Here's a "common" W.B. Brown lamp that just went for $910 on eBay. This, in my mind, is the model you see more often than any other style/type/model of Mission lamp. Isn't 910 a little high for this..I'm thinking less than half this price, say 350ish? Opinions? Anyone see these in the shops at this kind of price?

http://cgi.ebay.com/w-b-brown-signed-stickley-era-oak-s...QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

That does seem a bit high to me since it is a very common form. I didn't know W.B. Brown commanded such high prices. I saw this lamp when we were at Daltons, which David Rudd thought was W.B. Brown. They actually made something like 6 copies of it for someone. I saw one of them and it looked like just about a perfect match. This seems like it should command a higher price, and it does. Three times the money = three times the lamp (they want $2750 for it). But the simpler design still doesn't seem to be worth the money... Maybe someone else has some info on this company that helps to explain?

wow, that is a very nice lamp. much nicer than the common one.

i did a repair to a broken spider arm on one like the first lamp for my local dealer. i didnt see what price he had on it.

he also just got one with more prairie style. i will try to get a picture of it this weekend.

I don't think that the first one is a Brown lamp. That exact style lamp (there is a dealer here who has two of them--same green glass) are found in the "Illustrated Mission Furniture Catalog, 1912-13" by the Come-Packt Furniture Company. Examples of this lamp are found on page 59 (H4905--different top and added wooded border at bottom but same base and overall shape); page 62 (H4922--same top, base and overall shape but extra border of stained glass on the bottom) and page 60 (H4913 with fringe, top and base a bit different and H4910 same exact lamp with decorative wood border).

This is from a reprinted catalog I got off the web. I hope this helps. I don't know who Brown is but that lamp is a dead ringer for the ones made by Come-Packt.

I will get the price for the lamp in the local shop for you.(I think that it is less than $200.) Those green glass lamps originally sold for less than $4.00. The second lamp is not in the Come-Packt catalog.


Bev.

Ok, I just checked E-Bay and it is signed Brown but the lamp in the local shop has no such label anywhere. I will get a picture of it for the forum and a price.

Bev.

my understanding is that virtually any wooden lamp from the period was made by Brown, and others put their labels on it or not.

i think i read that in AM or Style 19oo or heard it from my dealer.

quoted:

Who Made All Those Wooden Brown Lamps?
An illustrated lecture by Dr. Michael Clark
Saturday, April 13, 2002, 2 PM
Curtin Auditorium, Onondaga Central Library

A prevailing question has perplexed those interested in the lighting of Arts and Crafts interiors: who created the generic oak and leaded glass fixtures found in so many of these period environments? Some of these lighting devices were one-of-a-kind workshop projects created in schools or from popular craft books. Others, judging by their frequent appearances, were produced in numbers on high-quality, high-precision, factory assembly lines. New research by Michael Clark and Jill Thomas-Clark reveals that a large number of these fixtures were created by a single firm: the W. B. Brown Company of Bluffton, Indiana. Michael's talk will shed light on the significance of Brown's fixtures, which were created to blend harmoniously with the Arts & Crafts or structural "Craftsman" environment.

end quote

and a link
http://www.onlyinternet.net/pbender/brown.html

and a thread on Brown about half way down the forum tree where Dr. Clark piped in with some comments
http://forum.arts-crafts.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/8516079532/m/5616079532

...and a lamp very similar to the Dalton's lamp but claimed to be marked Shop of the Crafters who Dr. Clark says was supplied by Brown

http://pact.net/dshay5128/ebaypage3.html

OK, back to the question of 'what's it worth?', here's another one that just finished with no bids, starting at $350, admittedly some damage but repairable, also should it have had a top cap like the previous one?, anyways..shows that the price swing is pretty big

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2500...L=1#ebayphotohosting