Those who are late will be punished by life itself... Metallic Astro gone :-(

[Peter Panussi]

...as Gorbachevs speaker Gennadi Gerassimow once said. Or in my own words: Don't shit too long, otherwise shit happens :-(

Came across this nice lamp today and was wondering if it's really a metallic Astro, it was only described as 'Vintage Mathmos Lamp in excellent condition like new". Not super-cheap, but with 65 Pounds still affordable for such a treasure. And the seller didn't overstate, it really looked newish on the photos - crystal clear fluid, a real piece of jewellery, coming along with the original box.

I found it while I was still lying in my bed (tuesday is my day off) and surfing the internet with the smartphone. And believe me or not, I only wanted to go to the loo, while my desktop PC was already booting, and then after my morning shit I wanted to buy it.

BUT when I came back 6 or 7 minutes later, someone else got there first and it was gone. YELP!!

I reckon someone in this forum is really happy now, while I'm suffering with the reverse effect...

[Arne]

There will be another one. And if you had gotten it I'm almost certain the result wouldnt have been a satisfied astro metallic red owner it would have been a guy who is desperately searching the internet for a green and purple metallic in near mint condition...been there a few years back...and ended up buying every metallic at any price until I a enough to make lunar bottles of each colour, jet bottles each colour and of course also the three astros boxed...well...and then those bastards cloud up if you arent carefull and use a dimmer every time ...and you cant do anything about it...be glad you didnt get it...they make everything worse ...but I have to admit as long as they are clear its hard not to dehydrate from drooling...which again is not very healthy...pretty dangerous lamps they are...chances of starving because no cash but a pile of metallics or you just shrivle to death from drooling. If I hadnt sold them I would be dead now, I'm sure!

[lampfancy]

Don't think that's the original box, seems to be the mid-90's style box and brochure - whereas the metallic Astro was sold for a brief period in the early 00's, the cap doesn't quite match the base either (looks it's from an earlier lamp).

/pedant.

So probably not quite the pristine original boxed example you may have been led to believe, if it's any consolation.

[Peter Panussi]

Yeah, the box made me suspicious too. And also that the term "Metallic Wax" was nowhere mentioned.
But it looks like the metallic lava, or am I wrong? And in the end I'm interested in the lamp itself, not in the box.

Here is another strange one. In the text it says "purple wet look/shiy wax ... wax is almost metallic"

The pictures are indefinable, purple metallic was never released, as far as I know.

Maybe the dots on the pictures are not in the wax, but in the glass?
Or it is photoshopped?
Or an artefact due to a bad camera?

Anybody any idea?

[lampfancy]

Yeah... bit of an oddity - there was a purple metallic, but issued with the standard silver base, also the wax in the lamp pictured looks much darker/ glossier than the one released by Mathmos (unless it's just the effect created by the camera flash)

[Arne]

the red one is 100% metallic and its 100% the base it came in+ cap and also the box is the right one as long as the sticker sais metallic red. mine were all that way and I had a LOT of em. They came in red, purple and green and the one on the picture is a very nice lamp but 100% not a mathmos astro metallic ...still it does look fantastic.

[Arne]

no lamp unique except the prototypes and there is no way to be really satisfied when you are seriously collecting this lamps as there is no way to have every lamp made in perfect condition and also keep it that way. trust me, I had so many rare lamps like jet flock prototypes, a glitterball lunar, many if not all of the limited editions and one day when I came home I felt like it wasnt me owning the lamps anymore it rather felt like they owned me. So I picked 15 favourites and sold the rest. For me there was a point where I could enjoy the fact to have soms very pretty lamps instead I felt frustration for the few holy grails I didnt own and most likely would never own. I think collecting things has often if not always something to do with not beeing satisfied or missing something in life and when (in my case I know this to be true) and the more lamps I got the more I knew I would soon reach the point from which it will be nearly impossible to keep filling this void lava lamps as the collection would be nearly finished and most likey also will never be complete. for me its way more fun not to try hunting those lamps down anymore with the goal to end up with a complete collection (which must be a totaly shitty feeling I guess as you are switching from the active collector fo a simple owner which us damned to just sit there and look at all the possessions and wonder why the void somehow begins to itch again just this time just cant just throw some lamp at it to make it stop. Well, I could go on and on about this but I havent slept yet and I'm sure you got my point. btw I got my first astro metallic on ebay uk for 13 pound...boxed and new and when I first ran it I didnt even know they existed yet so I was totally stunned. I might tell you how you can figure if its a genuine metallic or not but I reallly should go to bed now! bye bye :)

[lampfancy]

Still maintain that's not the right box, the design of the boxes has changed at various points through the years, that one belongs to a different era from when the astro metallic was on sale. And it's unusual to have the printed logo on both the cap and base (the printed caps were usually issued with the older style bases with the pressed/ embossed logo) although I dare say it's possible there could have been an 'overlap' with some older left over components at the factory


(/ pedant)

[Arne]

Not that I would care about a stupid box but I had 18 metallics new in box from the swiss distributer, new old stock (no nothig left, thats 6 years ago at least and we cleared his storage) and also I had several used but boxed metallics. I have seen this box a few times and I also remember being disappointed about this totally unspecial piece of trash. This might not be the right box for such a cool lamp but it is for sure the box they came in. When it comes to base/cap/ sticker/ ebossed logo etc etc its all just a hint, sometimes you can say its 100% between this and that date but thats it. mathmos/ crestworth didnt have any strict production orders, they used old stock creatworth parts when they were actually mathmos already, they mixed tooling which resulted in 2 different comet versions from which one is an exact copy of astro mini just painted white and the list goes on and on and on. the only way to put a finger on a date is the serial number...but to do so it would have been a good idea to note which serial stands for which date...mathmos didnt do so neither they did when called crestworth....actually mathmos has no data whatsoever about any lamp which was made longer ago then yesterday and crestworth...well...some people at mathmos might be aware that the company they work for was called creatworth once but thats it. I wonder how you are that certain about your knowledge...are you craven walkers ghost or do you have some superpower which allows you to magicaly feel production date time and blood type of the guy who made it? sorry for taking the piss but its a bit funny to me ... :)

[Arne]

and by the way, metallics were sold early around 2000. they came way later then the astro flocks and the flocks have been made in 1997

[lampfancy]

Just pays to be aware of what you're buying to avoid disappointment, if you don't care about boxes, fair enough. Personally if I bought a lamp sold as completely original, boxed etc, and it turned out not to be the original box I would be disappointed, of course that's just me.

I don't pretend to have superior insider knowledge or anything, just based on my own observations as a collector of changes through the years - it seems odd that a 00's lamp would be issued with the older style 90's packaging and brochure. It's certainly possible that factory may simply have had old inventory to be used, but as a potential buyer it would make certainly me a bit skeptical, of course if they could show me the label on the side of the box indicated that it was a metallic, I would happily shut up :-)

Anyway...

the (00's) metallic astros are certainly very attractive lamps, much more interesting that the chromed glass thing they make now - the wax has all almost marble-esque quality - shame that Mathmos were quite so quick to give up on them...

[Arne]

Yes thats true. I'd like to know to reason but maybe they had lost too much money on them already due to people who complained and most likely just got a new free bottle as it seems to be their policy to please their customers at any cost. I know at some poin it just didnt feel right for me to complain when some bottle arrived cloudy for some reason as they have always trusted me and sent me a replacement without asking for a picture or anything. What I do remember though is that at least half of the 18 I got from this distributor guy have been cloudy. A few of thgem so badly that it was barely possible to see any wax moving in there. Only 5 or 6 of them have been totally crystal clear and only as long as I didnt run them...even when using a 25 watt bulb which makes the heating process take 3 - 5 hours they got slightly cloudy over time. But I guess thats just how it is ...everything truly beautiful doesnt stand the test of time...so if you manage to get your hands on a really good example with totally clear fluid I wouldnt have it running while watching tv I'd just look at it while its still as breathtaking as they are in mint condition.

[Modulo '70]

I was ridiculously lucky to pick up the slightly more commonplace purple metallic Astro with crystal clear master fluid a few years back for a ludicrous £1, car boot sale find. Needless to say, made my day, that day.