Introduction: Gonder was a prolific maker of lamp bases during the 1940's and 1950's. Lamp
bases were produced at the original Gonder facility until the late 1940's when
production moved to Elgee, a facility created specifically for the production of
lamp bases.
Many lamp bases were produced for wholesale distributors who would
assemble and market the lamps under their own brand. Because most lamps were
not marked or marked with only the paper label of the distributor, many lamps
produced by Gonder go undocumented. We continue to discover new lamps produced
at Gonder to this day!
Lines of Wares:
- Gonder - there are a few lamps that are believed to have been assembled and
marketed directly by Gonder. The Bonsai Lamps are one such example. A few pieces from the Standard Line were redesigned as lamp bases. I have assigned these early lamps to Gonder Lamps as the line of ware. Some of these lamps carried the Gonder mark or paper label. These lamps are rarely seen and very desirable.
- Elgee - most of the lamps produced at the Elgee subsidiary were sold to wholesale distributors. Bradley, Kingsgridge and Navis & Smith are the best known wholesale distributors. Bradley catalog pages have provided much of the information known about the lamp production at Elgee. Less well known is the Kingsbridge label. We do not know much about this company although we do know of lamps produced for Bradley that have been found with Kingsbridge labels. The relationship between Bradley and Kingsbridge is not yet fully understood. Navis & Smith is also another distributor supplied by Elgee. Remember that not all lamps found with these distributors labels would have been produced by Elgee. Collectors will need to be familiar with glazes and subject matter when reviewing lamps from these distributors.
Identification and Marks: Sadly, most of the
lamps you encounter will not be marked. Very few lamps will be marked as
Gonder. Of the several hundred lamps in my collection, I found only few to be
marked as such. It is assumed that these marked lamps were marketed directly by
Gonder and not through a distribution company such as Bradley. There may also
be vases that were converted to lamps post production. I would expect those to
be marked as Gonder, and I do not assign these to the lamp
category.
When lamps are marked, it will generally be a paper label or
hang tag from the Bradley, Kingsbridge or Navis & Smith distributors. These labels are rare
since they were most often removed by the new owner.
For those lamps
that are unmarked, we need to look at several attributes before we can attribute
them to Gonder. Glaze treatment, type of clay, physical weight and subject
matter are all used to make an educated guess about the true maker of the lamp.
Most often new lamp molds are discovered when they are located with a glaze
known to be produced solely by Gonder. I have also used lamp hardware (mainly
the neck and harp) in determining the maker of a lamp. Bradley used a very
plain collar between the base and the socket fitting. The harp will sometimes
have a hook at the end which connects through a hole in the socket arm. In
contrast, Haeger often used an ornate scroll work collar on their lamps. I have
used this id trick many times. However, I generally rely on a combination of
several attributes when looking at an unknown lamp.
Several lamps
previously attributed to Gonder have been found with paper labels attributing
them to other potteries. Deena China, Phil-Mar and Haeger were all making lamps
that are often confused with Gonder.
Availability: As with other categories, you
will find some lamps to be very common - think Grecian Horse Lamp. Others may
take you years to find. I use the same Availability Rating for lamps as with
other categories.
The Hollywood Headboard Lamp Sets produced for Bradley
were very popular and are easily found. The headboard lamp and vanity lamps
were assigned individual mold numbers by Bradley. This leads me to believe that
they could be purchased separately. You may find it more challenging to locate
a complete set - headboard lamp and vanity lamps - since they were not always
sold together. Finding lamps with original shades is also more of a challenge
and you will often need to pay a premium for that.
Glaze Treatments: Lamps can be found in
nearly every glaze produced by Gonder. Please see the section on glazes to find see which glazes were used on lamp bases. There
are glazes that are only found on lamp bases and no other lines of wares - Jade
and Wheat are examples.
Item Detail pages for lamps will be added at a later time. Until then, please review the photos below for many examples of lamps produced by Gonder and Elgee.
