Just acquired a lot of old Nelson Ball and Saucer lamps from an old community center.
They are all in amazing shape but some of them have a layer of grime that has built up over the last 50 years or so.
How do you properly clean these? They seem pretty fragile to me and I'm scared of how certain chemicals will react with the lamp surfaces.
Also, is there any way to date these lamps?
Thanks!
Modernica says
"In most settings the lamps can be cleaned with a feather duster or a soft cloth. If they become grimy, the process isa bit more complicated.
"We suggest cleaning them with a mild soap solution (a little Ivory dish liquid in two quarts of lukwarm water, for example) and a soft cloth. To remove the soap, wipe with a clean, damp cloth and dry with a soft rag. Stronger solutions, like a glass cleaner containing ammonia, could discolor or damage the plastic coating."
If one of your lamps is already torn or otherwise damaged, practice cleaning that one first.
You can date the lamps -- approximately, anyway -- by their labels. Who manufactured yours?
I've had a lot of vintage bubble lamps
And nearly all needed some cleaning. The worst one had a mud-dobbers nest inside that I had to remove.
Having cleaned a lot, I'm more comfortable working with them and so some of my suggestions may not be for the timid.
I've found that you are best to clean the entire lamp as trying to address one spot will end up showing and one clean spot can be more distracting than the dirt or spot that was there before. For a lamp that has years of dust, dirt, grime, grease, and smoke on the shade here is what I typically do:
First, remove the wiring and socket, then take off the top and bottom finishing ring. These are easily done by gently prying the metal tabs back from the inside. Next, start a warm shower. That's right, take the lamp into the shower. I find it easy to kill two birds and do it when I want to get clean as well. Inside the shower I wash the shade gently with a sponge or soft cloth. I have used a variety of commercial soaps and cleaners from shampoo (Hey! I was already going to use it myself) to dish soap, Soft Scrub and Borax depending on how stubborn the dirt is. When the shade gets wet it will soften and sag a bit. Don't freak out. Once dry it will tighten up again. The key things to remember are to be gentle as you can easily puncture the shade with a sudden or careless move, and to rinse and dry everything thoroughly before reassembling.
I have damaged bubble lamps with carelessness, usually when they are hanging overhead, never while I was cleaning them. But if you are cautious you should not have any problem.
Two caveats: one is that the lamp needs to be a manageable size to clean them the way I've described. A 36" saucer might not fit well in your shower, and you always want to handle the shade by the openings on the top and bottom, never on the sides. Second, if the lamp is not terribly dirty... I mean really dirty and gross, you are often better off leaving it as it is. The patina they acquire from age, and yes, even the yellowing can be a desirable thing to collectors. I like them old and mellow myself. I can spot a new production bubble lamp from quite a distance and to me they just don't have the same character. But if you are keeping it and using it, make it look the way you are happy with.
Good luck.
Wow, thank you guys for all...
Wow, thank you guys for all the great info!
The lamps arent too dirty to be honest.
It seems only the top sections on a few have a layer of buildup.
The rest (there are 15 in total) are yellowish, but otherwise in perfect shape.
I think I'll try Pegboard's shower technique with a couple of the dirtiest ones 🙂
Despite being a combination of ball and saucer lamps, they all have the exact same foil label attached that says "bubble lighting fixture / patent applied for / howard miller clock company"
What other types of labels have these had over the years and what years would the ones I describe correspond to?
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