me anything about it?

I found a very close match with google lens: https://www.ebay.com/itm/157499768052?_ This looks almost identical except for the shape of the section between the joint and the base—even the design on the joint looks the same. But the seller does not seem to know much about it: He says “bronze and marble” and “antique” but gives no approximate date, area of origin, or manufacturer. (I even wonder if he means “antique=100 years+” or just “antique=old.”)

 

the marble's nice......

 

yeah agree , so cool !

 

Very nice banker's lamp, Icon.

Usually the latter.
But in this case I think your (and their) lamp could be antique. I'm sure some of the others will be able to tell you more.

 

I don't think this any earlier than the 30s and possibly as late as the 50s. Likely American. The base appears to be Italian marble. Probably patinated brass, though parts could be plated. Does a magnet stick anywhere? The ebay seller is ambitious with their price.

 

A magnet does not stick at all. AI tells me that means it is solid brass. Accurate? (You know how little I trust AI, but that sounds factual.) I think the patina is age. It is very irregular.

I am quite certain the lamp is not from the 1950s. When I first saw it, it was already old. The lamp probably was rewired, so the plug and cord may come from the 1950s (or later). Can you tell the date of the socket or the plug? (I will attach pictures.)


If it is Italian marble, it probably came from my great-uncle-by-marriage. He owned a brick plant and much of my mother's antique furniture came from him via her sister.

 

That's what I was thinking--probably 1930s, but possibly 1920s or earlier. BWDIK.

 

Socket is old. Wiring is newer. Lamp is likely brass with applied patina. See how the patina on the shade is gold on the edges and more brown in other areas. That is intentional. It also looks like it has a lacquer coating that has deteriorated a bit. Italian marble bases were used by American makers quite a bit. The US just doesn't have the sources for this type of marble.

 

Thanks! That is what I suspected about (old) socket and new wiring/plug but I was not sure and need the confirmation. Was it the latter (50's/60s? plug) that made you think it was as late as the 1950s? I have been trying to remember when I first saw it around the house. Not sure, but it has been in my parents' last two houses for decades and likely was passed down from the previous generation.

 

Replacement plug and wiring had nothing to do with dating. Such lamps were made well into the 50s, with the marble bases being particularly popular then (and later).

 

Thank you very much! (I still think earlier, based on who I think owned it previously and that it was old enough to need a replacement plug 1950s-1960s--but I like to be accurate. And I like to learn "why." So this provides a terminus ante quem.)

 

Mr. Electric says:

Well into the 20th century, most Americans continued to illuminate their homes using gas lamps. In 1925, only half of American houses had electrical power. Thanks in great part to FDR’s Rural Electrification Act of 1936, by 1945, 85 percent of American homes were powered by electricity, with virtually all homes having electricity by 1960.

I was thinking a consideration for dating the lamp would be when would electricity have been available in the places where it has been living.

 

I did not realize electricity would come this late to many Americans. But wouldn't that be RURAL Americans? I know southern Appalachia was late to get electricity, hence the TVA (Tennessee Valley Authority). But the great-uncle-by-marriage who I suspect was the former owner of the lamp lived in the northeastern Ohio town where I grew up. He owned a brick company and a craftsman house which certainly had electricity. I googled the date for when electricity came to my hometown. No specific date recorded, but they had electric streetcars in 1888. First house with electricity was a mansion built in 1904 with its own power plant. Rural surrounding area was much later (1938+) but the city had electricity decades earlier. So electricity in town during the 1930s would be common, especially for the well-to-do.

While looking up historical info I came across a picture of his brick plant in the 1930s. It has what look like wires criss-crossing the area above the kilns. Are those electrical wires?
https://www.facebook.com/groups/445932502244810/posts/1607945576043491/

 

Yes, look like it. The kilns must have been very demanding of the electricity available at the time. Could the lamp have been used in the factory office, if there was one? And would the factory have had its own generator(s)?