{"product_id":"vintage-solid-brass-pricket-candle-holders-pair-india-c-1970-2000","title":"Vintage Solid Brass Pricket Candle Holders, Pair, India, c. 1970–2000","description":"\u003ch3\u003eThe Piece\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA pair of solid brass pricket candle holders, each a wide shallow bowl carried on a turned baluster stem over a stepped circular foot, with a sharp central spike standing in the middle of the bowl.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bowls are broad and generously dished, edged all round with a fine applied beaded wire that catches the light against the darker field of the metal. The pricket at the centre is a slim tapered spike rising from a small collar, made to be driven up into the base of a pillar candle so the candle stands without a cup.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe stems are turned in a full baluster, swelling low and drawing in under the bowl, and they meet a domed foot stepped in two tiers with a second band of beading run round the upper step.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe surface is the best part of them. Both are uncleaned and have gone to a deep smoky brown and near black across the bowls, broken by a soft yellow green bloom across the stems and the feet where the metal has oxidised unevenly. It is the mottled, dusty patina that only time gives brass, and it looks considerably more expensive than a polished pair would.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBoth feet are covered underneath in a black felt pad.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eHistory \u0026amp; Provenance\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne foot retains its original gold foil label. The foil is torn across the upper left corner so the company name is lost, but what survives reads clearly: a script Solid Brass, the word CO. below it, and MADE IN INDIA beneath that.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThat label is the piece of evidence worth having, and it does two things. It confirms the metal, which matters on candle holders because a great many are brass plated over a base metal and will not take a polish twice. And it confirms an export origin, because a country of origin in English on an adhesive foil label is a mark applied for a foreign market rather than a domestic one.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eIndian brassware was exported to the American and European giftware trade in very large quantities through the later decades of the last century, and the gold foil adhesive label of this type is the convention of that trade. Earlier brass was stamped or impressed rather than labelled. The felt covered feet belong to the same manufacturing habit.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe form itself is older than the object. A pricket, a spike rather than a socket, is the oldest way of holding a candle and it belongs to ecclesiastical and hall lighting that long predates the domestic candlestick. What is offered here is that traditional form made for modern pillar candles, which is a sensible piece of design rather than a pretence.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNo other mark, stamp or number is present, and that absence gives an outer limit rather than a starting point, so the range below is deliberately left wide.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eProduct Details\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003ctable\u003e\n  \u003ctbody\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eEra\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ec. 1970–2000. Dated from the label and construction. The gold foil adhesive label reading Solid Brass and MADE IN INDIA is the convention of the later twentieth century export giftware trade rather than the stamped or impressed marking of earlier brass, and the factory applied felt foot covering belongs to the same production. No other mark is present, and that absence gives an outer limit only\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMaker\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eUnattributed. The company name on the surviving label is lost where the foil has torn\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eOrigin\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eIndia, per the foil label\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eForm\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003ePricket candle holders. Wide dished bowl with a central spike, turned baluster stem, two tier stepped circular foot. Made for pillar candles\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMaterial\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSolid brass, per the label. Black felt pads to both feet\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDecoration\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eApplied beaded wire to the bowl rim and to the upper step of each foot\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eMarks\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eGold foil label to one foot reading Solid Brass, CO., MADE IN INDIA, torn across the upper left corner\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eQuantity\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eSold as a pair\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eDimensions\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eEach approximately 6 in. across the bowl by 5.5 in. high\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n    \u003ctr\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eCondition\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003ctd\u003eVery good. Both sound and heavy with no dents, splits, cracks or repairs found. Bowls true and the beaded rims complete all round. Both prickets straight, firm and sharp. Stems tight to the feet with no movement. Heavy uncleaned tarnish and verdigris bloom throughout, offered as found so the buyer can polish or keep the patina. Felt pads present on both, worn and dusty. Small variations between the two in the dish of the bowl and the turning of the stem, as hand finishing leaves\u003c\/td\u003e\n\u003c\/tr\u003e\n  \u003c\/tbody\u003e\n\u003c\/table\u003e\n\n\u003ch3\u003eWhy It Belongs in Your Home\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA pricket takes the candle most people already own. Pillar candles are what sit on mantels and dining tables now, and they usually end up on a plate or a slice of wood because nothing holds them properly. These hold them properly, at a height that lets the flame sit above a table setting rather than in the middle of it.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey also have the two things that make candle holders work as objects in their own right, which is weight and a wide foot. Nothing about them feels light, and nothing about them tips.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe patina is the argument for buying them as they are. Dark mottled brass with a green bloom reads as age against oak, walnut, marble, linen and plaster in a way that bright polished brass never does, and a pair gives a mantel or a long table the symmetry a single piece cannot. Polished up they become something else entirely, warm and reflective, and that choice belongs to whoever buys them.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Viridian Eclection","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":67558720176233,"sku":"VE-1763","price":394.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0651\/0093\/9369\/files\/01_e8f1ebba-5d4c-406e-8b20-d3c47a4efa37.jpg?v=1790588183","url":"https:\/\/viridianeclection.com\/products\/vintage-solid-brass-pricket-candle-holders-pair-india-c-1970-2000","provider":"Viridian Eclection","version":"1.0","type":"link"}