Unusual Xmas/Fairy/Night Lights Wanted

[xmaslights]

Serious collector looking for unusual xmas lights (aka fairy/night lights) to add to my collection. I am particularly interested in figural lights in odd colors as well as freeblown lights in odd patterns/shapes/colors. Honest prices paid for good lights in top condition. Email with what you have to sell or trade along with price and condition.

 

[GuntherHess]

Nice collection. Are they mostly English?
They seem to almost always have a few in the big bottle auctions like Glass Works, Hecklers, etc. I guess you watch those?

 

[Stardust]

lovely....
Christmas gets earlier every year.... []

 

[cyberdigger]

I saw a nice bunch of these at the recent NJ bottle show.. actually it was there I finally learned what they are . the owner of them said they were from England.. very cool!!

 

[RED Matthews]

Hello xmaslights; Well I have studied these lights five or six years ago. I have one that is greenish amber that looks just like the third one to the right on the bottom shelf (from the bottom left of the cabinet). It has a diamond shaped pattern (wider than tall on the body). It also has a large embossed "/C" on the bottom. I did a study on bursted finishes and this one obviously was done that way and it looks like yours was also. Bursted finishes were used on early mustard jars, a big coverage on canning jars, sand blotter shakers, the Clyde Glass fire dowsers and Christmas Lights. The savings here was the fact that the finish was made in the mold and with a bubble over the product - the blowpipe could be tapped and the finish bursted off. On christmas lights, the Clyde dowsers and sand bottles the finish was left rough. On canning jars, mustard jars and some jelly jars, the finishes were ground to provide a flat sealing surface for holding and or sealing the contents. Any way they are an interesting thing to collect.

 

[GuntherHess]

Hey, Red, I'm not a fruit jar expert but looking at the ground lip jars i have it appears they sealed against the rubber on the jar shoulder. It seems like they just ground the lip to keep people from cutting thier fingers off. Just my observation.

 

[xmaslights]

Thanks for the response. Most of the figural lights were produced in England from 1880-1911. The earlier freeblown lights were made in England and the US and likely elsewhere. I do keep an eye on the online auctions, but the better ones seem to have dried up. Any collectors out there ready to sell their lights?[]

 

[KentOhio]

Have you seen one like this before? Any idea how rare it is or what it's worth?

 

[xmaslights]

Hi,

I have seen this item sold on ebay as an xmas light. The common thought among light collectors is that it is a hanging toothpick or match holder.

 

[RED Matthews]

Hey, Red, I'm not a fruit jar expert but looking at the ground lip jars i have it appears they sealed against the rubber on the jar shoulder. It seems like they just ground the lip to keep people from cutting thier fingers off. Just my observation.

Hi Matt, you may be right on some of them, but I remember my Grandmother and my Mom using a flat rubber ring under the glass insert in the vacuum sealing of a jar with a glass cap under the screw ring. Those lids wouldn't be able to maintain a seal at the shoulder due to the gap between the ring and the glass insert. I am not a big jar collector but I keep watch of the Indiana Jar mans ebay listings. Always learning.
Thanks, RED Matthews