Rain lamps

[C*O*O*L*S*O*X]

Rain lamps are like Marmite (not sure what the USA equivalent is sorry!!) you either love em or hate em!

 

For those that love them, lets see what Gems you have.

 

I have 2. This first one I bought around 7 years ago and was in a terrible state. I cleaned, degreased and restrung the whole lamp and now it works like a charm!

The second one I purchased around 3 years ago. It has no plug and was brand new in box. I suspect it is wired for the USA, but I've not tried it yet. I have the oil and USA plug / converter waiting, just waiting for the right time.

Let's see what you've got!

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

I can post photos of mine later, but yours: Top one is a Creators Lamp Co (they were a Haggerty division in later years). This is the last style to be produced and is a medium size in the range of sizes they made over the years. It's a Diana figure (the most common figure in later Creators models, Venus was more common in earlier ones) in the white/gold finish, which varied over the years as well. The flat lip at the bottom is less common than a beveled plastic one. Restringing these is a pain, isn't it? It's all one or two long pieces... Creators' designs included Diana, Venus (early metal models only), Three Graces, Storm Children (boy, girl and dog under umbrella), Don Juan (often mistaken for a Musketeer), Three Candles (specific early metal model only), Chinese lady with flower basket (early metal models only), David, the Statue of Liberty with a glowing torch, and action models such as a girl and boy on a moving swing, a rocking sailboat, a swaying fisherman, Dancing In The Rain (revolving couple, sometimes inside a gazebo), Water Lady who pours oil from a pitcher, a family around a flickering campfire, and the Old Country Mill with an oil-powered wheel. Finishes included white, many variants of antiqued white/gold, gold-leaf, three versions of bronze ranging from red Spanish Bronze (on the Don Juan which also could have wooden columns) to a dark brown Antique Bronze and amber standard Bronze, black-and-gold and, on the early Chinese lady lamps, antiqued red or green. There were also chrome models with a transparent acrylic Venus or Diana.

Second one either is, or is in the style of, a Johnson Industries lamp, started by the inventor of the concept. These were always entirely metal. Johnson lamps ranged from small to large and plain to extremely ornate. They had only a few finishes, and yours is the common antique brass with the common Johnson Venus figure; the others were antiqued white/gold, antiqued white/blue, and gold-leaf. Chrome lamps had black decorations and clear acrylic Venus statues. Other figures included praying hands, Madonna, Three Graces, David, a pyramid of colored transparent acrylic grapes, a ceramic Christmas tree, Ebisu the Oriental god of fishing (who turned side-to-side, his line swaying) and two oil-powered designs, the Old Mill and a Dutch windmill. Johnson also made a number of unusual models. These included: table lamp topped by light and shade; floor lamp with circular glass table above rain lamp and shade on top of a pole; swag/hanging lamp with three chains coming down from a spider above the lamp to a circular glass table suspended below; two lamps hung at different heights from a bar hung from a single chain, containing two different statues; a small lamp hung from an ornate wall bracket; and a rectangular framed painting with a plane of rain lines running diagonally in front, available in antique brass or chrome. A few Johnson models had wooden parts on the top and bottom ends (swag) or a wooden flat base (table) and a very few, often the Old Mill or windmill lamps, had wooden columns as well.

Other companies in the market included Deco-Rain (stamped "Deco-Rain" in the bottom floor beside the statue, big overly-ornate metal lamps with Venus, usually gold-leafed); Spring Lighting Corp. (like a rounder Deco-Rain, Venus figure, and a rotary switch on top); and Cheyenne Industries and Crown Creative lamps sold by Sears, JCPenney and Montgomery Wards, which were basically plain antique brass/Venus Johnson lamps. Another firm (or firms) made huge gold-leafed models, some with a clear statue and a circular fluorescent light, some of them on gigantic, ornate gilded stands, as well as six-foot-tall gilded lamps with electric lights up the middle, a laughably small statue, or an electric clock with fake weights. MasterCrafters worked with Creators, making an earlier- and a later-style circular lamp, table or swag, containing a clock, as well as a rectangular table model with or without Old Mill. Rain Lamps were also known to have been made in France, the UK, Australia and South Africa!

I've had a few that came and went; one of the gigantic gilded models, which had a clear statue, a circular fluorescent tube that made the figure glow, and a three-way switch (rain, light, both, off) was sold after a Herculean cleaning and restringing effort ended in a month's beautiful use followed by the pump dying. I've sold two Creators models, one exactly like yours, but still have that table model in Antique Bronze with the Old Mill as well as the larger model, swag, Spanish Bronze/wood columns with Don Juan. I have a few 90s Taiwanese imports, an early 80s Taiwanese lamp in gold and wrinklepaint-black with a semicircle of six columns and a revolving statue, and a rectangular Old Mill MasterCrafters clock. I quit collecting rain lamps years ago, and will buy one today only if it meets all three of the following criteria: (a) a model I'm interested in that's uncommon, (b) in really great shape needing no major cleaning or restringing and (c) affordable not only for the model and condition, but for my budget at the moment. The Don Juan was the only recent acquisition, and for $30, obviously used but spotless (it retailed for around $140 in the early 80s) I had to grab it. A smaller Johnson model is currently for sale on Seattle Craigslist to make room for it.

[Nancy Goslin]

Here's mine

[Marc Thompson]

These are pretty cool... I've never seen one before.

[Nancy Goslin]

they can be a pain to clean,I have learned to keep it covered when not in use.

[Marc Thompson]

Yeah that's a good idea.