1960s Schmahl & Schulz Table Lamp

Materials: Round metal (iron) base with a brushed steel lid on top. Cast iron counterweight inside the base. Chrome rod. Some metal parts. Black aluminium mushroom style lampshade with many inlaid glass tubes or rods. 3 galvanised iron E27 sockets.

Height: 38 cm / 14.96”

Width: ∅ 43 cm /16.92”

Base: ∅ 17 cm / 6.69”

Electricity: 3 bulbs E27, 3 x 60 watt maximum, 110/220 volt.
Any type of light bulb can be used, not a specific one preferred.

Period: 1960s, 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.

Designer: Mr. Petersen in 1966. No information to be found.

Manufacturer: Schmahl & Schulz GmbH & Co. KG, Barmen, Wuppertall, Germany (Schmahl + Schulz).

Other versions: This 1960s Schmahl & Schulz table lamp or desk lamp exists in slightly different styles. Produced as a wall lamp, a pendant lamp and a ceiling lamp or flush mount. This table lamp is model number 4903.

Other companies produced comparable lamps. Among others: E.M. Lamper, Denmark, Philips, The Netherlands, Massive, Belgium.

Schmahl & Schulz

Schmahl & Schulz GmbH & Co. KG Metallwarenfabrik (Metalware factory) was founded in 1880. In the beginning the company produced accessories for electric lighting, light switches and so on. They also produced parts for export. Later on they started the production of wall, table and ceiling lights until the late 1930s. 

During the Second World War Schmahl & Schulz made insignia (badges and medals) for the NSDAP. (Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei – National Socialist German Workers’ Party: the Nazi party)
It had the RZM code M1/183 (Reichszeugmeisterei – the purchasing agency of the Nazi’s).
Not only the factory produced medals but they also had slaves in the Nazi camp system, as more than 2500 other factories in the country did. 

After the war, the company began to produce lights again. The Schmahl & Schulz GmbH & Co. KG Metallwarenfabrik company no longer exists. It is unclear when the company ended business. 

Wuppertal is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It has a population of approximately 350.000 inhabitants (2017). It is the largest city in the Bergisches Land.