I love this lantern. I would like it even better if it lit up!
May 13, 2012 12:24 PM Subscribe
What kind of garden lantern is this? Better yet, what does it take to light it up?!
With our new home, we also got this beautiful flower garden, complete with the standing lantern shown in the photos. It stands at least 4 feet tall—maybe a little taller—and appears to be made of stone that has been painted black. The decorative top is not affixed to the rest of the piece; I can move it/take it off to get to the inside candle area (but it's very heavy!)
The trouble is, if you can tell from the closeups, the inner part is not exactly candle sized. The grey-ish hole/holder/whatever part in the middle is about the width of my finger. Much too small to insert any candle that I can find. So, I wondered if it's designed for a wick? And maybe you put oil or torch fuel inside? But there's no opening for fuel. Last fall, I actually tried pouring some inside the opening and cutting a tiki-torch wick in half, jammed it in the hole, and gave that a try. But no. That's definitely not what it's designed to do. It sounded like whatever I poured in the hole went all the way to the bottom of the stand—there's obviously no reservoir for fuel inside.
So has anyone seen anything like this before? The house was built in the 1928, so it could be that old... or it could have been added 10 years ago, I have no idea.
But aside from identifying it specifically, if anyone knows what kind of candle or wick setup I need to use for it, that's what I really need to know. It's obvious it has been used as a lantern because I can tell that grey stuff around the inner holder is from prior burning.
Any ideas?
With our new home, we also got this beautiful flower garden, complete with the standing lantern shown in the photos. It stands at least 4 feet tall—maybe a little taller—and appears to be made of stone that has been painted black. The decorative top is not affixed to the rest of the piece; I can move it/take it off to get to the inside candle area (but it's very heavy!)
The trouble is, if you can tell from the closeups, the inner part is not exactly candle sized. The grey-ish hole/holder/whatever part in the middle is about the width of my finger. Much too small to insert any candle that I can find. So, I wondered if it's designed for a wick? And maybe you put oil or torch fuel inside? But there's no opening for fuel. Last fall, I actually tried pouring some inside the opening and cutting a tiki-torch wick in half, jammed it in the hole, and gave that a try. But no. That's definitely not what it's designed to do. It sounded like whatever I poured in the hole went all the way to the bottom of the stand—there's obviously no reservoir for fuel inside.
So has anyone seen anything like this before? The house was built in the 1928, so it could be that old... or it could have been added 10 years ago, I have no idea.
But aside from identifying it specifically, if anyone knows what kind of candle or wick setup I need to use for it, that's what I really need to know. It's obvious it has been used as a lantern because I can tell that grey stuff around the inner holder is from prior burning.
Any ideas?
Response by poster: No...I don't think it was ever wired to be electrical. But I did go back out an examine it closely: there are no groves inside the grey part (like there would be to insert a bulb), and it doesn't appear to have a spot anywhere that there might have been a cord—and it's a long way from any electrical source. But. During my thorough examination, I noticed along the bottom of the topper, it had this inscription etched into it:
344T @1982 Henri Studio Inc. Palatino cg
I'm about 96% sure that's what it says...I'm off to google that to see what I can find!
posted by Eicats at 12:54 PM on May 13, 2012
344T @1982 Henri Studio Inc. Palatino cg
I'm about 96% sure that's what it says...I'm off to google that to see what I can find!
posted by Eicats at 12:54 PM on May 13, 2012
Response by poster: Wow, I feel so silly for not noticing that inscription before! I found the website for the designer. It looks like he mainly designs water fountains, but other garden/patio statuary also. He does have a contact page, so I think I will contact them to see if they can give me some more information.
posted by Eicats at 1:02 PM on May 13, 2012
posted by Eicats at 1:02 PM on May 13, 2012
I had one of these. There should be a core hole drilled through for a wire, and once upon a time it may have been wired like a lamp post. Stone Forest Blog has this interesting page on stone lanterns that talks about how they were used, and mentions that many had votive candles placed in them.
I'd think with the protrusion in yours, I'd consider using a candle like Ikea's HEMSJÖ and just jam it down onto the tube; and I'd suggest just using a clear glass cylindrical hurricane, if you can find one that fits in the space, which is what I did with mine. At one point I was going to try to use a socket and cord that I had from one of those plastic outdoor snowman decorations, but it was too short for where I wanted to place the lantern and too fiddly for me to spend any more time on. If you're handy, you could probably buy everything you need to wire a weatherproof single socket and cord, like this, from a hardware store.
posted by peagood at 1:34 PM on May 13, 2012
I'd think with the protrusion in yours, I'd consider using a candle like Ikea's HEMSJÖ and just jam it down onto the tube; and I'd suggest just using a clear glass cylindrical hurricane, if you can find one that fits in the space, which is what I did with mine. At one point I was going to try to use a socket and cord that I had from one of those plastic outdoor snowman decorations, but it was too short for where I wanted to place the lantern and too fiddly for me to spend any more time on. If you're handy, you could probably buy everything you need to wire a weatherproof single socket and cord, like this, from a hardware store.
posted by peagood at 1:34 PM on May 13, 2012
The tube might be meant as an electrical conduit, not as a bulb base, it what I meant. The actual lamp fixture would be missing in yours.
In light of the finding, it could be a water conduit, but what an unusual fountain that would make!
posted by 2N2222 at 1:39 PM on May 13, 2012
In light of the finding, it could be a water conduit, but what an unusual fountain that would make!
posted by 2N2222 at 1:39 PM on May 13, 2012
Instead of a regular candle you might try some of those battery powered ones; they last a lot longer and you wouldn't have to worry about wax or fire damaging anything.
posted by The otter lady at 3:13 PM on May 13, 2012
posted by The otter lady at 3:13 PM on May 13, 2012
It looks to me like this was intended to (and possibly did at one point) hold a light globe fitting - the wire would have run down the centre and off to the power source. It should be pretty easy to source a fixture that fits onto the protruding stem or, with a bit more work, remove that stem and adapt a different fitting (preferably an extra-low voltage one). It definitely doesn't look like anything intended to hold a candle to me - it would need a glass to stop it blowing out (although this could have gone missing, of course).
posted by dg at 6:28 PM on May 13, 2012
posted by dg at 6:28 PM on May 13, 2012
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by 2N2222 at 12:38 PM on May 13, 2012 [1 favorite]