17 Rare Antique Lamps Worth Money (Identification & Values) (2024)

There’s no doubt that electricity has benefited us all to a great extent. But in the world of antiques, you will still find some crazy peeps who want a rare, hundred-year-old oil lamp for a corner of their room! And they’re ready to spend thousands of dollars on it!

It may sound wild, but that’s the beauty of antiques; even a flicker of light is a treasure of history and art. So today, I’m here to introduce you to some of the most unique, rare, and valuable lamps you wouldn’t want to miss out on!

Key Features Of a Rare Antique Lamp

Antique lamps are undoubtedly different from the ones we see today. Not only did they function differently, but they also had unique designs and the following features, making them rare!

• Bodies made of expensive materials (like brass, bronze, marble, porcelain, unique stones, etc.)
• Lamp shades with rare glass styles (such as slag glass, reverse painting, and overlay designs)
• Hand Cut and hand-blown glass for the shades
• The original power source of the lamp
• Limited edition collections from eminent brands (like Handel, Tiffany, Hubbard, etc.)
• Unique patterns (such as dragonfly, cherubs, swan face, Zeus face, Chinese dragon, etc.)

Since many antique lamps may not be functional, the owners may electrify them or rewire the old electric lamps.

17 Most Valuable Vintage Lamps Worth Money: Key Features & Worth

Let’s check out these 17 most valuable and rarest antique lamps you must consider adding to your collection!

1. Rare Tiffany Dragonfly Oil Lamp

This 1880s antique oil table lamp is a pure reflection of art! On the top, you’ll see a pretty shade displaying a unique, aesthetic green-blue glass. Below it, you will see a round mosaic body featuring carved, raised, ornate dragonfly patterns.

Important Features to Look For:

• 7 dragonflies with overlapping wings carved near the edge of the shade
• Shade supported by four curved stands
• Wound burner system
• Brand’s mark on the bottom

2. Victorian Oil Kerosene Banquet Parlor Gone With The Wind Lamp

This stunning Victorian-style Lamp looks highly lavish with a carved brass body and globe-shaped shade. The shade is made of white stained glass shade and is decorated with colorful enameled floral patterns and gilt.

Important Features to Look For:

• Stunning scrollwork on the round oil reservoir below the shade and the raised square stand
• “Macbeth # 9 Pearl Glass” marked on the old chimney
• Vibrant hand-painted floral motifs on the shade

3. Antique Oil Kerosene Dresden Gwtw Cherub Slag Glass Lamp

Coming from the late 19th and early 20th-century era, this artistic lamp has a unique shade with oval and round glass pieces fitted into an ornate openwork metal frame. Its porcelain body displays three cherubs holding the oil bowl on their backs. You will also see vibrant flowers and leaf motifs.

Important Identification Features:

• Sitzendorf Porcelain oil font
• Three-layer slag glass shade
• Gilded burner collar

Always make sure if an antique oil lamp has been electrified or not. Electrifying oil lamps make them functional.

4. Moorish Floor & Table Lamps Set

With its rustic brass bodies, precious stonework, and intricate design, this antique lamp set, designed by Moorish, will make your collection luxurious. This set looks rare because it’s not just the shade that emits light, but the whole body does!

Unique Features to Spot:

• A 1.8 m (approx.) tall floor lamp and two identical table lamps
• Fine open brass work with precious jewels
• Hanging ornament pieces attached to the shades’ rims
• One big bulb socket for shade and one small socket for the body in table lamps
• One big socket for shade & four small sockets in the floor lamp

5. Sevres Porcelain Art Nouveau French Bronze Kerosene Lamp

Are you a fan of French pottery? Then you’ll love this Baroque-style lamp featuring a globe-shaped glass shade and ceramic body. What makes it more attractive is the hand-painted floral pattern on the shade and bowl and the intricate carving on the burner plate and foot.

Important Features to Look For:

• Solid bronze foot with scrollwork
• Enamel floral art on the ceramic font
• Gilding on the art on shade and body
• Sevres Logos and artist signs inside the shade & the base

6. Rare Handel Overlay Lamp

This rare Handel lamp features a unique shade with an overlay metal framework over glass panels. Its tree pedestal with minimal carving is curved into a ruffled base, and under the shade, you’ll see a triple socket system.

Key Identification Features:

• Patent no. carved on the shade, Brand name “HANDEL” engraved on top rim and bottom
• Socket power engraved on the sockets
• Nine glass panels under a palm field overlay and green tinted glass near the edges under a wavy overlay design

7. Antique Longwy Porcelain Oil Font Lamp

This lamp is sure to grab your eye with its heavy square-shaped brass ormolu shade adorned with colorful multifaceted glass jewels. Below the shade, you will see a huge longwy porcelain oil font with colored scrollwork patterns supported by a legged metal base.

Important Features to Look For:

• Ornate design and blue, lime green, white, and black jewels on the ormolu shade
• Square metal foot featuring four Sphinx at the corners
• Enameled patterns on the porcelain lamp bowl

8. Chinese Famille Verte Enamel Landscape Vase Lamp

This lamp is a perfect blend of ancient pottery and electric technology! It’s a gorgeous antique Chinese Famille Verte Vase from the Kangxi Period, which is transformed into an electric lamp. It’s mounted on a metal gilt bronze foot.

Notable Features to Look For:

• Vibrant Famille rose enamel colors
• Blue Kangxi period mark on the vase base
• Restorable as a Vase

9. Stunning Antique Blue Dragon Huge Gone With Wind Oil Lamp C1860

Another GWTW oil lamp dating back to 1860, this lamp can be spotted with its two blue glass globes with Chinese dragon motifs. Apart from the shade and font, the body is made of heavy ormolu metal. You will also see the detailed carving on the base stand with four curved legs.

Important Features to Look For:

• Singed on the inside of the shade
• The dragon motif is etched in the glass and painted
• Carved metal plate on oil font’s top

10. European Three-Light Nautilus Shell Table Lamp

Want a rustic and rare table lamp for your desk? This sleek lamp with three shades in the shape of Nautilus shells is the perfect choice. It also features a sleek tubular foot and bronze base with minimal carving, a round switch, and a cord.

Important Features to Look For:

• Bronze Base in the shape of three leaves (around 7 inches long)
• Beautiful patina on the bronze pedestal and base

11. Grand Tour Souvenir Greco Rosso Antico Swan Oil Lamp

Coming from the early 1800s, this Greco-Roman style oil lamp carved into the shape of a swan and boar’s head is a Grand Tour Souvenir to look out for. What makes it a rare antique is its dark red stone (Rosso Antico) body and ornate carvings.

Important Features to Look For:

• Swan’s neck shaped as the handle, and Boar’s head carved on the opposite side
• Greek God Zeus’s face engraved on the lid
• Base carved into the shape of a serpent around swan’s feet
• Polished & smooth surface with visible veining inside the lamp

12. Pruss Miners Frog Oil Iron Cast Lantern

Known for being used in Peruvian gold mines, this antique lantern displays a simple cast iron body with a covered hinged lid and a rope wick spout. You will also spot a wick pick chained to the hanger hook.

Notable Features to Spot:

• A metal plate with glück auf marking near the hook
• Brand mark engraved at the bottom
• Solid metal constructed with a rough surface

13. Red Glass Astral Sinumbra Solar Oil Lamp

This rare Sinumbra-style oil lamp is surely to grab your attention with its unique body made of precious materials like bronze, white marble, and red glass. While its pedestal has a beautiful overlay-cut glass column design, you’ll also see a hand-cut globe-shaped glass shade.

Identifying Features to Spot:

• Cranberry red glass pedestal on a thick stair-like square bronze & white marble base
• Lamp bowl (font) made of clear glass
• Crystal prisms hanging to a brass ring around the oil font

14. French Wrought Iron Piano Lamp By Daun

The beauty of this rare early 20th Century Art Deco lamp features lies in its gorgeous glass shade tinted in yellow and green, designed by Daum. You will also see a sleek curved wrought iron body with spiral ends attached to a flat leaf-shaped base.

Special Features:

• Intricate lining carved on the body and lampshade head
• Daum Nancy signed on the shade
• Deep brown patina on the iron body
• Visible wire assembly

15. Antique Bradley Hubbard Hanging Country Porch Oil Lamp

This hanging porch oil lamp will ooze country-style vibes into your home! Made of a solid metal body, this lantern has a stable hanging structure made of iron connected to the oil font passing through the sconce tin shade.

Valuable Features to Spot:

• Pressed quilted pillow pattern on the shade
• The brand name marked on the top of the oil font or at the base
• Openwork metal base
• Detailed carving on the nickel-plated metal oil font

16. Handel Era Reverse Painted Lamp

Adding to your rare collection, this beautiful table lamp from the Handel and Bradley Hubbard era features a slag glass shade and body, making it look like marble or natural stone. And it costs around a thousand dollars for its reverse painting style!

Rare Features to Spot:

• Pedestal with curved reverse-painted slag glass under filigree overlay metal design
• 8 identical reverse-painted slag glass panels on the shade
• A pull-chain switch made of brass

17. Hanging Chinese Goddess Mineral Oil Rain Lamp

This unique rain lamp with a light sensor from the 1970s is a stunning addition to your collection. You can easily spot it with its stunning Chinese Goddess figure inside the wire cage and an oil-finish metal body connected with metal pipes.

Rare Features to Spot:

• Rewired with motion sensor, colored lighting with control panel
• Original Craquelure finish on the lower and upper bowl
• Brand name & Patent No. plate and the ‘Caution’ plate on the lower bowl
• Resin leaves decoration in the lower bowl

Lamps are one of the most sought-after antiques in the market today. And this list is a treasure for anyone waiting and wanting to pick a fancy, rare lamp. But if you want to learn more about identifying ‘antique lamps’ and ‘oil lamps,’ my guides will help you with that too!