BulbCollector Forums
BULB DISCUSSION BOARDS => Antique Bulb Discussion => Topic started by: salemlampworks on February 17, 2009, 06:24:26 pm
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Hello
Is there any appraisal service that I can contact about a figural bulb I have.I would like to sell it on ebay .I had it up for bids a couple days ago,but I got so many ?'s about it ,that I could not answer I pulled it back off.Things like how old is it ,were was it made,and so on.I hate to tell people I don't know ..The only markings on the brass is tesla 12v.I know there are some knowledgable people on Christmas light, but I would like to find someone more independent.
Thank you
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This is such a specialized item that I doubt any appraiser could accurately evaluate it. As far as I know, this bulb does not show up in any of the figural light bulb books, and thus will generate a lot of interest among collectors of these kinds of lights. I?m not an expert here but I suspect the only people with any valuable knowledge of this light are the same people bidding for it on eBay. I?ve talked with a few other collectors about this bulb but haven?t been able to come up with any answers.
Maybe someone else reading this might be able to tell us more about the Tesla name, where this bulb was made, and approximately how old the bulb is. Isn?t Tesla the name of an Eastern European lamp maker? Stan or Bulboa ? can you answer these questions?
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Thank you for your reply .I think it is old it has globs of the black cement holding the filiment to the wires . As far as paint who knows I have some dresdon light covers that are original with better paint.I figure if it was new or a repro there would be more out there.Maybe I will just have to list it with a few uknowns.
Thank you.
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Apparently the "Tesla" name associated with this light is not the same as I had thought. See reply below from Stan Slabyhoudek:
Nevertheless ? this lamp absolutely surely was not made in Czech republic under name tesla (MOREOVER never tesla, always Tesla, TESLA, TESLAMP). Beside unique form of jacket is used a base, with special denticulated ring on the side of cap in contact with glass of bulb. This was never used here. The probability of Czechoslovakian production is practicaly zero, if do you use this reasons. Moreover, the mark TESLA is not the same as Nicola Tesla. The created as croscut from words TEchnika SLAboproud? (low intensity technique), because was legal problems against Tesla?s own name. The TESLA factory (named by N.Tesla) was works in Beograd, formerly Yugoslavia. But ? as far as know, this factory never made X-mass tree lamps, moreover was established PAST II.WW. by the way ? inland works made also lamps under name EDISON! Even around years 1968 and once again 2000. How you can see, the form of base is archaic and probably much older than 50?years. I do know at great lenght complete production of postwar CS production. Never seen similar lamp. I am sorry that I am not be more useful.
This figural bulb does have a visible exhaust tip, suggesting an early light bulb. Another indicator of an early bulb is the joint you describe connecting the filament to the lead-in wires - most likely a carbon filament like many early figural bulbs have.