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Telescoping Desk Lamp

1960s Michael Lax Lightolier Lytegem Telescoping Desk Lamp
By Lightolier, Michael Lax
Located in Chula Vista, CA
Michael Lax for Lightolier Lytegem Desk Telescoping Task Lamp 1960s 3.38 d x 2.63 w x 6.5 h closed
Category

Mid-20th Century Japanese Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Materials

Chrome

Floris Fideldij Telescoping Arm Desk Lamp Artimeta 1960s
By Kaiser Idell
Located in Den Haag, NL
Very well designed desk lamp. Design by Floris Fideldij for Artimeta Soest Holland 1960s featuring
Category

Vintage 1960s Dutch Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Materials

Metal

Telescoping Lamp by Giuseppe Ostuni for O-luce
Located in Sagaponack, NY
An early telescoping floor/desk lamp with a pivoting cone shade on an enameled and chromed steel
Category

20th Century Italian Table Lamps

Materials

Metal

Recent Sales

Space Age Telescoping Desk Lamp
Located in Hamilton, Ontario
Space Age telescoping desk lamp Hamilton Industries desk or table lamp. This adjustable lamp was
Category

Mid-20th Century Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Space Age Telescoping Desk Lamp
Space Age Telescoping Desk Lamp
H 14.5 in W 8.8 in D 3.75 in
Vintage Telescope Desk Lamp Orange Eichhoff
By Eichhoff
Located in Oirlo, LI
Vintage telescope desk lamp orange Eichhoff Design desk lamp Space Age. Designed in the 60s
Category

Vintage 1960s German Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Materials

Metal

Vintage Telescope Desk Lamp Orange Eichhoff
Vintage Telescope Desk Lamp Orange Eichhoff
H 18.12 in W 5.52 in L 18.12 in
Swivel Base Telescoping Floor / Desk Lamp
By O-Luce
Located in Ferndale, MI
Swivel Base Telescoping Floor / Desk Lamp Attributed to O Luce. Telescopes from 28" to 60" tall
Category

Vintage 1950s Italian Table Lamps

Telescoping Reading Lamps By O'Luce
By O-Luce
Located in Sagaponack, NY
Innovative and highly adjustable telescoping floor/desk lamps with pivoting cone shades on enameled
Category

Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Materials

Steel, Aluminum

1950s Italian Telescoping Floor or Desk Lamp by Giuseppe Ostuni for O-Luce
By Giuseppe Ostuni, O-Luce
Located in Sagaponack, NY
An early telescoping floor / desk lamp with a pivoting cone shaped shade on a brass and enameled
Category

Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Floor Lamps

Materials

Steel

Vintage O.C. White Desk Lamp
Located in Oakville, CT
Brass Telescoping Vintage O.C. White Desk Lamp Overall Height Telescopes between 25 1/2
Category

20th Century American Table Lamps

Materials

Brass

Antique Pedestal Art Table Brass O.C. White Desk Lamp
Located in Peekskill, NY
beautiful and very sought after all brass O. C. White telescoping desk lamp. Also see our other listing of a
Category

Early 20th Century American Industrial More Furniture and Collectibles

Keuffel and Esser Double Pedestal Cast Iron Art Table
By Keuffel and Esser Co. 1
Located in Peekskill, NY
original. Included is an all brass articulating/telescoping Faries desk lamp. This lamp is very desirable
Category

Antique Late 19th Century American Industrial Industrial and Work Tables

Arredoluce Lamp
By Arredoluce
Located in Brooklyn, NY
Rare telescoping desk lamp with pivoting shade and shaft that transforms into a floor lamp when you
Category

Vintage 1950s Italian Floor Lamps

Materials

Steel, Aluminum

Arredoluce Lamp
Arredoluce Lamp
H 47 in W 6 in D 10 in
Telescope Desk Lamp by J.T. Kalmar, Austria, 1960s
By J.T. Kalmar
Located in Basel, CH
Beautiful "Telescope" desk lamp by J.T. Kalmar, Austria in the 1960s. Solid brass parts and a brown
Category

Vintage 1960s Austrian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Materials

Brass

Mid Century Telescoping Desk Lamp
Located in West Palm Beach, FL
Mid century adjustable desk lamp with white enamel conical head.
Category

Vintage 1960s Unknown Table Lamps

1950's Italian Telescoping Desk/ Floor Lamp by Ostuni
By Angelo Ostuni
Located in Hudson, NY
easily to any position and can be used an a desk or floor lamp. finished in its original chromed steel
Category

Vintage 1950s Italian Mid-Century Modern Table Lamps

Materials

Chrome, Steel

1950's Italian Telescoping Desk or Floor Lamp by Arredoluce
Located in Hudson, NY
a very nice italian lamp by Arredoluce c. 1956. Extremely versatile, it has a telescoping stem that
Category

Vintage 1950s Italian Table Lamps

Materials

Stainless Steel, Chrome

Early 20th Century O.C. White Desk Lamp
By O.C. White
Located in Hudson, NY
An original O.C. White desk lamp with telescoping arm. Great industrial design. Adjusts to many
Category

Antique Early 1900s American Industrial Table Lamps

Nessen Studios Adjustable Chrome Swing Arm Desk Lamp
Located in New York, NY
Nessen Studios chrome 1950's telescoping swing arm desk lamp with original milk glsss diffusor and
Category

20th Century American Table Lamps

Materials

Chrome

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Telescoping Desk Lamp For Sale on 1stDibs

With a vast inventory of beautiful furniture at 1stDibs, we’ve got just the telescoping desk lamp you’re looking for. Each telescoping desk lamp for sale was constructed with extraordinary care, often using metal, brass and plastic. There are 8 variations of the antique or vintage telescoping desk lamp you’re looking for, while we also have 1 modern editions of this piece to choose from as well. Your living room may not be complete without a telescoping desk lamp — find older editions for sale from the 20th Century and newer versions made as recently as the 21st Century. When you’re browsing for the right telescoping desk lamp, those designed in mid-century modern, modern and Arts and Crafts styles are of considerable interest. Egoluce, Daytona and Giuseppe Ostuni each produced at least one beautiful telescoping desk lamp that is worth considering.

How Much is a Telescoping Desk Lamp?

Prices for a telescoping desk lamp can differ depending upon size, time period and other attributes — at 1stDibs, they begin at $375 and can go as high as $12,500, while the average can fetch as much as $1,855.

Finding the Right Table-lamps for You

Well-crafted antique and vintage table lamps do more than provide light; the right fixture-and-table combination can add a focal point or creative element to any interior.

Proper table lamps have long been used for lighting our most intimate spaces. Perfect for lighting your nightstand or reading nook, table lamps play an integral role in styling an inviting room. In the years before electricity, lamps used oil. Today, a rewired 19th-century vintage lamp can still provide a touch of elegance for a study.

After industrial milestones such as mass production took hold in the Victorian era, various design movements sought to bring craftsmanship and innovation back to this indispensable household item. Lighting designers affiliated with Art Deco, which originated in the glamorous roaring ’20s, sought to celebrate modern life by fusing modern metals with dark woods and dazzling colors in the fixtures of the era. The geometric shapes and gilded details of vintage Art Deco table lamps provide an air of luxury and sophistication that never goes out of style.

After launching in 1934, Anglepoise lamps soon became a favorite among modernist architects and designers, who interpreted the fixture as “a machine for lighting,” just as Le Corbusier had reimagined the house as “a machine for living in.” The popular task light owed to a collaboration between a vehicle-suspension engineer by the name of George Carwardine and a West Midlands springs manufacturer, Herbert Terry & Sons

Some mid-century modern table lamps, particularly those created by the likes of Joe Colombo and the legendary lighting artisans at Fontana Arte, bear all the provocative hallmarks associated with Space Age design. Sculptural and versatile, the Louis Poulsen table lamps of that period were revolutionary for their time and still seem innovative today

If you are looking for something more contemporary, industrial table lamps are demonstrative of a newly chic style that isn’t afraid to pay homage to the past. They look particularly at home in any rustic loft space amid exposed brick and steel beams.

Before you buy a desk lamp or table lamp for your living room, consider your lighting needs. The Snoopy lamp, designed in 1967, or any other “banker’s lamp” (shorthand for the Emeralite desk lamps patented by H.G. McFaddin and Company), provides light at a downward angle that is perfect for writing, while the Fontana table lamp and the beloved Grasshopper lamp by Greta Magnusson-Grossman each yield a soft and even glow. Some table lamps require lampshades to be bought separately.

Whether it’s a classic antique Tiffany table lamp, a Murano glass table lamp or even a bold avant-garde fixture custom-made by a contemporary design firm, the right table lamp can completely transform a room. Find the right one for you on 1stDibs.

Questions About Telescoping Desk Lamp
  • 1stDibs ExpertSeptember 28, 2021
    A good desk lamp is going to make a substantial difference in any home, office or studio. The ideal desk lamp should provide apt task lighting, be easy to use, and also be aesthetically pleasing. Find a wide range of unique and elegant desk lamps on 1stDibs today.
  • 1stDibs ExpertMarch 22, 2024

    No one knows for sure who invented the desk lamp, as many engineers worked on designs for lamps during the 1920s. Many experts cite the Anglepoise lamp, however, as the earliest iteration of the modern desk lamp. Since its 1934 debut, this ingenious task light has become one of the most celebrated examples of industrial design. 

    How the Anglepoise came to be is the stuff of design legend: In 1932, a vehicle-suspension engineer by the name of George Carwardine joined forces with a West Midlands springs manufacturer, Herbert Terry & Sons, to create a mechanism by which opposed springs would, as Carwardine explained, exert a “unidirectional constant force” on a pivoted lever that could counteract the force of gravity.

    This invention was not destined for an auto but for a lamp Carwardine was developing. The innovation would allow the piece’s articulated arm to be moved with ease to almost any position and remain there. As the product of engineering acumen rather than fashion, the Anglepoise soon became a favorite among modernist architects and designers, who interpreted it as “a machine for lighting,” just as Le Corbusier had reimagined the house as “a machine for living in.”

    The Angelpoise's rivals include the 1930 Bestlite, which was one of the earliest Bauhaus-influenced designs, created by Robert Dudley Best, who had studied under Walter Gropius at the Bauhaus in Dessau. German modernist Karl Trabert’s 1930s desk lamp for Schanzenbach & Co. was notable for its domed shade above a hinged arm.

    Find vintage table lamps and other lighting on 1stDibs.

  • 1stDibs ExpertOctober 26, 2021
    The best desk lamp is a matter of preference — the right fixture can help you work more efficiently while also reducing eye strain. LED desk lamps in the 2700K to 4500K color temperature range often provide a warm and pleasing light under which to work. Shop a collection of antique, vintage, and modern desk lamps from some of the world’s top dealers on 1stDibs.
  • 1stDibs ExpertOctober 5, 2021
    There are many types of best LED desk lamps for your home — it's really a matter of preference. On 1stDibs, there are modern, mid-century modern desk lamps and other lighting to choose from.
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    British designer George Carwardine designed the Anglepoise desk lamp. Before creating the light fixture, he worked as an engineer designing automobile suspension systems. The first Anglepoise lamps debuted in 1931. You can find a variety of Anglepoise desk lamps on 1stDibs.
  • 1stDibs ExpertApril 5, 2022
    The desk lamps with the green shade are called banker’s lamps. Banker’s lamps are green because it is believed the color helps to encourage concentration and is mentally soothing. It is also said that green helps with eye strain. You can shop a selection of banker’s lamps from some of the world’s top sellers on 1stDibs.

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