1930s American Sconces, High Quality Brass With Crystals, Gold Patina - a Pair

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Offering a fine AMERICAN pair of wall sconces possibly as old as the 1930s, in the French style. They're extremely … Read more Offering a fine AMERICAN pair of wall sconces possibly as old as the 1930s, in the French style. They're extremely well made and beautifully patinated to resemble a gilt finish.

The crystals are in perfect condition and if you look closely you'll notice that they alternate -- a long one, then a shorter one. They too are of a high quality and have been painstakingly cleaned.

The back plates have a decorative yellow-green insert element the likes of which I've never seen! It's a thin plastic sheet of some early type, which at first I thought might be a kind of celluloid . At this point I have no idea what the material specifically is. There are some variations in the color, meaning there are some dark areas. Cleaning solutions have had no impact and one is left wondering if these variations were intended. In any case, there they are, small in number and size. The candle covers are not typical, as they are not made of paper. They are also made of some kind of plastic.

The rest of the sconces are made of solid brass, and the castings are fine and the detail excellent. The wiring is original and in perfect, working order. There's no need whatsoever to rewire these sconces, although it could be done easily enough. There are maker initials on the back of the plates, but I can't make them out accurately.

On the back each candle there's a little switch which operates that candle: on or off at the twist of the protruding device (pictured). This informs us about the age of the sconces, the suggestion being that switches on the sconces indicate they were made in mind that not everyone had light switches on the wall to control these. Electrical conveniences such as that were not always present! You'll just leave these in the "on" position and use your handy wall switch to operate the sconces.

As you can readily see, these sconces are elegantly designed, with many French-inspired design elements.

As the next-to-last photo suggests, you can employ decorative bulbs on these sconces, if you would rather not have clip-on shades. These are shown for display only and aren't included with the sconces.

Dimensions: the back plates are about 3 1/2 inches at their most narrow, 4 at their widest. The overall width of the sconces is about 8 1/4 inches. The height is about 12 1/4. They project about 4 1/4 inches from the wall. See less