Here is an uncommon rental
outfit that apparently belonged to Macy's Department Store in New
York City. There is a "return by" label on the lid of January 1912, so
the outfit was last rented for the Christmas season of 1911. The outfit
has a festoon made by the Benjamin Electric Company, and comes with a
convenient ceiling adapter so the user could still have a light in the
room when powering the Christmas lights. Nine carbon filament lamps are
in the set-eight for the festoon and a spare. The label of the outfit
reads:
Electric Lighting Outfit for Christmas
Trees The set is unmarked as to maker. There were once end labels on the box, but time has taken its toll and they are long gone. Most of the inner instruction label is missing as well, due to the fact that someone apparently tried to peel it off. The illustration on the lid of a man decorating a tree is quite similar to General Electric advertising of the day, but the picture differs enough that I can say this set was most likely not made, sold or distributed by GE. To my knowledge, the Benjamin Electric Company did not offer complete boxed lighting outfits for sale either, so the actual maker of the set remains a mystery. |
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A rare box of German replacement candle shaped lamps. For a very brief time around 1918-1920, several manufacturers offered these lamps in their outfits in an attempt to switch traditional "candle decorators" over to the new electric lights. Although quite pretty, these delicate lamps broke easily, and probably did more harm than good in convincing a skeptical public about the virtues of electric tree lighting. These 2 lamps have managed to survive the years and still function quite well. See BELOW for pictures of an outfit using these lamps. |
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A trio of Ever Ready balanced pine cone colored glass lamps. Actually made in Germany and imported by The Ever Ready Company, colored glass lamps did not have the flaking paint problem of their flashed or painted counterparts, and are stunningly beautiful when lighted. A disadvantage of these lamps was their cost-about twice that of typical painted bulbs. Coloring the glass was expensive, especially in traditional red, as in the early days real gold was used to obtain the ruby red coloring. The set is circa 1912. |
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These Santa Claus brand lamps are the painted, carbon filament type. Due to the fact that the box specifies a carbon filament, this can help us date these to after about 1917, when tungsten lamps were also available. It was not a good idea to mix carbon and tungsten filament lamps on the same string, as the two types had very different electrical resistances. Mixed operation would cause early burnouts. |
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Here is a group of painted carbon filament lamps from Japan. Painted lamps had one advantage over the colored glass bulbs in that the paint was more translucent, thereby allowing the filament to be a bit dimmer than in the colored glass variety. True colored glass lamps can be very dark (especially in red and green), and when operating, most have about half of the light output of painted bulbs. Circa 1915-1920. |
Bill Oelker kindly shares with us this marvelous set from his collection. Circa 1920, this lighting festoon was manufactured by the Triangle Electro Trading Company and is exceedingly rare. The outfit consists of eight German candle lamps, and retains its original screw-in type current tap. The entire kit is in exceptional condition. Lamps like the ones in this outfit are hard to find today, due to their delicate nature. See ABOVE for a picture of a box of replacement lamps for this set. Also, you can click on the advertisement pictured here to see a presentation that was featured in the November 1921 issue of The Electrical Record , a trade magazine of the early 20th century devoted to electrical items for sale to jobbers and wholesalers. |
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An interesting outfit, this set is made to run off of a 6 volt storage battery. The directions specify the use of an automobile or tractor battery, or one of the "newly introduced" radio batteries. Most commonly used in homes not yet wired for electricity, the set uses eight 6 volt lamps. It has a crude little on/off switch made of green composition, and the wires end in metal terminals that seem to be made for radio battery use. The light sockets in this set are made of green painted wood, and this outfit is circa 1918. | |
Here is a close up of one of the lamps in this outfit. It is a "flat sided" shape unlike its 15 volt cousins. The carbon filaments of these bulbs draw a considerable amount of current, and one had to be careful not to run down the car or tractor battery! | |
A view of the inside of the box. Outfits like this were available with either all clear or all colored lamps. | |
Here is a battery operated lighting set from Diamond, circa 1918. Unlike the outfit pictured directly above, this festoon has a wooden switch and features round, exhaust tipped carbon filament lamps. The bases of the lamps have the following stamped into them: "Pat. Nov, '02", which is a reference to the Edison patent for the now standard miniature base size and thread spacing. |
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A look inside shows us the eight round lamps, still held in place with their original cotton wadding. The wooden sockets were originally a bright green, but have faded with age and usage. The set is designed to run on 6 volts, and is wired in parallel, so the failure of a single lamp does not affect the operation of the others on the string. Diamond designated this set their outfit #888, and simply calls it "XMAS TREE OUTFIT." |
Figural Christmas lights first became available in America in 1909, and in 1910 the November 12th edition of Scientific American Magazine carried this small article on the new lights, transcribed here in its entirety:
Figural, or "Fancy Lamps" as they were first called, were at first sold individually, usually out of boxes of 20 or 24 on the store keeper's counter. Occasionally, a complete boxed set of 8 or more matching bulbs would be offered, but the cost would be prohibitive. The first figurals sold for more than twice the price of a standard Christmas lamp. Below are some pictures of the earliest of these figural lamps. All of the lamps with the exception of the countertop box are circa 1910. The box is circa 1920. 1900-1920 continues... CLICK HERE FOR THE TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGE AND LINKS TO ALL PAGES ON THIS SITE TABLE OF CONTENTS HISTORY THE TIMELINE MANUFACTURER'S HISTORIES THE PATENT PAGES THE PRE-ELECTRIC ERA VINTAGE ADVERTISING THE LIGHT SET GALLERIES RELATED LINKS FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
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