HELP w/New Hartland Fox, Aparicio and Banks Lamp Discoveries!
 

Hi Gang:

I assume most of you are familiar with the Mickey Mantle Hartland lamp. See below

As an advanced Hartland collector I am always looking for ANYTHING Hartland related. About eight years ago I saw a Nellie Fox lamp on ebay. I won it. I assumed this was a homemade job done by a White Sox fan in his basement. It was different in that the Fox statue was not painted gold like the Mantle. However the wood base was the same as was the actual lamp part as well. It came with an odd looking shade.

Years go by and I found and acquired an Aparicio lamp from a collector in Chicago that appeared to be just like my Fox lamp. This time without a lampshade. Figured again the guy in his basement made the Looie lamp too.

Fast forward to earlier this year. A long time major Chicago collector and his wife's collection were auctioned off in three or four auctions over multiple weeks. People flew in from all over the country to bid on the massive amount of stuff!

Well, surprise surprise, in his collection were a Fox as well as an Ernie Banks lamp that were EXACTLY like my Fox and Aparicio lamps!!! These lamps did have lampshades that were different than the one I had.

So, to my mind no more homemade in the basement. I now have two exactly alike Fox lamps, shown side by side below.

Since, I have spoken to a few Chicago area collectors and one recalls seeing these in a store and/or advertised around the time of the 1959 World Series in which the White Sox played the Dodgers.

I have been unable to find out any information on these three lamps.

Does anyone else out there have any of these? Seen them, or have any information in the way of ads etc. that show the lamps? HOPE SO! If so, please share.

Thanks in advance for any help that can be provided.

Fred

Fred, Sorry I don't know anything about these lamps but as a woodworker to me they look to be homemade. Maybe the guy bought the lamps with shades from a store back then like Woolworths or a dime store and then got the Hartlands and just glued them to the base. Maybe to make some money on the side or as a hobby to sell to friends or even to keep in his collection. Hard to speculate, but just my thought on it. They don't look to be like a mass produced item with the Hartlands on them. The lamps might be but even the wood base looks to be homemade. Good luck with your search on finding the answer you need. Neat item.

Well, to me, the Wood Bases look very consistent with the Mickey Mantle Base.... just square instead of rectangular. These new examples could go either way, but it would really help to see the undersides of the bases.

If the Banks/Aparicio/Fox Statues are glued to the wood bases, I would also surmise they are home-made. But if they are screwed on from the underside (in similar fashion to the Mantle), then I'd say there is a good chance they are authentic to the period.

Fred, can you post some photos of the under-sides (including the Mantle?) That would be tremendously helpful. Would love for these to be authentic... What an exciting discovery it would be to a segment where it seemed we'd seen it all.

Hey Mark:

I agree that the bases are similar to the Mantle. As are the lamp parts same stem etc.

The statues are not glued on but attached from the bottom. I can see two small what appear to be brads/nails under Aparicio's foot and a small brad coming through the purple base on the Aparicio.

As for under the base, they are all covered with felt. See below.

The Aparicio has green felt with a hole cut for the lamp, while the Banks and both Fox's are completely covered with a red felt.

I need to find an ad or something showing that these were sold in the Chicago area late in 1959. Can anyone help?

Once I found the second Fox that pretty much clinched for me these were not home made.

Super cool, Fred. I don’t collect Hartlands and , unfortunately, have nothing to add to the conversation. That said, new discoveries are one thing that keep us collectors “going”! Good luck with your detective work!

Good luck finding the definitive proof, Fred.

These do appear to be "of the era", based on the identical lamp parts and vintage felt bottoms. The big remaining question is whether these were sold commercially.

It's also quite possible that these were prototypes made by Hartland (which never made it to market). Similar to the Gibbs Conner pieces that surfaced a few years back.

Be sure to let us know if you find any more info!

They have the look of being homemade, I wonder if these were maybe made for a bar or restaurant in the Chicago area.

Hartland Lamps
 

I do think it is possible Hartland could have produced or planned to produce these additional lamps. Remember that Hartland produced a number of different lamps for their Western figures including Roy Rogers, Matt Dillon, Lone Ranger and I believe Thunderbird. These have a somewhat homemade look to them; certainly not as exacting as the plastic figures, themselves.

Fred - I would get my hands on any 1959 Chicago newspaper sports sections you can find. In the vintage SF papers I have (early Opening Days, 1962 WS, etc.), I often see ads for memorabilia of the day, being sold anywhere from Woolworth's to Macy's.

I found this info on a site


"Additionally, 11 of the figurines (Aaron, Banks, Berra, Fox, Mantle, Mathews, Mays, Minor Leaguer with white base, Musial, Ruth and Spahn) were made with magnets attached to the bottom of each foot which were then accompanied by a small black metal plate that would serve as the base for which the magnets would adhere. The presence of a small hole was intended to allow a nail or screw to be used to then fasten the plate to another surface."


^^^Could this be your statues....maybe they were made to be made into other things like lamps, mantle clocks, etc

https://www.cardboardconnection.com/...land-figurines

Notice Aparicio is not on the list and he is the only lamp with a toeplate showing.

Not the case, unfortunately. The Magnets on the shoe-bottoms are quite obvious, and have nothing to do with these particular figures (with regard to the way they are adhered to the wood bases).

Good link though!