One unadultered joy of the restoration is finding suitable fixtures and fittings for the castle, and I keep my eyes open at the local auction houses. I reckoned that the table lamp below that came up for sale at Curr & Dewer in Dundee was perfect: a little niche and little bashed around the edges so that hopefully the sale price would not break the bank. Sure enough, I bagged it for a modest £45.
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| lamp before |
I am a stickler for period authentic items, and the presence of exterior wiring (a thin brown fabric-covered cable) along the four branches show the item had started life as a candelabrum before the era of electricity, and was converted near the start of this era.
The animal head masks in the base (dolphin? and bat?) betray a Gothic sensibility. This combined with the dull brass patina suggest a late 19th Century date.
One immediate problem is that there are only two original shades left on the table lamp. These were in very bad condition with holes and whatever the original fabric was: it had gone rigid and discoloured with the heat over the years. Nil desperandum! I managed to locate 4 small matching second-hand shades on eBay for £19.50. Et voila, the re-shaded table lamp is shown below.
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| lamp after |
I still need to make an electrical pass, to ensure the lamp lights up and is safe - watch this space!
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