1960s Crystal & Brass Table Lamp

Materials: Brass feet and parts. Crystal glass cube and rod, pressed, not cut. Yellow, gold coloured concave fabric lampshade with a gold coloured ribbon decoration. Gold painted Bakelite E27 socket.

Total Height (with lampshade): 72 cm / 28.34”

Height: 42 cm / 16.53”

Width: ∅ 37,5 cm / 14.76”

Base: 13,5 x 13,5 cm / 5.31 x 5.31”

Electricity: 1 bulb E27, 1 x 75 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

Period: 1960s, 1970s – Neoclassical – Hollywood Regency.

Designer: To be appraised.

Manufacturer: S.A. Boulanger, Liege, Belgium.

Other versions: This 1960s crystal & brass table lamp exists in several variations.

This table lamp has a square crystal glass base resting on 4 lion feet.

Similar table lamps were made by the manufacturers Seguso and Barovier from Murano, Italy. Also made by Orrefors in Sweden and designed by Carl Fagerlund (1915 – 2011). Kaiser Leuchten (Gebr. Kaiser & Co. Leuchten KG) from Germany made similar lamps.

It is unclear and hard to see if this metal is real ormolu or just moulded and polished brass. The crystal glass is pressed, so the quality is mediocre. This is a table lamp made after the neoclassical French and English antique table lamps. The “real” table lamps are often presented as lamps made of Baccarat (France) glass or Waterford (UK) glass. Many of these neoclassical lamps were made during the interwar period (1920-1940). This table lamp is from the 1970s, to see on the electric wiring.

Ormolu

Ormolu is a process known as mercury-gilding or fire-gilding. A solution of mercuric nitrate is applied to a piece of brass, bronze or copper.

S.A. Boulanger

Unfortunately, not much is known about the company. S.A. Boulanger is famous for the large amount of lamps the company produced that were designed by Gaetano Sciolari. S.A. Boulanger ended business somewhere in the early 1980s. There is nothing to be found in the Belgian Official Journal about the company/factory. The journal goes back to 1983. The company is not to be confused by the other Boulanger lighting company, also from Belgium: Les Ateliers Boulanger NV from Brussels.

S.A. = société anonyme. French for anonymous society. 

VLM Components

VLM Components made all the electric parts for this lamp in the 1970s. The company was founded in 1945 in Buccinasco. It is a small village near Milan in Italy. VLM became famous for the switches designed by Achille Castiglioni in 1968.
VLM is part of the Relco Group, founded in 1967. Today Relco owns the brands Relco, Leuci, Relco Lighting, VLM Components and Segno.