crestworth astro

[krissyfromswindon]

hi guys
i was wondering if anyone could shed some light (no pun intended) on this lamp i have come across. it is a astro shape and the base is a crome finish not the brushed aluminum that are the standard now, on the base it has crestworth trading ltd, and a date of 9/1/91 on it with patent no 1034255, the globe is something i have never seen before it has a bakalite screw top and the contents are a light blue fluid with a wax that seems to change color when in a cold state its a blue wax but when running the wax at the base glows with a redish tinge and as the lava rises it seems to slowley turn blue again, also it has a fine glitter and what i can only describe as angel hair in the fluids mixture, never seen anything like this before, so any info would be great, i have put a few pics in that might help, thank you in anticipation
krissy

[krissyfromswindon]

a few more

[krissyfromswindon]

and again

[Astrobaby]

Hi Krissy - this is simply a very early Mathmos Astro which has a highly polished finish that looks like chrome, Mathmos has changed the finishes on the astros several times over the years, but this is one of the first ones that they used when they took over running the Crestworth company. In fact it looks like a copper astro but without the gold look of the copper. I find this metal base and cap type occasionally at fleamarkets.

As for the bottle, i am unsure what colour combination it is, i would have to see the lamp switched on to be sure but it could be faded blue/blue or blue/red.

hope this helps,

ant.

[Novemberchild]

It's a nice lamp you got there Krissy.
I've got one of those, too (yellow/green). I remember when I got it, someone on the old forum told me that the "glitter" and "angel hair" particles you refer to, are a sort of crystals forming from an ingredient in the liquid phase.

I tried cleaning the lamp by filtering the water, but a few month later those particles re-appeared, it seems as if at first a thin layer builds on the inside of the glass and then breaks off....

It will probably never be perfectly clear, but it will find its own balance!
It's a special flair of those lamps and I grew to liking it now.

[Astrobaby]

I have approx say 20ish of these astros that i have found in carboot sales.

One thing of interest with lamps that i find with this base and cap style, is that they don't stand the test of time very well. Often when i get these lamps they are crystal clear but the wax seems to start showing age and i often see white particles floating inside or even sometimes white formations inside the wax. It seems that the wax has started to separate.
When i put these lamps on to test, they often don't flow very well and take a long time to flow, they seem like they are tired and often come to the end of their life cycle. I simply just place a new fresh bottle inside it. i suspect that there is a difference in formula between the early nighties and late nineties. Also i suspect that mathmos has recently changed their formula cos the new bottles are not behaving like the late 1990s bottles.