Antique Mantel Lustres
A mantel lustre is a vase-shaped candle holder, hung round the rim with cut glass drops, made to stand on a chimneypiece and throw candlelight about the room.
Antique Mantel Lustres
The form settled in Britain and Europe from the late 18th century and was made in quantity through the 19th: a glass or metal body, a socket for a candle, and a fringe of faceted drops hung from the rim. They were sold and used in twos, flanking a clock or a mirror on the mantelshelf.
Coloured glass dominates. Ruby is the colour named most often in the titles on Sellingantiques, with cranberry, pink, yellow and opaline each turning up once or twice. Bohemian glass appears twice, once as overlay and once as flash. A French opaline pair is the only one of its kind in the archive.
Alongside the glass sits a smaller group of gilt-brass, gilt-metal, bronze and ormolu candlesticks and candelabra carrying the same cut glass drops. Five of the twenty-one listings are of that sort, including a set of three and one pair of table lamps hung with lustres.
Dating is loose. Six listings say only "19th Century", and Victorian and Regency are used as period labels rather than years. Seven carry a clean year, and those run 1860 to 1910. One entry dated "18th Century" is titled William IV, a reign of the 1830s, so the coarse period entries don't read as accurate.
Where The Range Sits
Two makes the difference. Twelve of the twenty-one listings are pairs, and pairs occupy most of the upper part of the range while the singles cluster low. One listing goes further, a set of three Regency bronze and ormolu candlesticks, and it sits at the top of the archive.
Material sorts the rest. Bronze and ormolu bodies hold the highest ground, with gilt-brass and gilt-metal examples close behind, and plain coloured glass singles at the bottom. Size pushes the same way: "large" recurs in the titles that sit high, whether glass or metal.
Then the glass itself. A named colour or a worked surface counts for more than an unqualified "glass" in a title. Ruby, cranberry, pink, yellow and opaline are all specified, and overlay and flash glass describe treatments rather than tints, the glass cased or filmed in a second colour.
Antique Mantel Lustres Retail Price Guide 2026
Typical UK retail prices for mantel lustres, calculated from the Sellingantiques database of over a million retail prices indexed since 2003. This retail price guide relies exclusively on Sellingantiques data; no external sources or auction records are used, so the figures do not describe the wider market.
19th Century is the period label used most on Sellingantiques for mantel lustres, with the 1880s and Regency next.
The Antique Mantel Lustres Glossary
- Lustre
- A candle holder hung with cut glass drops. Spelling is unsettled across the category: one title here reads "lusters", and "mantle" appears as often as "mantel".
- Drops
- The cut glass prisms suspended from the rim, as in "Hung with Cut Glass Drops". They are what makes the object a lustre rather than a vase or a candlestick.
- Table lustre
- The same object described for table use rather than the mantelshelf. Dealers use both labels for what is essentially one form.
- Overlay
- Glass cased in a second colour, then cut through so the layer beneath shows in the pattern. Named on one Bohemian pair.
- Flash glass
- A thin coloured film applied over clear glass, giving colour without the depth of casing. Named in one Bohemian title.
- Ormolu
- Gilded bronze or brass. It describes the metal-bodied candlesticks and candelabra at the top of this archive rather than anything about the drops.
Antique Mantel Lustres: Frequently Asked Questions
Are mantel lustres usually sold in pairs?
Twelve of the twenty-one listings on Sellingantiques are pairs, which is how the form was intended to be used: two matching lustres either side of a clock or mirror.
Singles do come up, four of them in the archive, and they sit in the lower part of the range. One listing is a set of three, the only set above two.
What colours do they come in?
Ruby is the colour named most often, in five titles. Cranberry, pink, yellow and opaline each appear only once or twice.
Beyond flat colour, two listings describe Bohemian glass, one as overlay and one as flash. Some titles say nothing more than "glass".
How old are antique mantel lustres?
The form was a standard chimneypiece ornament from the late 18th century and was made through the 19th. In this archive, "19th Century" is the commonest date entry, used six times.
Only seven listings carry a clean year, and those run from 1860 to 1910. Victorian and Regency are used as period labels rather than dates.
Are there metal lustres as well as glass?
Yes. Five of the twenty-one listings are gilt-brass, gilt-metal, bronze or ormolu candlesticks and candelabra hung with the same cut glass drops.
Those metal-bodied pieces account for the top of the range. Glass appears in thirteen of the titles, so it remains the body you'll meet most.
Which makers made mantel lustres?
No maker's name appears anywhere in this category on Sellingantiques. Across twenty-one listings there are no marks, signatures, registration numbers or attributions recorded.
What titles do carry instead is origin as style: Bohemian twice, French twice. Those describe a look and a tradition, not a named glasshouse.
Why is the spelling different between listings?
Dealers write it both ways. Titles in this category carry "lustres" and "lusters", "mantle" and "mantel", and one reads "Cranbury" for cranberry.
They all describe the same object. Searching a single spelling will miss part of what's listed.