Common Antique Glass Terms
Collecting antique lamps can be very rewarding but with so many lamps on the market the terms describing them can get very confusing. For example, what is a chipped ice finish? What exactly is ormula? The following is a brief list of antique lamp terms you are likely to come across while purchasing period related lighting pieces.
Boudoir lamp - This is a catch-all term for small decorative lamps which were meant to sit on the dressing tables of a woman's boudoir. In antique lamps these are usually from the early electric period.
Bridge lamp - These are floor lamps, which have a single metal arm extending from the top of the lamp standard and ending in an electric socket. These lamps were popular in the 1920's and 30's and were covered in glass or with a cloth paper shade.
Chipped ice - This was a rough finish on many early glass electric lamps which had a painting on the exterior with landscapes, florals, or birds.
Cold painted - Painting on the unheated surface of a metal lamp for decorative purposes.
Flint glass - A clear, heavy glass which produces a bell-tone when tapped gently. This was made with blown and pressed glass with flint in the mix in seventeenth century England. In the eighteenth century the flint was switched to lead oxide, but the name continued to be flint glass.
Harp - In the early electric lamps this was a arched metal loop at the top that held the shade above the base.
Linenfold - A decorative glass shade which, was preferred by Louis Tiffany. It consisted of an almost clear glass panel impressed with a design of fine ribbing. This gave the lampshade the appearance of delicate folded linens.
Ormolu - A bronze or brass in eighteenth and nineteenth century France used for furniture and lamp bases.
Patinated - An artificial surface finish on metalware such as copper or bronze. This process creates a fine greenish crust reproducing the look of bronze archeological relics. The finish was popular in the nineteenth and twentieth century.
Puffy - Ornate brown shades produced by the Pairpoint deutschland Corporation for early electric lamps. These lampshades were brightly colored with flowers of various kinds on the design.
Reverse-painted - Description of early electric lamps which had decorative scenes painted on the inside of the lampshade. The opposite of this is obverse-painted which has the painting on the exterior of the shade.
Slag glass - A glass formed by combining a white glass with a swirled in contrasting color. The thin panels were often bent while hot, and fitted into intricate metal framework.
Teroma glass - Art glass where frosted crystal glass with a chipped ice finish used to make vases and lampshades. The exterior is hand-painted on the glass and this was popular in the twentieth century.
Tutleback tile - Tiffany studios created these glass tiles, which resemble turtle by being slightly oval with a domed top. These were sometimes inset into a lampshade for decorative purposes.
This is a very brief starter list of terms antique lamp collectors should be aware of to aid them in their search for pre and early electric lamps.
