Finding Oldies But Goodies

[Chantal]

Where do most of you find your rare lamps? Flea Markets, Estate Sales, do you trade/ buy from each other, or do you visit all the Ebay sites in all the different countries? I thought my collection was nice but after seeing some of the stuff you all have, I'm honestly mesmerized. I want to know your secret! That is, if anyone's willing to share :-D

[Rudy]

So with all of that said, how far would you all drive to get a vintage lamp?

[Keith]

If I planned it out with other activities 150 miles or so.

[Soylent Green]

I scored a lava grande on Craig's List for $20...

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Used to be garage sales, thrift stores, junk shops, antiques shows. These days, the most likely place seems to be the big antiques & collectibles shows, like the Palmer Wirfs ones, that have hundreds of dealers - there's usually at least one or two in there. (Got my rare 1969 Lava Corp. Glitterlite at one, and a white squiggle Aristo in box with instructions dated Dec. 25, 1967). These days, I rarely see them, but antique stores here in the Seattle area occasionally get...usually a red Aristocrat or a cheapo Peace Lamp.

[Brent]

Try running an ad on craigslist for lava lamps wanted. You will get some spam and some people with crappy newer lamps but I've found quite a few nice lamps that way. Got an old elegant enchantress with that mustard colored suade type finish that way. Not sure what the finish is called and it's kind of funky looking but I think it's rare because I have never seen one. 

 

I've also bought some on ebay but I have had some shipping damage problems.  

[Ian]

I have one really good thrift store right by my house that seems to almost always have a lava lamp, and they are usually 32oz lamps. I just found a really good condition Wizard lamp, which flows amazingly, from there. I have gotten a few midnights from there also, but the lava was a little fried on those and they dont flow too well.

I found my Century lamp, in perfect condition with a beautiful flow at an antique mall. The downside to the antique mall is that it cost me $100 for the lamp, whereas the thrift store only cost me about $6 per lamp. It is the only thrift store in my area that ever has lava lamps.

[Ben]

I have set up numerous lava-related alerts on www.list-alert.com.  It emails me when a lava lamp pops up on the local craigslist pages.  I've gotten a wizard for $5, Grande for $25, and a 90's red/clear for $8.  All were great deals.  The red/clear & wizard are great, and the Grande needs a goo kit.  

[Erin]

Ooooooh, cool site! Thanks! 

Ben said:

I have set up numerous lava-related alerts on www.list-alert.com.  It emails me when a lava lamp pops up on the local craigslist pages.  I've gotten a wizard for $5, Grande for $25, and a 90's red/clear for $8.  All were great deals.  The red/clear & wizard are great, and the Grande needs a goo kit.  

[Ben]

Yup, I've got about 15 different lava-related terms on list-alert. Works great. Does the work for you.

[Erin]

I just signed up for a basic one ("lava lamp"). Lava is kinda dead here in Iowa. Never much to be found. 

[Ben]

In my 5 surrounding CL areas, I have put in all of the following: lava lamp, lava lite, lava colossus, lava humongo, lava grande. Over 25 different searches activated. As you know, people will call it all kinds of things, especially when they aren't collectors and they just want to ditch their boomerang kids stuff from their basements and don't know the value of a 90's or older lamp! Muah ha ha!!!

[Keith]

I've been using RSS feeds in Google Reader for craigslist searches (LAVA).  Works pretty well although there are a lot of wrong hits.  Bad news though is Google is dropping Reader, so this looks like it will work even  better ;)

Ben said:

In my 5 surrounding CL areas, I have put in all of the following: lava lamp, lava lite, lava colossus, lava humongo, lava grande. Over 25 different searches activated. As you know, people will call it all kinds of things, especially when they aren't collectors and they just want to ditch their boomerang kids stuff from their basements and don't know the value of a 90's or older lamp! Muah ha ha!!!