Tell me about this vintage lamp design

June 12, 2013 10:16 PM

I've always been curious about this general kind of lamp style since I was a kid.

My grandmother used to have a floor standing lamp in a similar style, pedestal with an electric lamp telescoping off one side, and an vessel-like object that resembled a censer or oil lamp opposite the electric lamp. I used to pretend it was a genie lamp when I was a kid.

What's up with the design? I don't mean the fine details or color or such. What is with the apparent non functioning appendage opposite the electric lamp? Does it have a function? Counterweight? Purely decorative? Is there a name for this kind of lamp? I've seen more commonly back when I was a kid, and they were a bit old fashioned back then, but it seems a defunct style the last few decades.

posted by 2N2222 to Home & Garden (10 answers total)

I'm no expert on the matter, and I can't answer your question about the design, but this kind of lamp--with a shade made out of metal--is called a tole lamp.
posted by trampoliningisfun at 10:36 PM on June 12, 2013

Best answer: It's called a student's lamp- the original is an oil table lamp, and the vessel-like object is the oil reservoir. IIRC, the purpose is to provide a larger oil reservoir so the lamp will burn for a looong time. Also, the lamp is adjustable in height- the oil reservoir and the lamp part counterbalance each other, so that the whole assembly can be raised/lowered on the center post.
posted by drhydro at 10:40 PM on June 12, 2013

Best answer: Ok, I got to looking (I've seen several of these lamps on Craigslist recently), and it seems that the shape is called Student Boudoir. Sounds like some exciting studying, eh?
posted by trampoliningisfun at 10:42 PM on June 12, 2013

Response by poster: Good answers. After looking around, I'm guessing the vessel is a purely decorative vestigial oil reservoir/font opposite the electric lamp, meant to recall the days of oil lamps. A few examples pseudo-oil student boudoir lamp turn up on ebay and etsy. An example of areal oil lamp in this style can be found here, about a quarter page down. There's even a mpg showing what a clever construction it was.
posted by 2N2222 at 11:18 PM on June 12, 2013

After looking around, I'm guessing the vessel is a purely decorative vestigial oil reservoir/font opposite the electric lamp, meant to recall the days of oil lamps.

I wouldn't assume every example is meant to recall oil lamps; we had a several of these in a house that didn't get electricity until the 1980s, and we actually converted a bunch of these from oil to electric.
posted by DarlingBri at 11:32 PM on June 12, 2013 [1 favorite]

What would be kind of cool is if the fake oil reservoir were made big enough to hold a spare bulb.
posted by flabdablet at 1:31 AM on June 13, 2013 [1 favorite]

What would be kind of cool is if the fake oil reservoir were made big enough to hold a spare bulb.

Or, for thematic consistency, a backup battery for power outages.
posted by itstheclamsname at 3:16 AM on June 13, 2013 [4 favorites]

What would be kind of cool is if the fake oil reservoir were made big enough to hold a spare bulb.

Or, for thematic consistency, a backup battery for power outages.

How about a windup generator powering a white LED?
posted by jamjam at 9:25 AM on June 13, 2013

If you put methanol in the oil reservoir it could run a fuel cell.
posted by flabdablet at 9:30 AM on June 13, 2013

Oil, yeah, but you should also be looking into Aladdin Lamps, which use kerosene.
posted by Rash at 10:05 AM on June 13, 2013