Lamps

Lights of the season come in many forms.At the Beth Israel Hebrew School in Randallstown, they range from a silver candelabrum first used in 1880 to the twists of red glass made to hold candles in 1970, from an ornate seven-branch menorah of bronze smuggled out of Nazi Germany in 1937 to an old shoe polish tin containing tiny wicks of blanket threads dipped in machine oil.This last is a replica of an improvised menorah of eight lights -- a chanukiah --...

I had to respond to Peter Jensen 's vituperative diatribe "Don't Save the Planet" about conservatives supposedly going out of their way to avoid protecting the planet (May 3). Since when did a question limited to specially marked light bulbs measure anyone's environmental consciousness? Based on our voting record, I guess you could label us conservatives. Like most people I know, we use both tubular and CFL fluorescent bulbs (where practical - show me one that works in freezers, variable intensity lamps, outdoor flood lights, desk lamps that take small bulbs, garage trouble light, etc.)

With Labor Day's arrival, folks are returning home from vacation, schools and offices are moving back into high gear, and thoughts are turning from sunburns to burning the midnight oil. Those not content with ordinary lighting increasingly are looking for lamps with age and character: lamps that can light up a room in more ways than one.People are searching attics, flea markets and dealers' shops for vintage lighting devices, and discovering that there were...

Add a pop of color to your home decor with Pablo Pixo Task Lamp in Glo or Teal, two new colors sold at Paradiso. Pablo, which was founded in San Francisco in 1993 by Venezuelan-born industrial designer Pablo Pardo, is considered a top contemporary lighting company. The lamps also come in white, graphite and silver. The new colors arrive just in time for the explosion of bright hues that are expected to be popular this season. The lamps are fashionable and functional, according to Sharona Gamliel, who owns Paradiso with her husband, Ric Martinkus.

TO MANY PEOPLE, a lamp made from stained glass is a Tiffany lamp. But this is not necessarily so, as Chuck and Marie Fitzgerald could quickly point out. They are the owners of Westwood Lamp and Shade in Sykesville, off Route 32 and College Road. A Tiffany lamp is one that was made by Louis Comfort Tiffany or his company, established about the turn of the century. Tiffany, the son of Charles Tiffany, of Tiffany Co. in New York City, became known for his opalescent glass. Tiffany developed and used the glass in his lamps, windows, and other decorative objects, which are highly collectible, the Fitzgeralds said.

Q: Where can I find information about antique student lamps and their values? If an antique student lamp were electrified, would it have a lower value?A: "Student Lamps of the Victorian Era" by Richard C. Miller and John F. Solverson covers every aspect of these lamps, including repair, restoration, conversion, parts, manufacturers and currentvalues. The book is available with a 1992-1993 value guide for $37.95 postpaid softbound, or $52.95 postpaid for a limited-edition hardbound, from Antique Publications, Box 553, Marietta, Ohio 45750-9979, (800)

Carter Beats the Devil, by Glen David Gold. Hyperion. 483 pages. 24.95. E.L. Doctorow's career as a popular author was impelled by his book Ragtime, which drew many characters from history and placed them against things that really happened. The fiction-reading public blinked a few times at this appropriation, then shrugged and read on. The book was well-written, and the entire plot led to a satisfying explosion in the end. It was history as fun, not like ... eh, history. Later, when it was turned into a movie and then an insufferable musical, someone discovered that Doctorow hadn't even originated the story, but had cribbed it from a German author he thought (hoped)

Q: In the attic of an old Wisconsin farmhouse we found several Aladdin kerosene lamps, some of which were converted to electricity. How can we find out their value, and where we can sell them?A: Collectors of Aladdin oil and electric lamps belong to the Aladdin Knights of the Mystic Light. For information, or to sell Aladdin lamps and check out their values, write to J. W. Courter, Route 1, Simpson, Ill. 62985, enclosing a photo or description of the lamps and an addressed, stamped envelope for a reply, or phone (618)

I have a pair of lamps marked "B. Gardiner, N. York" which were in my mother's family for years. Each is pedestal-shaped blackened metal with gold decoration and has a single arm holding a metal burner with a glass chimney. Did they originally burn whale oil or kerosene, and what's their age and value?Your bronze and gilt lamps in the classical taste probably were made in Birmingham or Manchester, England, circa 1825 to 1840, and bear the mark of their original retailer, Baldwin Gardiner (1791-1869)

BUCKEYSTOWN -- Just about any evening, as the sun sets behind the rounded blue mountains on the western horizon, Dan Pelz and many of his neighbors can be found outside their Victorian and Colonial homes waiting for the town's 21 new street lamps to come on.This nightly vigil may not seem so bizarre when you consider that for nearly two years, this old village -- a few miles south of Frederick and within the heavily traveled Interstate 270 corridor --...

Next Saturday, the Baker family home will be full of light. On the first night of Hanukkah, the Bakers - Liz, Steve, and 7-year-old Matthew - will celebrate by lighting several menorahs in their home and in the Hampden studio where Steve Baker creates artwork, including menorahs, out of glass. "My son will light one," says Liz Baker. "I'll light one, and we'll walk down to my husband's studio, where Steve keeps menorahs in the window, and we'll light them as well. " Like many members of the Baltimore Jewish community, the Bakers have amassed a small collection of menorahs that's growing over time.

More than a few East Coast buildings contain a Tiffany stained-glass window or two. But one structure in Baltimore can boast much more - a complete interior created by the famed designer, Louis Comfort Tiffany. St. Mark's Lutheran Church on St. Paul Street is considered such an exceptional example of Tiffany's work that it has been recommended for designation as a Baltimore landmark. Only one other city building - the Senator Theatre - has an interior that was singled out for landmark status.

Now let me see if I understand this: The city is replacing sodium-vapor lamps with LED lamps. The estimated savings to the city is $1.9 million annually. ("LEDs come to city streetlights," Aug. 17.) In reality, it will be more like a savings of $900,000. Of course, the cost of the new LED lamp fixtures need to be incorporated into the calculations. BG&E will complain to the PSC that they can't survive with the $1.9 million in reduced revenue. BG&E will raise rates to residents to offset the $1.9 million revenue decrease.

Regarding your article about the 75-year-old woman who a city inspector fined $300 fine for a crack in the sidewalk in front of her house, since when are citizens responsible for the repair of city property ("Branch steps up effort against write-in challenge," Oct. 25)? Are we going to be fined for broken curbs, potholes and missing manhole covers as well? Are we liable for the broken street light in front of our house or the bent street sign? Either the inspector in this case was sadly misinformed of city policy or city policy stipulates private citizens are required to maintain city property at their own expense.

NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. — Here's something you probably won't find in any other grocery store outside the Bristol Farms in Newport Beach: a former major league pitcher manning the seafood counter. And it's no publicity stunt. Though Dennis Lamp fields the occasional autograph request, most shoppers seem to have no idea that the burly, outgoing man handling their halibut once came within three outs of pitching a no-hitter against the Brewers. The name tag pinned to his red-and-white checkered shirt — "Dennis L. " — offers only this added detail: "Providing extraordinary service since 2004.

Havre de Grace is not only rich in history and charm. It's also the place to find that rare accent piece for your home. The downtown area offers almost a dozen antiques and home design stores, as well as several shops that are almost - if not quite - one-of-a-kind. Art Pantheon Known as "The Buttons Lady," Dee Foe has been collecting buttons for the last 30 years. Her store, Art Pantheon, is full of them - many of them in works of art Foe has created, as well as mounted on cards that some folks like to frame.

One day Patricia Ackman saw something she thought would make a fine lampshade, so she made a lamp to fit it.Then she made another. She got more ideas and made more. Then there were more ideas and more ideas. And before she knew it she was in trouble. "You can't have 12 lamps sitting in the living room," she says.When she had made 50 lamps she decided to have an open house, a invitation-only show and sale of her work. When 25 lamps went out the door that day, she knew she was on to something.

If you like sitting out on the patio at night but want to add a little light to your surroundings, there's another choice besides candles and tiki torches. While solar path lighting has been around for years, manufacturers only recently have introduced outdoor table lamps with rechargeable solar batteries. "The beauty of these lamps is that they don't look much different from indoor table lamps that are usually chosen based on decor style," writes Skip Teeters, outdoor lighting product manager for Hampton Bay and Home Depot, which recently came out with rechargeable solar table lamps.

With "Prince of Persia," producer Jerry Bruckheimer must be hoping that he can once again bring back a lost world of movie fantasy. Will it do for Arabian Nights adventures what "Pirates of the Caribbean" did for pirate movies? It's based on a video game, not a theme-park ride, but it follows the same formula: Boil down a genre's main ingredients and mix them with a newfangled star, in this case Jake Gyllenhaal, not Johnny Depp. Arabian Nights movies have always been filled with scrappy gutter waifs, scheming royal advisers, heroic or ignoble princes and princesses, daft or deadly monarchs, and otherworldly demons, as well as concepts like "the Sands of Time."

Sometimes, in small ways, this Getting There gig is downright gratifying. Particularly when it can help a reader get something fixed. One example is an e-mail that came Feb. 16 from Crossan McDonald of Baltimore. For me one of the most hazardous stretches of road that I travel is Keith Avenue, the connector between Interstate 95 [the first exit after the Fort McHenry toll booth] and Broening Highway. To properly appreciate the problems, one has to travel this road at night. On any given evening, over half of the street lights are out of service, and the white paint lane markers are so faint that they are barely visible.