I’ve wanted these for years, ever since my ex of more than two decades ago had amassed a few. He worked in building maintenance for a fancy Manhattan building where there were lots of giveaways after estate sales, and he had a good eye. There was a healthy competition between his boss and him on who would get the choice items, but he got some fabulous pieces as evidenced by our living room in 2000.

These were on my wish list for quite some time, but one day I looked at the two plastic lamps of a lower quality and of this general style and realized that they were not “good enough” for our living room.