2010.02.07 3 Lamps

Here are three new lamps I recently acquired. I’ll list them from left to right.

1. This one is a 32 oz. globe from a Carlisle that I purchased on eBay on Jan 02, 2010. It was manufactured in April 1975 and says model 300 under the cap. The picture on eBay led me to believe the lamp was perfectly clear. I decided to try it on an Enchantress base and it really dressed it up in my opinion. The Carlisle base was a little battered, but I bought it for the globe anyway. The globe looks pretty good when the overhead light is on but you can see that it is somewhat cloudy when the light is turned off. I used a dimmer to tone it down a little and also to make it run a bit slower with bigger blobs. The pic I took with the camera does the liquid way too much justice. One nice thing about this lamp is the way the lava undulates. It quivers in a fascinating way when the blobs pass each other on the way up and down. I just wish it were perfectly clear. The lava is a rich blood red and as you can see in the pic the light casts shadows within it making it look dark and light. It’s one of the best operating lamps I have but I just go Aaarrrrgh when I see the cloudiness. Maybe someday in the near future I’ll have a formula perfected and I can refill it with a liquid that’s clear at all times throughout the cycle. I’m a real stickler for authenticity but I feel a clear lamp is more enjoyable to look at than a cloudy one.
2. This lamp is a Blue/White Century I purchased on eBay from a fellow goo member on Jan. 10, 2010. He told me it was gorgeous and man was he right. It’s the best functioning, clearest vintage lamp in my collection. It was manufactured in Sept. 1981 and I dare say that the staff at LW were having a damn good day when they made this one. Don’t we wish they would go back to this formula? I have no idea how long it has been since they have manufactured a truly functional lamp.
3. This is a 20oz. model 2124 (Blue/Yellow) I purchased from K-Mart on Jan. 15, 2010. The cap code is 090812 A. I have seen many of these caps and I assume the code means Aug. 12, 2009 shift A. I opened about 5 or 6 of these packages at the store to try and find one with clear glass and unclouded liquid. This was one of two identical (right down to the date code) lamps that I purchased. The second lamp did not function well and the liquid clouded during operation. Needless to say, it went back with a quickness for a refund. This one functions ok and is exceptionally clear, but not function like a vintage lamp does. One thing I have noticed about most all the contemporary 20 oz. Lava Lites is that when a blob cycles back to the bottom it will usually sit on top of the blob connected to the coil until that blob starts to dome. Then there is a spontaneous as opposed to a slow combining of the blobs that makes the lamp spit out a blob to return to the top. Rarely does the majority of the lava cycle back to the top as it does in vintage lamps. Is the coil to blame for all these woes?