Osram vacuum squirrel cage lamp, with sleeve.

I picked this up today from an antique fair of all places. It was on a table full of other bits and pieces, in a old but very good condition sleeve. I looked into it to see this pip, and immediately knew it was something I needed to get.

Getting back home, I was able to inspect it closer, and holy hell is this lamp beautiful. The etch is massive, it was also very faint so I filed down and rubbed some pencil lead into it which brought out its detail very well.

I've held it up to my screen to further show the detail. Its believed to date to between 1911 and 1913, meaning this will be my oldest working lamp, indeed the oldest item I have in the collection! Since its 220v though, it will not be lit without being on a variac, something this old needs to be brought up to light slowly rather than quickly, the shock of having power would literally kill it.