Anglepoise, for me one of the most significant pieces of 20th Century Design, and a few days I decided to finally took the plunge and bid for one on eBay, I’m excited to say that I had the winning bid for a pre 1950s Herbert Terry of Redditch 1227 two tier version and the most exciting part is the fact it has the original Crabtree Bakelite switch (how sad is it to be excited by a switch?). This will be the second Anglepoise I now own, alongside a newer Type 75.

It was my original intention of buying to restore, now after receiving the lamp I’ve come to a dilemma, to leave it in the current state or to restore. The lamp isn’t in the best of conditions, but can this be constituted as character that isn’t worth losing?

At nearly 60 years old each mark and dent is a symbol of every owner, to restore would be like erasing, admitially tiny, part of the past. On the other hand, restoring would bring the Anglepoise back to it’s former glory, just as it came fresh out of the box, while allowing me to do something I enjoy. Unfortunately because of the extent of the damage, a touch of under-paint rust and scratches, a simple touch-up is not possible, the whole thing will need to be sanded back to bare metal and resprayed, sympathetic to the original colour of course.

After some research about restoring Anglepoise(s?) I am under the impression that it is frowned upon to remove any paint even if badly damaged; it’s always better to keep all the original. The thing is I have no intention to resell the lamp after restoration, if it all goes to plan, I intend to keep this Anglepoise as long as possible, here’s to another 60 years!

I could go into how people have created this emotional link with an inmate object because they believe it is the link to past generations, which I do completely agree with and often find myself staring at objects because of this very reason but I’ll be writing for hours, maybe another post?

I’m going to leave it few days to consider my options before taking the jump, either way it’ll have to be rewired with new flex and actually connect the earth wire to it (I really hope the previous owner hadn’t used it without it, could have been in for a shock!)

In between writing and publishing this post I visited an ‘antique’ fair at the Lincoln Show Ground, I went with my parents, it was my intention to try and finally sell them there, but alas, no one would have them.
Being at the antiques fair was like being a child again bouncing around like there is no tomorrow, looking at the shiny and not so shiny objects, and I must admit there is an extremely fine line between complete tat and so called antiques. There were lots of restoration pieces to be had at a fairly reasonable price, although I didn’t purchase anything as space is a major issue, and buying one thing would lead to another. What most caught my eye was the amount of grandfather clocks that were being sold, both restored and with wear and tear damage I’m very tempted to get one now maybe a 21st Birthday present??