W tube lit for the first time, end closeup

I'm sure many of you remember the W tube fitting and pair of tubes that was given to me end of 2016, since that day I had never really lit the fitting until a few days ago. Of course it being so old was naturally a concern, it dates to 1968. More importantly, was the Quickstart setup going to be too harsh for such a fragile lamp? It was a risk I had to take.

Thankfully it struck up first time and ran very quietly, suggesting its had next to no use in the time its been around. The W tube seemed unfazed by the quickstart ballast, no blackening was observed on the cathodes. Overall its an incredibly bright fitting, its easily as bright as a regular 4' T12 tube. The most interesting and beautiful part of the tube by far is the clear ends, allowing a unrestricted view of the blue arc inside and the brighter innards of the phosphor coating. I tried to capture this stunning discharge effect, which I managed to pull of quite successful.