A pair of arts & crafts pendant Stourbridge vaseline lampshades in “swags and bows” design, each with their original arts and crafts brass gallery R.D396572 for the year 1902 attributed to Best & Lloyd, Birmingham . Supplied with original flex spacer and replacement bronze ceiling plate. England c1905

Ht.(as displayed)80cm/31in, Ht.(shade & gallery)19/7.5, Ht.(shade).13/5, W.(shade) 11/4.5

Best & Lloyd, Birmingham 1867

• Best & Lloyd founded in 1867 after liquidation of Best & Hobson producing candle lamps
• By 1900 Best & Lloyd had become the largest lighting manufacturer in the world.
• In 1928, founder Robert Best’s grandson designed the iconic Bestlite range inspired by the Bauhaus movement.

Stourbridge Glass, Birmingham

Thomas Webb & Sons, Henry G. Richardson & Sons,  Stevens & Williams, John Walsh Walsh

• The industry was established at the beginning of the 17th century by glass-makers from Lorraine in north-eastern France
• The industry grew and evolved for the next 275 years and glass from Wordsley, Amblecote and Brierley Hill is recognised as amongst the finest in the world
• Birmingham Lighting designers such as Best & Lloyd, Faraday & Sons, Osler & Co, James Hinks & Son and Messenger & Sons employ the Stourbridge factories to produce the glass-ware for their lights.
• Mostly it is impossible to say which firm produced a particular lampshade but some patterns were registered/catalogued and can therefore occasionally be attributed.