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Figural and Specialty Bulbs

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These are perhaps the rarest light bulbs I have. They are Mannweiler candles which were meant to be used in C6 series sets in place of the regular bulbs. They truly fit in the category of Figural Bulbs.
Here are two nice examples of Matchless Wonder Stars. They are beautifully wired-together crystals around a light bulb. They were made during the Great Depression and were not a commercial success as they were relatively costly. These both work and are displayed like the jewels they are, in my china cabinet.
Early Christmas lights were sometimes made by ornament makers. It was a logical progression for ornaments to become lights. Here is a portion of my small collection of figurals. If you find these in yard sales and flea markets and they do not work you can still employ them as ornaments on a tree.
Here is a later fruit shaped set of figural lights. Note that the quality is not the same as the earlier examples. This set does work however and is quite cheerful when lit.
Here are some more Japanese figural lanterns which were quite popular.
In 1984 the Avon Corp. in conjunction with the Henry Ford Museum produced some reproduction figural lamps. They made them in C7 size so that they could be used in existing strings and also so that they would burn independently. The original version of these were usually made in C6 "Series" size. They really made them well. They are scaled well, to simulate the original size, and the detail in the painting is very good. This set is almost in mint condition with the exception of a tear in the box flap. Such a thing is very minor. As these sets were only run for a short time they are becoming difficult to find. If you see one snap it up as they will increase in value in time.
Here are three figural candles from the 1920-30s. The two on the outside are rare german C6 size candles the large one in the center is an even rarer "standard base" decorative light.
These are plastic stars in the C6 size.