Another New Posting

[Ross]

I have been thoroughly enjoying browsing this site and many of those that it links to.  I have always been interested in Christmas lights (I have quite a few although not particularly antique).  It has been very interesting to read, from a U.K. point of view, about Christmas lights in the U.S.A. - as far as I know, we have never had anything quite as exotic as bubble lights over here !   Can any collectors advise where it might be possible to purchase some of the old-style U.K. Christmas lights (12 x 20 V, 3 watt) - these always looked so much more interesting than the modern miniature ones - even if they did lack safety features such as fuse lamps and cord grips.

Thanks to Tim and all the contributors for creating a really interesting place on the 'net !  

PS - I am very intrigued by the picture of (and the idea behind) the Mazda "detector" lamp.  The shunts in modern day Christmas lamps seem to cause more problems than they solve - especially when too many have cut in !

[Chris W. Millinship]

Welcome to the boards Ross!

I`m from the UK too and am similarly fascinated by all the American types of lights, they are so much different to UK lights. I first discovered the fasinating world of foreign and antique lights about this time last year and havn`t looked back since! Bubble lights amazed me when I first saw them! They did make them over here in the 50s, a handful of companies made 12-light sets including Pifco though that is about all I know and have never seen UK bubble lights before myself. They obviously weren`t very popular- wonder why?


Where to find lights? Well I have got all my vintage sets- mostly American but quite a few UK/European ones too- from Ebay, http://ebay.co.uk.  Search for "christmas lights", "xmas lights", etc- they don`t show up too often but can be found if you look hard enough- so long as I havn`t seen them first  .
Otherwise, if (unlike me- agrophobia   ) you like travelling round looking for bargains, try antique/secodhand/junk shops and car boot sales- you`ll probably find quite a few 12-bulb sets there in varying conditions. I wouldn`t pay more than about ?10 for a boxed set. Maybe double if it`s in near-perfect condition wit  a full complement of original bulbs. Bare strings often go for under ?5. There are very few UK light collectors here, and in the US light collectors tend to favour US types, so demand, and hence values, for UK lights is quite low

Well I hope this helps. Look forward to seeing you round here again in the future! Happy collecting!