August 2015 – Artifact of the Month
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Christmas in the Summer! An Early 20th Century Ornamental Light Bulb
Early 20th century light bulb from a Christmas Tree light set, recovered from an archaeological excavation in Lower Chichester Township, in Delaware County, Pennsylvania.
The artifact at hand is a light bulb molded in the shape of a lily. The bulb is from a set of electric Christmas tree lights. The light bulb was recovered from an early 20th century privy in Lower Chichester Township, Delaware County. The object was recovered as part of mitigation for a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PennDot) project.
The first use of electric lights on a Christmas Tree was in 1882 when and executive of General Electric had his tree wired with lights. Although the lights used were plain, with a decade painted glass bulbs, molded in varying shapes had appeared. Early Christmas tree lights required an electrician to wire the sets and connect them to an electrical source. By 1900 although the price had fallen, lights were still so expensive that an advertisement in Scientific American suggested renting them for the holidays.
As the popularity of Christmas lights increased, and electricity became more available in the early 20th century, the price decreased. Flowers, like the object at hand, were a popular shape, with lilies, roses, and rose buds being the most popular. The majority of bulbs in the first decade of the 20th century were manufactured in Germany and hand painted on colorless glass. American manufacturers tried to establish factories in Japan shortly before World War I, but Japanese craftsmen had trouble producing quality painted bulbs on colorless glass. Eventually the manufacturers discovered that by using milk glass bulbs, the Japanese could produce acceptable painted products. By the 1930s there were Christmas light bulbs available in almost every conceivable form.
The archaeologically recovered ornamental bulb would have once looked similar to this hand- painted example.
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The PAF ‘Artifact of the Month’ was contributed by Kenneth J. Basalik, Ph.D., President – CHRS, Inc. kbasalik@chrsinc.com
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