1935

The small 8 1/2 inch Florentine vase lamps were manufactured for a short time in 1935, and advertised in a sales brochure that came out in August of that year. The Florentines are the most scarce examples of the vase lamps that were manufactured by the Aladdin Mantle Lamp Company. They were offered in three colors: white moonstone, green moonstone, and rose moonstone.

The inside of each vase is painted to prevent the brass oil font that fits into the vase from showing through the glass. The paint used at the time is "water soluble" so if you are lucky enough to find one of these vase lamps "DO NOT" wash it! It's okay to clean the outside of the lamp, but take care not to get anything on the paint. Some of the Florentines that have been found are missing the original paint due to a previous owner being unaware of the fact that the paint was water soluble. Collectors also put a greater value on lamps with the original paint than those without. If you do have a lamp without paint however it can easily be replace with a water soluble paint from an art supply store. The green moonstone Florentine shown here was restored by doing so. Even so, the collector value will still be less than one that has the original paint intact.