What is this?

[wazzer]

Saw this on ebay, does anyone have any info please?http://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/e11021.m45.l1123/7?euid=592945d6c34e4...

[Ford Prefect - NPNG]

its an italian plastic glitter lamp. from the 70s (i think)

the glitter was originally very fast moving and hense the contents highly toxic.

 the glitter contents in this one is not original, but this is not really an issue. only one of mine has the original glitter in it and sadly is only half full. The charm of these for me is really in the bases, so re-fills in this lamp don't offend me ;)

 

I have 3 of these awaiting re-fil. an orange, blue & rarer white.

 

I will fetch up a pic of one with original glitter so you can compare..

[Ford Prefect - NPNG]

http://oozinggoo.ning.com/photo/1566398:Photo:30194?xg_source=activity

 

this glitter is how they were originally. one of mine for re-fill has this same glitter and it is transparent. i assume (perhaps wrongly) that originally the glitter had a metallic surface which has degraded over time. i may be wrong about this as I am yet to see one with original size metallic flakes. they all look like this one.

 

the bottle is wider than a jet and taller too. i personally like them as i have a thing for plastic bases and cylindrical bottles.

I paid about £5 for the cheapest one and £15 for the white one which incidently came with no fluid at all, but had plastic flowers inside. although these flowers were original i removed them as i thought they looked tacky!

 

I did attempt to convert the white one to a lava lamp but something went wrong. also not sure if the base and/or bottle would handle the force of a 30watt reflector. the original bulbs being smaller as this kind of fast moving glitter does not require a very hot bulb.

[Ford Prefect - NPNG]

[Autumn]

I have a smaller version of these italian glitter lamps. When I got it there was a 40 watt bulb in it which made the base so hot that a crack had formed in the plastic. The odd thing about this lamp is it will not flow with a 25 watt bulb, but it will flow with a 40 watt bulb and it overheats after 2 hours. Thankfully the glitter was intact, it was just a little low on fluid. The glitter is supposed to have a metallic coating. It is really nice looking when running, lots of action. 

Ford "HIAPNFO" Prefect said:

http://oozinggoo.ning.com/photo/1566398:Photo:30194?xg_source=activity

 

this glitter is how they were originally. one of mine for re-fill has this same glitter and it is transparent. i assume (perhaps wrongly) that originally the glitter had a metallic surface which has degraded over time. i may be wrong about this as I am yet to see one with original size metallic flakes. they all look like this one.

 

the bottle is wider than a jet and taller too. i personally like them as i have a thing for plastic bases and cylindrical bottles.

I paid about £5 for the cheapest one and £15 for the white one which incidently came with no fluid at all, but had plastic flowers inside. although these flowers were original i removed them as i thought they looked tacky!

 

I did attempt to convert the white one to a lava lamp but something went wrong. also not sure if the base and/or bottle would handle the force of a 30watt reflector. the original bulbs being smaller as this kind of fast moving glitter does not require a very hot bulb.

[Ford Prefect - NPNG]

is the one you are talking about your orange one? if so the glitter doesnt look original to me. would explain why its not running on a 25watt. either that or the smaller ones ran a different glitter to the larger ones originally.

アンドル said:

I have a smaller version of these italian glitter lamps. When I got it there was a 40 watt bulb in it which made the base so hot that a crack had formed in the plastic. The odd thing about this lamp is it will not flow with a 25 watt bulb, but it will flow with a 40 watt bulb and it overheats after 2 hours. Thankfully the glitter was intact, it was just a little low on fluid. The glitter is supposed to have a metallic coating. It is really nice looking when running, lots of action. 

[Autumn]

Yes, I am talking about my orange one. I refilled it from the same type of glitter from another vintage european lamp. I am fairly sure the contents are the original or at least from that time period. The glitter is big square chunks and looks like most other glitter lamps from the period.

It looks just like this lamps glitter.

Ford "HIAPNFO" Prefect said:

is the one you are talking about your orange one? if so the glitter doesnt look original to me. would explain why its not running on a 25watt. is that the one you re-filled?

アンドル said:

I have a smaller version of these italian glitter lamps. When I got it there was a 40 watt bulb in it which made the base so hot that a crack had formed in the plastic. The odd thing about this lamp is it will not flow with a 25 watt bulb, but it will flow with a 40 watt bulb and it overheats after 2 hours. Thankfully the glitter was intact, it was just a little low on fluid. The glitter is supposed to have a metallic coating. It is really nice looking when running, lots of action. 

[Ford Prefect - NPNG]

i think that is different glitter TBH. most of the european glitters around are french. also, all the ones like mine I have seen have transparent glitter. maybe they were meant to be this way? or maybe the fluid has eaten the metallic finish off?

if its the latter then i would assume 30+ years would eat away the metal finish on all of them so as yours still had the metal i would assume it is a different glitter.

its a shame that you need to run it higher than the base was originally designed to do so as i think these are nice lamps

[Autumn]

If glitter lamps are ran for too long the liquid will eat away the finish. Even wizard glitter can lose its finish if ran too hot. So if the lamp was taken care of and not over heated the glitter lasts for a lot longer, hence all of the vintage glitters in good shape.

Ford "HIAPNFO" Prefect said:

i think that is different glitter TBH. most of the european glitters around are french. also, all the ones like mine I have seen have transparent glitter. maybe they were meant to be this way? or maybe the fluid has eaten the metallic finish off?

if its the latter then i would assume 30+ years would eat away the metal finish on all of them so as yours still had the metal i would assume it is a different glitter.

its a shame that you need to run it higher than the base was originally designed to do so as i think these are nice lamps

[Ford Prefect - NPNG]

yes true of course. i have just never seen one like wazza is linking to which has not lost its metallic finish. coupled with yours not flowing on a 25 watt thats enough for me to think its didnt have its original glitter. its not a dig, just my own observation.

 

the orange one i have has been re-filled. god only knows what someone did to it but even though the glitter is fast moving and the metal is still on the flakes the liquid has a great deal of cloud in it which settles at the bottom only to churn up again when flowing!

 

the original glitter floats on the top when cold (the one in the blue base) and with my orange one i have the glitter rests at the bottom like more common slow moving glitter lamps.

[Autumn]

I think mine has flow problems because the way it was converted. I actually found my italian glitter lamp from a usa seller. Someone before the previous owner had rewired it and the owner didnt think there was anything special about the lamp. This is the lightbulb I have to use in the lamp.

http://1000bulbs.com/category/40-watt-g16-decorative-globe-light-bu...

I am thinking about converting it to use an intermediate base because right now what the glitter does is it settles around the sides of the globe forming a ring around the bottom.

Ford "HIAPNFO" Prefect said:

yes true of course. i have just never seen one like wazza is linking to which has not lost its metallic finish. coupled with yours not flowing on a 25 watt thats enough for me to think its didnt have its original glitter. its not a dig, just my own observation.

 

the orange one i have has been re-filled. god only knows what someone did to it but even though the glitter is fast moving and the metal is still on the flakes the liquid has a great deal of cloud in it which settles at the bottom only to churn up again when flowing!

 

the original glitter floats on the top when cold (the one in the blue base) and with my orange one i have the glitter rests at the bottom like more common slow moving glitter lamps.

[Dawn]

Anyone ever do any deals  with this seller?

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

These lamps are, AFAIK, Italian-made, not French. I have seen a few slightly different bases and caps. Bases have various step patterns or are a smooth flare; caps may have various step patterns, a flared taper, or be cylindrical with a flat top; Ford's photo above shows white, medium blue and tan-orange in the most common base/cap design. There are a few variants, again with slight differences, with a bulbous cap having an ashtray in the top, either a tip-dump (common) or a spin-dump (rare). I've seen the plastic in grass or forest green, sky or medium blue, at least three of orange, red, white, black and maroon, all translucent except the black.

 

Contents are either fast solvent glitter, or clear water with plastic flowers (no motion). Notes on the glitter fill: "Fast" or "solvent" glitter liquid means a chlorinated solvent like Perk (perchloroethylene) or similar. Solvent fills of various similar kinds were used in French, Italian, Danish and Russian glitters of the 1970s, Crestworth "fast" Glitterlites and Crestworth Living Jewels, Lava Lite GemLites and Wizards, a few 80s Oriental imports, and Fantasia Products Glitter Lamps, Glitter Graphics and Cosmic Windows. Yes, the clear flakes seen in the Italian lamps used to be silver; French and Italian lamps tend to lose the silvering with time. The Italian ones do it the most, I think they were very cheaply made, but the fact that the liquid can and will eat the mirrored coating off the mylar glitter says a lot about it!

 

DO NOT try to fill these with lava; you'll melt the base with the required wattage. My favorite type of glitter lamp to refill with are the Hot Rock silver/clear glitters or the Link'd silver/clear or silver/color bottles (beware that Link'd silver/blue's liquid will slowly turn purple over time). These don't use solvent, and a 15-watt bulb will run them.