The Glowing Beauty of Handel Lamps

A long time ago there was a man named Philip Handel out of whose creativity and view of glowing light, created Handel lamps. He focused his attention on the beauty of the shade of the lamp and created a lamp shade called the reverse painted shade. These Handel lamp shades were made from painted glass and were put together by lead, similar to the way a stained glass window is created.

These 10″ inch to 12″ inch in diameter Handel lamp shades catch the eye of every on-looker as they sit on top of usually very simple bases that were made out of brass or metal. The bases were filled with kerosene or oil and when the lamp was lit, the light would stream through the Handel Lamp shade with vivid floating colors. The shades usually had some sort of scenery that was created out of the painted glass.

The stream of light that flowed through the painted glass of the Handel lamp shade is the factor that makes these Handel lamps so popular and unique. The many sceneries that were painted and put together with the painted glass were such sceneries as landscapes, different flower scenes with many different kinds of flowers, abstracts, and many exotic birds. Philip Handel finally was able to open an actual company in 1902 where he could work in a more professional environment in order to make his Handel lamps but in 1936 was closed due to the rising popularity of Art Deco.

To explain the roots of Philip Handel’s company, he partnered with a man named Adolf Eydam in 1885 and they opened the original company called Eydam and Handel but at this time they only had the name and not a facility. The partnership between the two men dwindled away in 1892 and Philip Handel took his creation of Handel Lamps and opened his very own company and small facility which was named “Philip J. Handel” and then a little later down the road, he renamed it to “Handel and Company”.

Handel lamps are a collector’s treasure still in today’s time and these lamps can be very expensive especially if they have an artist’s signature on them. Philip Handel often had other artists create various sceneries for his Handel lamps. Some of these various artists were Runge, Parlow, Palme, Matzow, Gubisch, Broggi, Bedigie, and Bailey. These lamps could sell in today’s auctions for $12,000 dollars up to $60,000 dollars.

Like any other type of antique, there are Handel lamps “wannabies” that try to pass their lamps off as an authentic antique lamp, but if the collector gets the correct information from the right resource, he or she will be able to know if they have an authentic lamp or not.

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Tags: antique lamps, collectable lamps, Handel antique lamps