Must see to believe! Rare French spherical table-lamp unit! C'mon, someone restore this thing!

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

For everyone who loves that trumpet-and-sphere glitter Wizard of Ooze got (and a few others? I know more than one of these has appeared) here's a one-up - the top of the base flares out to support the globe...and it has a table lamp fitting on top! Three-way switch, too: bottom, top, both, off.

http://cgi.ebay.fr/Rare-pied-lampe-design-70-a-lave-eames-panton-/3...

Amazing!! Someone grab this, and either fill it with sparkly glitter, or put lava in it! Wouldn't this look great with white lava in clear liquid, with colors painted under the bottle, like the Russian 'Cosmos' lava? Needs a cool shade, too, to complement the nifty brushed steel finish!

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Also, if you're just dyin' for a boiler, here's a chance at an inexpensive one'a those, too:
http://cgi.ebay.fr/Rare-lampe-lave-bulles-verre-soufflee-70s-eames-...

This is what I call a "lava boiler". It has thick (red, in this case) oil and clear liquid. Vapor bubbles form in the oil, rise carrying a coating of oil, pop, and the oil droplets float back down. It's a nice, basic model, and is actually slightly less common than similar models with various sorts of indents in the glass to bounce the bubbles around.

Prefer one with beads?
http://cgi.ebay.fr/LAMPE-DESIGN-F-VAUDAN-VEILLEUSE-PAILLETTES-CIRE-...

Here's another relatively common model, a lava boiler with a pile of glass beads; the beads break up the rising bubbles, and this results in tendrils of oil shooting up. This model has a heavy base, and is known to have been made by one F. Vaudan of Paris, who also made some non-electric, hand-held boilers. This model has also appeared in orange, dark blue and light green, and in a rare variant with a spherical center. This lamp is approx. 21 3/4" tall.
For comparison, here it is (more expensivE0 in blue, with lots of detail shots of the action:
http://cgi.ebay.fr/Lampe-Verre-souffle-Space-age-Glass-Lava-vintage...

At the bottom of that blue Vaudan lava boiler listing is a nifty shot of the Vaudan lamp along with an orange boiler with a coiled riser, an indented version of the red lava booiler (without beads) above showing its smaller size, and two hand-boilers, the left one being another Vaudan creation.

Happy bidding! And beware that when the no-beads lava boilers first start up, some have been known to literally jump, so a few supports to gently hold the base down to a table might help.

[wizard of ooze]

I'd love to get some of those boilers but the shipping is super expensive plus since they are hand blown glass, the risk of breakage is very high but I hope to own a few examples someday.

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Hopefully someone will grab the sphere one and refit it. It'd be awesome with glitter, too, but I'd love to see it with lava. That'd be a real showpiece, esp. in a bright color like clear/colored wax. I think the sphere would give more of a feeling of lava motion in the center with wide open space all around, hence why I suggested clear liquid.

[Modulo '70]

Fabulous and fantastique French flair

[Erin]

Those are so beautiful. Like Wizard said, between the high cost of shipping and the fragility of the items, I'd be too afraid to go for one. After my French glitter came half empty, I'm a little hesitant to try for overseas vintage anything anymore.

I'd love to see one of these running. Anyone have a video of one?

[Modulo '70]

I agree with you here Jonas, this is a truly amzing item. I'd love to purchase this one if no one else is going to!

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Alpha, looks like it might be down to you...

[James Manley]

definatly bidding on this !!! ill put lava in it !!!! i got the perfect shade for it too! :D

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

What's your color idea?

[James Manley]

i got a white wax and turqoise liquid i could use in it and if the oil from a lava brand magma fountain does the same effect but im not sure if it does? i got a ufo shaped chrome & glass lamp shade that would fit it too. i have messaged the seller asking about what the cap on the bottle is like but as they are french google translate seems to muddle up and dont make sense lol

[James Manley]

gone up to £38 now wonder if it will go higher ?

[Kempton]

who bought it? sorry its so late but a really wanna see some pics/video of it