Posted 3 years ago
dav2no1
(839 items)
Mystery Lamp
Anyone seen one like this??
This is another item I got for free. The owner thought his dad had salvaged it from a now long gone Tacoma, Wa pier. He thought it was military and possibly on a ship.
I haven't found any similar examples and there's no markings at all to indicate it's military.
I believe the base plate was attached to a wall and the lamp could move back and forth. Maybe the big holes were on/off switch? I think the large square
-ish hole had a piece that held the main pole and allowed it to swivel.. The large square-ish hole...to the outside of that is a smaller hole..there's a slight relief at the base below that hole, so I believe that's where the wire was? The wiring would be attached to the outside. So possibly could be a ship light? The top portion is aluminum, while the rest is steel.
As you can see in the last picture, I've already started tinkering and reconfigured it into a desk lamp. I had to use two 5 lbs weights for the base, because of the length of cantilever. I haven't decided and it's only temporary mocked up.
I can't back this up with much of anything but guesswork -- but also can't help but to wonder if it could have been mounted to a ceiling instead of wall, or if it was the top part of a floor lamp. Indirect fixtures in similar styles were popular in the 1950's, often using what'd now be ridiculously high-wattage (300-500w not uncommon) bulbs to make up for the fact that said lightbulbs were nearly completely encased in sheet metal...
It makes me think of a medical light fixture. They are generally attached to the ceiling.