ACQUISITION: Fortuny Chandelier - it is ours

We drove out to the Jerz today to see this light fixture I found on CL.  The seller agreed to drop the price down to a number I was comfortable with so we bought it.  I had to get up on a ladder and uninstall it from her ceiling, so that was a tiny adventure.  Overall fairly simple.  

Here it is in the trunk of our car.

This thing is really big and really cool looking.  It is about 33 inches across and has a three-bulb fixture that hangs down in it.  Basically, it is awesome.  It is going to look amazing hanging from the center of that high vaulted ceiling in our master suite.  Hooray!!

Now we have to figure out where to store the thing until it is time to install it - although that time is not more than a month or two away! Indeed, we could install it now if we weren't concerned about it ending up covered with dust from ongoing work.

DESIGN IDEA: Surgical Light for a Dining Room

I broke down and bought an old surgical light at BIG NYC on Saturday when I was there picking up stone.  I don't know if I'll manage to use it or if it will end up back at BIG or on craigslist, but it showed too much promise to just leave it behind.  (let me say from the get go, if you don't like this idea then you don't need to respond to this post at all.)  

V's comment when she saw this thing was that it is a little too "on the nose", by which she means that it looks like exactly what it is.  Unlike a lot of repurposed stuff we like, there is no mistaking this for some obscure bit of obsolete industrial detritus just waiting to be re-purposed.  I agree with her, but I still think it looks pretty cool and merits some consideration.

Oh, and the other thing to remember is that our dining table is going to be a heavy slab of wood sitting on this old embalming table base which I blogged about back in May 2011 when I picked it up on ebay (talk about a lack of instant gratification):

So, yeah, this light over that table... a little on the nose maybe.  But I still like it a lot.

It mounts on a track on the ceiling so that, in addition to having a full range of rotation, it can slide back and forth to be centered over wherever the action is.

I love this old label.

This belongs on "indicia of authority".

Obviously I know I'm not the first person to think to re-purpose a big surgical light as a ceiling light, but I have never actually seen it done.  Here are some examples I found on the web:

Boo! Now I want one of these

Above from: http://www.urbanremainschicago.com/hard-to-find-completely-intact-vintage-american-industrial-cook-county-hospital-double-arm-articulating-surgical-ceiling-light.html
And, while we're at it, http://www.urbanremainschicago.com/ is a pretty bitchen site.

Here is a pair of repurposed surgical lights found in a real estate listing:  http://45thompsontrail.blogspot.com/

"The lighting over the center island is made from transformed surgical lamps from a World War II hospital ship."

Someone is asking $3600 a pop for these silly pendants made of parts from a surgical light hung from a chain.

Pretty.

Very pretty, but older and more steampunk looking than the one I got.

CL Score - Crystal Chandelier

A "grand beast"?  Not by a long shot.  It was, however, a large number of crystals in a nice assortment of traditional shapes and good sizes with a solid brass frame and several concentric tiers (see the first pic below).  My best guess is that over 90% of the crystals are present and accounted for.
When the seller agreed to let it go for half of what she was originally asking it was too good a deal to pass up.  I snipped the wires right there in her sitting room and packed it all with newspaper and brought it home on the subway.  It is hard to photograph without a light behind it and they definitely need a good washing, but you get the idea.
I think I have enough crystals now to assemble a pretty good chandelier.  But, given all the other stuff going on, I am going to store them for the time being until we're closer to ready to needing a chandelier.

 Here are all the crystals - not included in this photo are the 6 arm assemblies at the ends of which the six exterior bulbs are mounted (comprised of cut glass S-shaped arms, 4 inch wide cups or bobeches and 3 inch tall bobeches or flowers)

And here's a helpful glossary of chandelier parts:

Design Idea meet CL Listing: Crystal Chandelier

There is a crystal chandelier on CL right now which the seller is describing as "a grand old beast of a chandelier".  As an expert in all things beastly, I intend to judge the beast-like qualities of this chandelier myself.  It isn't expensive, but she isn't giving it away either.  So, if it is missing a lot of crystals or if the frame is unattractive, then I will have no problem passing it up.  The last thing I need is another new project trying to find just the right crystals to match whatever is missing from this beast. 
This is the best the seller could do with photos - she claims it is too big and fragile to try to stand it up to photograph it or measure it. Using the seller's hands for scale, this is either a pretty big chandelier or a pretty tiny seller.

design ideas - tripod lamps (theatre lights)

Which are your favorites?

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