COLLECTING STUDENT LAMPS & OTHER EARLY LIGHTING FORMS Plume & Atwood Notable Double Student Lamp with extra fine datails, Cased Glass Emeralite Pinwheel Tam-O-Shanter Shades. Welcome to aboutstudentlamps.com THE COLLECTING STORY      Collecting Student Lamps has been a most interesting and rewarding journey for me that began more than 25 years ago.  My first learning experience began when I bought a Student Lamp from a dealer who represented it as an Oil Lamp, Circa 1900.  In fact, as I began my study of Student Lamps, I found it to be an Electric Table Lamp made no earlier than 1960, brass plated, and with a green painted shade.  At the time I had never seen and examined a period lamp, had never read about them, and of course had never had any instruction from a knowledgeable collector or dealer.  I learned from this experience that research before purchasing and detailed examination are my best advice to the new collector.  I would also recommend buying from a reputable dealer or collector the best quality you can afford.  I find that the purchases I regret most are the lamps I did not buy, or the lesser items that I did purchase.  The best reference I have found to date is "STUDENT LAMPS of the VICTORIAN ERA"  by Miller & Solverson.  I do not represent myself as a Student Lamp expert, I am a relatively knowledgeable collector. DOUBLE POSTED DOUBLE STUDENT LAMP BY MANHATTAN Manhattan Double Posted Double Student lamp with a wonderful pair of cased glass shades decorated with gold tracery wreath & torch pattern This is the Manhattan Double Posted Double Student Lamp, shown with an old polish and the Best Pair of Period Thistle Shades, probably by Handel. ASSORTED LAMPS BY MANHATTAN, E. MILLER, AND BRADLEY & HUBBARD A Very Nicely Decorated Single Manhattan Lamp that has Applied Castings to the Oil Reserve Holder, Fancy Cast Finals and a Beaded Footed Base in Heavy Cast Brass. Exceptional Single Miller Embossed Student Lamp shown with Blue Cased Swirl Period Shade. Extremely Fine Edward Miller & Co. "New Vestal" Double Student Lamp. With a fine Period Pair of Apple Green Cased High Dome Student Lamp Shades. Very nice Bradley & Hubbard Very Ornate Double Student Lamp with a Pair of Gold Metalic Flake High Dome Student Lamp Shades The Best Manhattan Brass Co. Double Posted Double Student Lamp with notable history, High Dome Red Cased Glass Lamp Shades decorated with Winged Griffins in Gold Tracery THREE FORMS OF THE HARVARD STUDENT LAMP Very Rare Form Harvard Student Lamp by Plume & Atwood shown with a fine Robins Egg Blue Cased Glass Shade Double Harvard Student Lamp by Plume & Atwood with Extra Fancy Ruffled Top Swril Pattern Satin Glass Shades, From Bright Yellow at the top to Almost White at the bottom. Very Rare Form Harvard Student Lamp by Plume & Atwood with the Finest Fitterless Ball Shade with Lying Dragon & Flame Decoration in Gold Tracery. The best Shade I have. ASTRAL BY DIETZ OR HOOPER   This is a Wonderful Astral Lamp, probably made by Dietz or Henry n. Hooper & Co. with a wonderful unusual bulbous cut and etched blown glass shade that has a waisted and faceted neck and rolled rim, Circa 1860.  The Lamp Column is a Beautiful Spiral Pattern of Blue, White & Clear Glass, Standing on an Ornate Brass Cast Foot on Marble Pad.  The Shade is a Fancy Blown Glass with Hand and Wheel Cut Pattern above a Ring of Alternating Size Coffered Prisms. CHINESE TEA CANNISTER LAMPS This lamp is made from a very early Chinese Tole Decorated Tea Canister.  As soon as electricity became available to the masses in the United States and around the world, creative people began to construct electric lamps using all kinds of decorative objects.  In this example a Circa 1850 Chinese Tea Canister was used as the main body of an exquisite lamp.  This Tea Canister is Number 1 of a set of 12, with an Empress Cartoon and with Chinese Script which I believe indicates Ownership of the Canister Set.  It is my belief that these sets of canisters were sent to the Orient on Trading Ships to be filled with Teas and returned to the owners who were merchants and very wealth members of American and English Society.  This is the story I am told and the story I am telling, please educate me if you know me to be incorrect. Here we have a Wonderful Pair of Chinese Tea Canister Lamps, Numbers 11 and 13. The condition of these fine lamps is quite good with only the most minor scratches and rubs, excellent considering the age. It appears that someone may have enhanced the Male and Female Figures by adding color, the original was probably all black on gold like the lamp shown above.