A quick question for the lava lite experts!

[Music in a bottle]

I bought an early 1970s Century Lava lite, and was curios if the cap that's under the plastic cap at the top of the bottle, was crimped on or was a screw on type lid? I see some people say that they have a screw on cap, while others have pressed on caps. How can you tell which you have without removing the plastic cap and possibly damaging it? Thank you in advance! Chris

[Music in a bottle]

Hey, thanks Astrobaby! I gather then that all the lava lite models from that time, like say, the Enchantress, employ this same screw on cap? Is the screw on better than the pressed on caps or no?

[Music in a bottle]

I just got bold and tryed to spin off their caps and yup! They're threaded too! One more question guys.....The rubber seals underneath, seem to adhere to the glass mouth of the bottles. They seem a bit brittle. Is it advisable to replace them, or by prying them from the glass, will there be a massive gasp and release of vacuum, followed by non exisitant operation of the lava, for some unforseen reason? Advice?

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Just leave the rubber seals in place. 52oz. (Century, Aristocrat, Lava Coach Lantern) used an O-ring, 32oz. (Enchantress, Carlisle, Aladdins Lamp, Saturna, Midnight) used a rubber disk, and cylindrical globes used a foil/paper disc. There's no harm in removing it, but no real reason to do so either.

All lamps by Lava used a screw-on cap until the early 90s, when 32oz. globes switched. Shortly after, 52oz. globes switched, too. In both cases, the bottle has a beer bottle-type crimped cap, and a decorative metal or plastic cap sits over this to look like the old ones. Lava Lites made before the China switchover had "Lava Lite" in red on the white bottlecap along with a date code and color number, early China globes had unmarked gold bottlecaps, and later China caps are marked.

Incidentally, most 52oz. and 32oz. globes' caps have a date sticker inside, usually with a date like Oct. '72, and a series number: Century is 100, Starlight Aristocrat is 1120, Lava Coach Lantern is 6000, Enchantress 8100, Enchantress Planter 8200-N. Some Coach globes will have a sticker (sometimes the wrong sticker) on top of the cap since the lamp's decorative top covers it. Wrong-number stickers indicate a replaced globe or, rarely, a factory mix-up.

[Music in a bottle]

Right on! Very informative! So then removing the cap to see the date inside the cap won't ruin the lamp then?

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Correct, but it's actually often easier to simply tilt the globe and look up into the air space with a flashlight.

[Music in a bottle]

Thanks Jonas, I'll do that very trick!