Links (external links open in a new window)
Vit Kellj lamp with a similar lampshade
Vit Kellj lamp made in the same style
Boîte Noire (2021) film – Wikipedia
Boîte Noire (2021) film – IMDb
All The Money In The World (2017) on Wikipedia
All The Money In The World (2017) in IMDb
Vintageinfo
Vit Kellj Table Lamp
Materials: Nickel-plated metal round base (iron). Nickel-plated Saturn globe on top. Metal lampshade holder. Round white acrylic tubular lampshade with 2 silver plated hallmarked rings. Bakelite E27 socket.
Total Height (with lampshade): 65 cm / 25.59”
Height: 46 cm / 18.11”
Width: 40 cm / 15.74”
Base: ∅ 30 cm / 11.81”
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: 1970s – Mid-Century Modern.
Designer: Vit Kellj Designer.
Manufacturer: Vit Kellj, Italy.
Other versions: This Vit Kellj table lamp exists in several variations. The lampshade was also used for other lamps.
Vit Kellj Designer
Not much information to be found about this company. It must be long gone and forgotten and in all probability it was a small but high quality business.
For this “Saturn” table lamp they used top quality materials, even the silver plated metal rings of the lampshade are hallmarked as you can see. It has 3 stamps: a hand, an S and a glass: to be determined.
The base is nickel plated, it gives a darker appearance than chrome plating.
The base has two plastic transparent labels. One label says: “Vit Kellj Designer. Made in Italy“. The other label says: “inalterable” (inexhaustible, indestructible…). Transparent stickers and labels came into production in the 1970s, but they were rare and expensive.
VLM
All the electric parts were made in Italy and were produced by the VLM Components company from Buccinasco, near Milan. The switch is model 475; the big model of the famous switch designed by Achille Castiglioni in 1968. Also the wire and socket were produced in the 1960s and early 1970s, and also by VLM Components. The plug was replaced by a new one, but in all probability the original was also made by VLM Components. A fancy late 1960s, early 1970s VLM-plug was used to restore it in his original condition for this setup.
Acrylic: often named by its commercial name: Perspex, Plexiglas, Crylux, Acrylite, Lucite, is a thermoplastic.
Binox
A very similar lamp was made by the Italian company Binox from Bologna.
Lamps in the movies!
A table lamp in the style of this Vit Kelj table lamp was used as a prop in the 2021 French film Boîte Noire (Black Box). Starring Pierre Niney, Lou de Laâge and André Dussollier. Several other lamps appear in this movie.
Two Vit Kelj table lamps were used as a prob in the 2017 crime thriller film All The Money In The World (2017) directed by Ridley Scott staring Michelle Williams, Christopher Plummer and Mark Wahlberg. A movie about the kidnapping in Rome in 1973 of 16-year-old John Paul Getty III, grandson of oil tycoon Jean Paul Getty. Unfortunately the original lampshades were replaced.
