What period are most antique chandeliers from?

The interwar decades. Of the 3,204 dated archive listings, the 1930s account for 1,338 and the 1920s 1,246, so the two together carry the bulk of the category. Earlier material is thin: 334 from the 1910s, 181 from the 1900s, and small numbers labelled Victorian or given an 1880s or 1890s decade. A further 322 listings say only "19th Century", which carries no decade at all.

Why do so many listings say French?

Nationality does most of the descriptive work in chandelier titles. French appears in 1,805 of them, close to half, and Italian in 615. English shows up in a small fraction by comparison, and Dutch, Flemish, Swedish, Belgian and Genoese appear as one-offs. The standard shorthand for a chandelier here is a country plus a finish plus a light count.

What is a bag or spike chandelier?

Both are glass-hung forms rather than metal-framed ones. A bag chandelier has a bag-shaped fall of glass chains beneath a ring; a spike chandelier is hung with pointed glass spikes instead of flat drops. Bag appears in 126 titles and spike in 93. They tend to be the smaller fittings in the category, some only a few inches across.

Are chandeliers usually sold in pairs?

Singles dominate, but pairs are a real habit of the category, with 335 titles saying pair. One sampled entry goes further, a set of six matching ballroom chandeliers. Pairs and sets sit well above single fittings in the range.

How often is rewiring mentioned?

Rarely. Only 67 titles say rewired. The electrical state is almost never something a chandelier title reports either way.

What makes Florentine chandeliers different?

They are the painted end of the Italian stock. Florentine appears in 137 titles and polychrome in 87, describing giltwood or gilt-metal frames coloured rather than gilded all over, often with flowers or leaves. They date to the same interwar decades as the rest of the category.

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Antique Chandelier

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A hanging multi-light ceiling fitting, made to lift a group of lights above a room and, once glass drops were added, to multiply that light by refraction.