Customer Reviews

TV Lamps to Light the World Identification & Value Guide

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My Aunt Sophie lived in Detroit for some fifty years. She had this great, big brick house that was so different from my family's house in the `burbs. The thing I remembered most was her house being filled with all manner of antiques. Even as a child I new that that stuff was really old. She had this great television set within a cherry cabinet with the doors that opened up. On top was what I thought was a wonderful statue of a black panther but I would find out later was really a lamp.

These TV lamps are the subject of TV Lamps to Light the World. In their foreward, Bob & Peg Parks both mention that panther lamp. It seems to have been among the most popular styles of TV lamps in the 50's but as author John A. Shuman III shows, there were hundreds of great figural lamps adorning the TVs or whatever of Americans. These TV lamps have become hot items among collectors today, all pining for the nostalgic era of a simpler, if not cheesier era of home décor.

Shuman begins with a little history behind the lamps and some of the manufacturers that made them such as Gonder Ceramic Arts, Haeger Potteries,Maddux, and Wahpeton Pottery. A short history is provided on each of these companies as well as noting some of their unique styles and markings. We also learn that lamps were often given away to customers when they purchased a TV set and many people purchased their lamps with S&H Green Stamps.

Getting into the identification and value section, Shuman shows off hundreds of full color photos, sorted by themes such as birds, cats, deer, dogs, horses, jungle & western themes, ships, oriental, and several others. Throughout the book Shuman intersperses pages of interesting information about the time period that these lamps were at the height of their popularity with popular personalities and TV shows of the 50's as well as popular models of televisions.

The guide provides very crisp and colorful photos of the lamps with a description of the piece, including its size, and the current value range. The one thing the book doesn't provide is the maker of each lamp which really would have been nice. Overall, the book does a fine job of covering a very specialized collectible. It's a gorgeous book.

Reviewed by Tim Janson