Most people don’t realize that Pairpoint offered their lamps in scores of configurations and finishes that included numerous hardware variations as well as Parchment and Silk Oval, Conical, and Empire-style shades. Pairpoint purchased their silk shades from the Murray M. Harvey Manufacturing Co., 6 E. 39th Street, New York, in three sizes, 8”, 12”, and 16”. Armed with this information, no Pairpoint lamp base needs to be abandoned for want of a glass shade. All that needs to be done to resurrect these lamps, and retain a semblance of originality, is to slightly reconfigure the top hardware to accept a spider-mounted non-glass shade. After all, this is what Pairpoint did when a customer wanted something other than a Puffy or Reverse-Painted shade. Pairpoint offered hundreds of configurations for their bases.
Arguably, no lamp manufacturer from any decade over the last hundred years made better lamps than Pairpoint; lamps purchased today cannot come close to the quality of materials, workmanship, or design…and they are expensive. An astute consumer, having an eye for quality and an appreciation of history, would serve himself well to purchase a derelict Pairpoint lamp base and have it restored and rewired prior to installing a current Silk, Conical, or Empire shade. When all is said and done, the consumer will have a high quality historically significant utilitarian work of art to fill a necessary place in the home. And, the lamp will retain its value while the new lamp depreciates to second-hand status as soon as it leaves the retail store.
Marion and Sandra Frost
June 8, 2022