Owl & Twig

The Field Guide

How to identify, date, and value the things you find. Written from what passes through our hands, one estate sale at a time.

Doorway into the Owl and Twig Vintage booth at The Rabbit Hole in Waterford, Michigan, under a hand-painted owl sign FeaturedSeller's Desk Find us in Waterford: our new booth at The Rabbit Hole The Rabbit Hole in Waterford Township is doubling its floor space and adding 23 new vendors, and Owl & Twig is on the lineup. Booth pieces are sold in the store only. Reopens September... September 16, 2026
LightingHandel Lamps: Two Patents, and a Trademark the Company Never Filed A 1904 patent describes the glass process that made Handel lamps famous. A 1910 patent for a shade-mounting... Oct 2, 2026 LightingBradley & Hubbard: The Lamp Company That Never Trademarked Its Own Name Two brothers-in-law patented 238 lamp designs and mechanisms in Meriden, Connecticut — then let the company's own name... Oct 1, 2026 LightingAmerican Gas Machine Co.: the company that built Sears' lanterns Every J.C. Higgins gasoline lantern pulled from a basement was built by a small Minnesota company Sears never... Oct 1, 2026 LightingColeman Lanterns: The Patent Belongs to a Memphis Rival, Not Coleman The gasoline lantern burner mechanism Coleman has sold for over a century was patented by a Memphis rival... Oct 1, 2026 A Lewis Hine photograph of a coal miner's cap fitted with a lit carbide lamp, early 1900s LightingThe Guy's Dropper: Frank Guy Filed His Carbide Lamp Patent Two Years Too Late By Matthew Partsch · Owl and Twig Vintage · October 1, 2026 Frank Guy's dropper valve gave the... Sep 30, 2026 LightingThe Dietz lantern: the cold-blast patent wasn't Dietz's, and the rival who copied it became Adlake The cold-blast mechanism that still names Dietz's lanterns was patented by a Philadelphia machinist, not by Dietz --... Sep 30, 2026 LightingTension pole lamps: the Supreme Court case that let anyone make one Stiffel patented the tension pole lamp in 1956. In 1964 the Supreme Court ruled its patents did not... Sep 21, 2026 A 1950s black ceramic panther TV lamp planter, the form Phil-Mar cataloged as No. 152 Panther Planter LightingThe Phil-Mar panther catalog: two models, two glazes, and a company that never said TV lamp Phil-Mar's own 1959 and 1961 trade catalogs name the panthers, number them, measure them, and list the only... Sep 20, 2026 LightingLane & Co.: the TV lamp maker that made thousands of them and left barely a trace of itself Lane & Co. of Van Nuys, California made TV lamps by the thousand in the 1950s. A specialist... Sep 20, 2026 LightingThe Aladdin lamp: a federal court split the name in two, and the split never healed The ALADDIN trademark was filed in 1908, a year before the company's first lamp. A 1935 federal ruling... Sep 20, 2026 The maker's marking on the base of an Anglepoise lamp LightingThe architect lamp: how to tell an Anglepoise from a Luxo, and date either one from the base One British patent, two licensed brands, and a base that dates the lamp. How to date an Anglepoise... Sep 19, 2026 A Tiffany style leaded glass table lamp with a tropical fish shade LightingThe woman who designed the Tiffany lamp, and how to tell a real one from a Tiffany style one Tiffany style is a look, not a maker. Here is what a genuine Tiffany Studios mark does and... Sep 17, 2026 The green banker's lamp: how to tell an Emeralite from the $46 copy LightingThe green banker's lamp: how to tell an Emeralite from the $46 copy Harrison D. McFaddin patented the green shade in 1909 and waited twelve years to register the name. By... Sep 13, 2026 Prestigeline Garfield desk lamp, model PT-5655 — hand-decorated ceramic shade in the shape of Garfield's head and folded arms on an orange gooseneck with a weighted enamel base LightingThe Garfield desk lamp: a ceramic cat's head on a gooseneck, sold in a cardboard house Prestigeline's PT-5655 was a real desk lamp with a hand-decorated ceramic shade — and its house-shaped carton is... Sep 11, 2026 LightingVintage lava lamps: the man in the pub had a patent The received story is wrong three times over. Donald Dunnett patented the lava lamp in 1950 and died... Aug 2, 2026 LightingVintage TV lamps: how to identify and date one America briefly believed watching television in the dark would ruin your eyes. An entire industry appeared to fix... Jul 24, 2026 Brass retro table lamp casting warm amber light in a cozy vintage living room LightingRetro lighting: the bulb is half the fixture Every vintage lamp was designed around a 2700K bulb. Get that number right, layer three sources at three... Jul 16, 2026