Early Lighting

Antique Pair of Bulbous Based Brass Candlesticks - 17th Century & Very Rare
  • I have always loved 17th century pewter bulbous base pewter candlesticks and currently have a trio of them on the Pewter webpage. However, I’ve never seen this style in brass and am totally in love with this extremely rare pair. They are 4 ¼” tall, no repairs, no damage—just a couple of adhesive marks that I am afraid to try to take off. You see, long ago they were polished and have developed a nice mellow shined surface. If I use a chemical to take off the adhesive, I’m afraid that I’ll change the patina in that area and the entirety of both candlesticks will have to be cleaned to match. If I use something to scrape off the adhesive, I’m afraid I’ll scratch them. The adhesive marks don’t bother me and I’m hoping they don’t bother you….but you can send them to a metal conservationist to remove the stains in the least destructive way. They may have a finish over them as many museums do so. Lots of people like their early brass polished….polished anything is not really my thing.

    Here are these fantastic rarities in all their glory. They are right as rain. You can see the oxidation of 350 years of life from a peak at the insides of the bases from the bottom. They are purportedly out of a long-time collection and were sold at auction to benefit the Virginia Historical Society. I have no documentation to back those claims…so take from that what you will. The inside bases have each have one of those old hard plastic labels we used to make with the handy-dandy label makers you could buy from a television commercial. I haven’t tried to remove them. One stick has a single label that says “Spanish”. The other candlestick has two labels saying “Spanish” and “c.1800”. The candlesticks are, in reality, circa 1650 and Iberian (either Spanish or Portuguese). No matter how you look at them, this candlestick pair is a must for a collection of lighting collection or just plain on good Americana collection.

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