How can I match a broken, vintage lamp globe?

January 10, 2016 7:43 AM

I've found an awesome mid-century lamp in great condition EXCEPT for the fact that it's missing a globe. I've found a seller on Etsy who has a different lamp with the exact same globes. They've got these 2 inch screw fitter bases. I've looked - oh how I've looked for ones, at dozens of sites and struck out everywhere. Screw threads on lamp globes seem to be as rare as hen's teeth. In lieu of buying two lamps to have one functional one - who can point me to a place where I can buy a replacement or have one made?
posted by The Giant Squid to Home & Garden (6 answers total)

You might want to give this place a call- he has hundreds of lamp shades in his shop. Despite the yelp reviews, I think he does good work, albeit old fashioned.

http://www.fixmasters.net/
posted by momochan at 7:54 AM on January 10, 2016

That's not the globe, that's the lampshade you are missing, you can see in your second photo that inside the screw fitting it is hollow and has no electrical connection. The actual globe would sit inside this.

That means it isn't a standard part, it is specific to this lamp. Whether you can find another one depends upon how common this lamp was originally and the number of people selling incomplete lamps. I'm less help there.


It's just occurred to me that you may know most of this but are just using the wrong term for the shade. In that case I'll leave this here as you may have more luck using the correct term, people who deal in lighting are going to be confused when you ask them for a globe with a 2" diameter base.
posted by deadwax at 7:54 AM on January 10, 2016

That's not the globe, that's the lampshade you are missing

Maybe it's a regional thing, but I'd call it a "globe"; the thing inside with an electrical connection and glowing filaments would be the "bulb".
posted by xris at 8:08 AM on January 10, 2016 [1 favorite]

In the lightbulb world, "globe" is a term for an actual lightbulb, the outer part you are looking for would be referred to as a glass shade.
posted by modofo at 8:13 AM on January 10, 2016

Fair enough; I'm not a lightbulb expert; but if you google "lamp globe" you get more pictures of what you're calling a glass shade than pictures of electrical components that glow. (And also a lot of lit-up spherical maps of the Earth). So, if it's a misuse of the word, it's a pretty common one.
posted by xris at 9:03 AM on January 10, 2016

Try a lamp parts distributor like Midwest Lamp Parts. Sorry the web link isn't much help; this is the kind of business that still deals with printed catalogs.

Grand Brass actually has an online catalog with a screw-in glass shade (their term), but as you can see it's the wrong style. It'd be worth contacting them too, because they might have odd pieces of old stock lying around. Or, assuming the base fits, buy a set and replace all the shades.
posted by hydrophonic at 5:30 PM on January 10, 2016