Chandelier

Object number2003.122.1

Datec. 1880

MediumMetal; Glass

Credit LineGift of East End Galleries, Gillian and Michael Malley

DescriptionPainted tin chandelier with kerosene burners. General shape is of an inverted cone. Large 12-sided reflector ring with pressed tin cornic of acanthus leaves. Twelve panes of mirrored glass underneath. Vine motif painted around sides in gold-red, salmon, and black. Fourteen burners with glass chimneysHistorical NotesOriginally hung in the Masonic Hall in Ellwood City, Pa. A color lithographed advertising card for the Bailey Reflector Company depicting a similar chandelier.Label TextThomas F. Bailey’s downtown company, founded in the early 1880s, advertised its, “compound, silver-plated corrugated glass reflectors” as “a wonderful invention for lighting churches, opera houses, halls, store-rooms, &c, &c.” The company produced chandeliers fitted for use with oil, gas, kerosene, and, by the 1890s, electricity. This kerosene fired chandelier, believed to have originally hung in the Masonic Hall in Ellwood City before being used in a church on Banksville Road, was electrified at some point in its use. In 1920, the company changed names and added to its product line, becoming the Bailey Reflector and Sign Co.

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