This is the 1251 "Birdcage" floor lamp from 1929 and adorned with an original "Aladdinite" shade. The Aladdinite shades were used prior to the invention of Whip-0-Lite shades and were a unique part of history in the lighting industry do to the fact that they did not pass light. The light from a lamp would not shine through these shades! This particular Aladdinite shade is also a "beaded" shade in which the design you see was made up from small beads glued to the shade material to form it's artistic design.
(The amber prisms shown on the lamp in this picture are thought to be incorrect by most collectors. The correct glass prisms for the 1250 and 1251 floor lamps are thought to be amber glass in a tear drop shape and are shown in one of the photos below. The prisms on this particular 1251 floor lamp were later replaced with the correct amber colored tear drop style.)
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The birdcage floor lamps were also unique in the way the shade was supported by the lamp itself. A special bracket attached to the burner and provided a wire loop, at just the right height above the burner, for the shade to rest on. |
The metallic leaves at the center of the lamp were designed to support four amber colored tear drop crystals. |
The base of the lamp is hollow and has a filler cap on the underside so the base could be filled with sand to give it the weight it would need to support the lamp. The problem with this system is that over the years the sand absorbed moisture and could cause the metal base to rust through. |
All the 1250 and 1251 birdcage shades have a metal hoop and supports that are sewn into the top of the shade. The hoop inside the shade is slightly smaller than the hoop at the top of the shade support which attaches to the lamps burner. |
You can see in this photo how the shade hoop fits inside the hoop of the shade support that attaches to the burner. It is a very unique way of supporting a shade on a lamp. The 1250 and 1251 floor lamps were the only ones to employ it. |
