Victorian Tumbler Lights
Victorian Tumbler lights come in a variety of styles or shapes and a wide spectrum colors.
The lights were manufactured in Europe and the United States mainly during the decades before
and after 1900. The lights were used for many indoor and outdoor events such as garden parties,
theatres, coronations, and holidays.
The lights are blown or molded glass vessels hung with a bale or wire which fastens around
a rim at the top of the glass. Sometimes holes are pierced for the wire bale. Most lights
have a flat base and could be set on a surface rather than suspended by the bale. However,
many do not and must be hung to use. The lights were lit with a candle or a wick floated in oil.
Collectors call the most common style "diamond quilt". These range in size but most are about
3.5 inches tall. The color is in the glass with clear, amber, green, amethyst, and cobalt blue
being most common. However, the range in hues of these and the other colors keep collectors
fascinated. Other colors include white, blue, and green milk glass, red, and cranberry. In some
rare cases clear lights were painted red.
American glassmakers produced thousand eye, hobnail, and several other styles. These tend to be
larger lights, about four inches tall. The scarce miniature hobnail lights are about two inches
tall. The thousand eye lights are sometimes opalescent glass.
England produced several figural lights including grape clusters, tulips, and the heads of
Queen Victoria for her diamond jubilee in 1897, her son Edward’s coronation in 1901, and George
and his wife Mary, in 1910. Some lights have "cameos" of Victoria or VR or a shield. These royalty
lights and rare red and cranberry art glass lights are the most highly prized by collectors.
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