Imperial Restoration

[Critter]

All,

I am the lucky guy who purchased Jim's Imperial. This is the before pic. The stand was a wreck and had been painted a flat white with some gold "antiquing" paint on top of that. The globe, while never opened, was low on fluid and it would not flow. This is the state that Jim purchased it in he would not do this to a lamp of this caliber so don't blame him for the state of the lamp in this pic.

Before:

This is a picture of the Imperial today. I've stripped and refinished the stand. I restored the metal feet, cleaned up the top and metal base and without opening the bottle was able to top off the fluid while tweaking fluid density. I did this with a hypodermic needle via the top vent hole in the cap. That took endless hours. The lamp looks as close to new as you can find and flows like a champ. I did refinish the wood top but went on and had a solid walnut top done up to give the lamp a true "piece of quality furniture" appearance. In this pic is the solid top, I have wrapped and stored the walnut veneered particle board original top. I'm proud of my work on this iconic sixties lamp.

After:

I hope you all enjoy the pics....I've spent a lot of time, energy and of course green on this lamp restoration.

Crit

[fog rider]

Thank you Critter. That's good to know. It's a mystery to me why some Imperials have a hole in the cap, and others don't.

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Someone owns an original Glitterlite Imperial! Talk about rare. The only thing rarer would be a white one; one early 1966 catalog says they had white enameled metal.

Yes, the 60s orange lava was ORANGE, versus the "strawberry red." I have seen Lava catalogs listing the Imperial in red/clear, orange/yellow, orange/clear, green/blue, green/clear, and "champagne mist," over the years. Red/clear seems to be the most common color.

[fog rider]

That's cool Jonas. I had no idea that a glitterlite Imperial existed. I'd like to see a picture of that. I await the day when someone finds a white enamel Imperial.

[Critter]

I know if two glitter imperials....both have gold glitter fill.

[Christian BayLee]

So guys, I emptied my imperial into a 5 gallon bucket. The metal base seems pretty stuck to the glass. Idk how I'll manage to pull it off so I can access the bulb to see if it has the right one. I need an engineer lol..

[Critter]

I can help...pm me if you wish.

[Modulo '70]

Great job and worth the man hours. You ought to be proud. So great to see an amazing restoration job like this and on an amazing and rare lamp.

[Critter]

Thank you Mod.!!

[Kelly Flaskerud]

Swoon! It's glorious! Great job with the restoration.

[Critter]

Thank You Kelly!