July 1, 2014
Happy Independence Day! We’ll be closed on Friday, July 4th, to celebrate, but will re-open on Saturday, the 5th. If you don’t have holiday plans, check out the Purcellville parade beginning at 12:30 from Emerick Elementary to Loudoun Valley High School. Weather permitting, Bob will have his 1926 Dodge Brothers Touring Sedan in a parking lot at the intersection of Main Street and Maple Avenue, near the end of the parade route. Lynne will be dancing in the parade with Celtic Rhythm School of Dance. This is our only closure for this month.
You may have noticed our featured product on last month’s Recent Acquisitions page of our website. Emeralite lamps were produced for nearly 50 years beginning with the approval of Harrison McFaddin’s patent application on May 11, 1909. His company, H.G. McFaddin & Co., imported shades for the lamps from the glass factory of J. Schreiber & Neffen, whose plant was located in the town of Rapotίn, Moravia (now the Czech Republic). Though S&N, as they were referred to by McFaddin, produced glassware for other customers, their contract with H.G. McFaddin & Co. allowed them to produce the green cased shades only for Emeralite lamps. In turn, McFaddin was required to purchase a minimum number of shades per year. At the height of production, fully one-half of that S&N factory was devoted to the production of glass shades for H. G. McFaddin.
From the 1916 catalog , the lamp was one of the “8734 Series.” This began the 2nd period of production of Emeralite lamps, which are those most often found and with which the name Emeralite is most readily identified; they were made until the early 1930’s. These lamps were unlike earlier versions in that their shades were not perforated with holes through which the shade was attached to the armature of the base, then swiveled and locked into position. Instead, the bottom of the “8734 Series” shades were indented on the sides and back to fit into the channel of the newly designed and patented armature (August 15, 1916) that had clamps to maneuver the shade into position and keep it in place. This allowed the shade to be removed for cleaning or replacement without disturbing the wiring. Notice that the original price for this gorgeous lamp was only $10!
Finally, we have a new part-time employee, Woodgrove high school Senior Campbell Smith. Please go easy on him as he is just learning. He’ll be managing the store alone on July 26th & 27th; no doubt he’ll do fine!
Lynne & Bob McCann