Mission Oak Lamp with Green Glass Shade [SOLD]

Lamps by this company were used extensively during the period, but little was known of the makers. It was not until around 1988 that a husband and wife team—Michael Clark and Jill Thomas-Clark—began a research project to find out who were the makers of all the unknown brown stained oak and glass lamps. They discovered a rare 1912 catalog and in doing so discovered the maker of this style lamp to be the W. B. Brown Company of Bluffton, Indiana.

They also discovered that they used production methods that made the lighting fixtures affordable and easy to ship. The company may have relied on machine power to mass-produce table lamps but each lamp also bore the handcraftsmanship of their highly skilled staff.

This lamp is not signed but is similar to those discovered by the Clarks to have been made by W. B. Brown. The lamp accommodates a single light bulb that is turned on and off with a push-type switch.

Reference:  Pioneers by David Cathers in American Bungalow Magazine, Issue 58, Spring 2008.