Posted 6 years ago
kwqd
(1185 items)
I literally picked this and another item that I am showing out of someone's garbage. This shade for an overhead light fixture is 16" in diameter and 6" deep. I went to visit some friends and when I pulled up to their house, this was in the garbage in front of their house! Their house was built circa 1910 and mine in 1883. This shade has been hanging in my kitchen for the past 15-20 years, now. I did ask them if they were certain that it was meant to go in the garbage and they said "yes". Dang! They weren't home when I got to their house, so I went for a walk while I waited and found item #2. I think the next day was the day that the city picked up general refuse, not household waste. No idea who made this shade. I have seen three our four other examples of this shade, including a version that mounts to the light fixture via a single hole in the center of the shade, so it is not particularly rare. These sell for $100-$130 on ebay, etsy, etc. No one ever attributes these to a maker, though, Can someone tell me anything about it? Not certain that it can technically be called carnival glass, maybe just iridescent glass..
That is pretty neat.
My family threw away a lot of family heirlooms because it was "just old stuff" and new was considered better. When I was maybe 10 or 11 I was walking home from school and in the garbage in the alley in back of my house was an heirloom oak rocker that my mother and all of her siblings (b. 1908-1920) had been rocked in as babies! Pretty sure it is much older than that. I pulled it out of the garbage and asked my parents if I could have it and they said yes. That was about 1964 and it is sitting in my dining room right now. I have even more tragic stories in the same vein. Yeah, I don't get it, either!
I'll add that my parents were married in 1933, during the depression and they envied church mice for their extravagant lifestyles. Everything they had for years was hand me downs from family and friends, so the idea of heirlooms was not something they embraced. It was reminder of poverty and struggle.
Thanks for your comments fortapache and valentino97!
Thanks for loving my shade!
racer4four
valentino97
truthordare
vetraio50
fortapache
AnythingObscure
TassieDevil
Belated thanks for loving my glass shade, Jenni!