Reproduction Christmas Lights
As with any other desirable collectable or antique, reproductions are bound to appear. We recently ran across this set of nicely done reproductions which were made in India. They come, complete with little tin hat and a hanging wire, for the princely sum of $6.50 each!
They have 4 equally spaced mold seams, which are not too pronounced, and which under close inspection, extend all the way to the top of the lip.
The most pronounced feature which distinguishes them from originals, is a very uniform glass thickness, in the lip, and a very smooth, finely ground lip.
They have a smooth, flat, slightly recessed base, and the ones we bought had little stickers on them, stating, "Made In India", but stickers can be easily removed, so BEWARE!
These lights were sold by The Colonial Tin Works, starting, we believe, in 1999. Click
to view a two page advertisement for their Victorian Oil Lights, which was kindly provided for this page, by Rick Baldwin. Note that on the second page, they show what appears to be a clearglass Harlequin style light. We've not seen this type, yet.
Next are some photos of a type of "freeblown" light which is most assuredly a reproduction.
Several of these have recently been sold on eBay, for pretty good money. Two of them were shades of red, (pictured here) and the third was green. We contacted the seller of the green, whom we know, thinking that he might not be aware of what he was selling, and were basically told to mind our own business.
The three pictures above are all of the same light, and the one, below is of a different light, which was also sold on eBay. This last picture, along with the Queen Mary, further down the page, were supplied by Rick Baldwin.
The most distinguishing characteristic of these lights is the sharply turned up lip, which shows nicely in the above picture, due to the chip. We don't know where these lights were made, but watch out for them!
The last repro we have to show is an amber Queen Mary figural. About these, Rick has the following comment. "I have heard how one can distinguish the repro QM based on quality of facial and mold characteristics, as well as from the "position" of the base embossing, but I cannot personally attest to the validity of such." If anyone has any further information, please pass it along, so we can add it to the page.
We have one more addition to make to the page, which is not a reproduction, but which falls into the same general category of things to watch out for. This is an altered light.
The light on the right was sold to us as original. We're embarrassed to admit that we bought it on the seller's word. We're more embarrassed to say that we actually sold it to someone else, the same way. The buyer quickly recognized it for what it is - a standard diamond quilted light, which probably had some lip damage, and was sawed off, at the rim. Fortunately he knew we weren't deliberately trying to rip him off, and the matter was amicably resolved. We've since found out that this is not an uncommon practice, and we've learned a valuable, if expensive, lesson!
We sincerely hope that the information on this page is useful, and if it saves anyone from being taken advantage of by an unscrupulous (or, in our case, ignorant) seller, then it will have served it's purpose.
If anyone has any other examples, or information regarding reproductions or alterations, please forward them to us, and we'd be happy to include them on this page.
Happy collecting, and remember, "Let's be careful out there!"
Roger & Jen