Since the expert members were so helpful in identifying the Ludwig Vierthaler wine cooler, I thought I'd throw this one out there for opinions. As with most Continential arts-and-crafts, there are no identifying marks that I can see on the lamp. The base and shade are copper, while the mica inserts are printed somehow (screen print?). The yellow and red rough jewels around the top of the lamp shade are glass. Other than being told by the prior owner that it was purchased in Austria, I have no other information. I'm hoping someone here can shed some light (sorry for the pun) on the subject.

Regards to all,
Jeff

Personally, I would be careful buying a lamp from this seller. I see her lamps on Ebay all the time; she always claims that the mica is original, but I don't believe this to be the case with most of her lamps. For one thing, she has too many, one after the other. Also, the construction methods seem odd; many of the shades have the mica riveted directly to the frame, which is not a common method. I've never seen an original mica lined shade with anything other than tabs holding the mica in place. Normally, I wouldn't scrutinize so much, but it's been bugging me for some time now. No malice, just a warning based on my opinion/ experiences. I wouldn't be surprised at all if the panels of this lamp are repro. Caveat emptor.

Thanks for the input. After looking the lamp over closely, I'm pretty confident that the panels are original...but I'm not confident that the lamp is circa 1910-20s. The mica panels are not riveted to the frame. They sit in framed rims that appear to be lead or copper soldered to the copper shade and fold over to secure the mica in place. The jewels appear to be glass, which helps. But, I still wonder whether this lamp might be something produced during the Secessionist design resurgence in the late 60s - very early 70s. The copper base is machined, not hammered...but this isn't necessarily a problem (at least I don't think) for late 10s-20s Secessionist common ware.

Is there any way to test the age of a mica panel? I'm uncertain how the printing of the mica is possible, whether the printed portion is an insert between mica sheets or actually applied directly to the mica surface. I was hoping that there might be something I could do to test whether the lamp is 1900s or 1960s.

Jeff

While I'm thinking about it. The only identifying marks I can see are on the bulb recepticles, one of which is stamped with "250W - 250V".

And, after a closer look, it looks like the decoration on the mica panels is a sandwiched layer, but I can't be certain.

Jeff

I'm still not convinced the panels are original. I've seen plenty of the jeweled brass shades like this, but they never have mica panels. As a matter of fact, I can't recall seeing many European mica lamps at all. Glass was far more popular. You can make mica panels with an under-layed design, but it's much harder that way. It's easier to just paint/print directly to the mica. If I saw the lamp in person, I could definitely tell whether the paint was old; paints from that period would be quite muddy/dull rather than vibrant. Not to be negative, but I'd shy away from this lamp; it looks nice, but for what I think the price range is, there are much better investments. Do you mind sharing the asking price? You can send me a private message if you want. I recall seeing this on Ebay a while back; I guess it didn't sell.