50th Anniversary Lamps

[Kelly Flaskerud]

So, anyone got the goods on what LW will be putting out for their 50th anniversary?  I did hear (from them) that whatever it is will be available in June.  I also heard that they are phasing out the Accent lamps (hurray!).

[Modulo '70]

Recently collected one of those Clearview lamps. Cloudyview more like. Just cheap and nasty. The quality is so poor say compared to my recent Kaleidolite acquisition. Now That is a real quality Lava a Lite lamp from the 1960's

[MileHigh]

I would like them to release another Heritage Grande lava color since that is the only decent lamp they seem to be able to make currently.

[Brad]

i completely agree with you here.  a neon blue color would be great.  but, i've already stated that i'm not going to be one of the first to buy whatever they sell for the 50th since i got burned with the heritage line.

MileHigh said:

I would like them to release another Heritage Grande lava color since that is the only decent lamp they seem to be able to make currently.

[Cowmatian]

My ideal 50th anniversary lamp would be just filled (I doubt full USA manufacturing will ever return) in the USA with the 90s formula. The recent spencers 32ozers have pretty nice glass, the 52s are another story though. Realistically, I would love to see a blue heritage grande, or another big lamp design. Now that I have added second coils to my grandes they all flow beautifully.

[Brad]

usa filled with 90's formula...now THAT is a pipe dream!  if only...

[Kelly Flaskerud]

LOL, yeahhhhhh, I mentioned that in my correspondence.  I got an emphatic, "we're going to keep the manufacturing in China."  My response back was, "then I ain't buyin'..."

[Brad]

i'm ok with the production being in china if they would just get the formula right!  typical china wax flow is zzzzz compared to USA flow.

[Ian]

This is exactly why I'll only buy the grandes. They are the only model they seem to get right these days. I love my Heratige grande, so hopefully there will be another cool new grande.

[Tim]

I was told by LL back in November that the 50th lamps will be out sometime in the fist quarter of 2015. Since we are near the end of the first quarter I guess not. I'm in no hurry but I am real curious to see what's to come! My thinking is that there will be a neon blue/clear and blue/white or maybe clear/red Grande but that's just a hunch. How ever I will not be buying anything smaller than a Grande though the smaller lamps just suck in my opinion. As far as production in the US I would say not!

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

What I would buy is an unusual Grande, of the Heritage variety. I bought one, the flow is nice, the dimmer is excellent, it's clear, and I love the semi-random holes.

They talked a while back of moving globe filling and formula production back to the USA. My guess is that, after looking at the competition and the cost, they faced two options: keep production in china, or risk losing all profit and going under.

[Jim]

They won't bring production back to the US, but the competition angle is hard to speak to as they essentially manipulated the market with their astute trademarking.  Their competition is essentially small-scale off-brand operations that can't produce lava lamps in the traditional lava lamp shape.  Lava Lite eliminated Mathmos as a direct competitor.

Oh how I wish we could add Mathmos as a dynamic.  What would Lava Lite do?  And how would the market react? Say you had a Mathmos Astro and a 52 ounce Lava Lite flowing side by side at Spencer gifts.  One is marked $24.99, has a cheap generic finish and has boring flow.  One is marked $84.99, has a gorgeous finish and has the type of flow that a lava lamp should have.  Which lamp would sell?  Lava Lite would still sell, but I suspect Mathmos would cannibalize some of their sales.  None of us really know the bottom line accounting numbers that seemingly caused Lava Lite to move operations to China.  Midnights, Silver Streaks, Centuries and Aristocrats were priced similarly to Astro Babies and Astros when Lava Lite produced lamps in the US, but were they not selling?  Personally, I would much prefer dropping $85 on a high quality lamp that $25 on a ho-hum one.

Jonas Clark-Elliott said:

They talked a while back of moving globe filling and formula production back to the USA. My guess is that, after looking at the competition and the cost, they faced two options: keep production in china, or risk losing all profit and going under.

[Jim]

I feel the best way to celebrate 50 years is to go back to one of the originals - either a Century or Aristocrat.  I would love to see them do something special, and no, I didn't consider Mathmos' anniversary lamp "special" in any way, shape or form.  It was a cop out.  I don't expect anything better out of Lava Lite - a Century or Grande with printing on the globe.  They have abandoned being visionaries and I really don't even consider lava lamps their primary business these days. 

Jonas Clark-Elliott said:

What I would buy is an unusual Grande, of the Heritage variety. I bought one, the flow is nice, the dimmer is excellent, it's clear, and I love the semi-random holes.