Q: I bought this lamp at a friend's garage sale for $20. She said it was an Empress Eugenie lamp. I can't find anything about it. Can you help? A: Oil lamps with figural stem bases were popular from about 1865 to 1880. Most bases were gilded or bronzed, but the finish is often worn off like yours. The figure on your lamp is Eugenie, the wife of Napoleon III of France. She was empress consort from the time of their marriage in 1853 until they fled to England at the end of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. The pattern of the glass font is Inverted Teardrop Band, a design patented by John Bridges in 1872. During the 1950s, oil lamp bases and fonts were sometimes used as vases for flower arrangements. The lamps sell for about $150-$200 in worn condition.
1 comment:
I have a very similar lamp except that the base is a little boy and girl playing peek-a-boo at each other under a "tree." Would this lamp be from the same era and valued the same?
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