Can someone can point me towards a supplier of good Tilley shades. I am restoring a Tilley TL136 and although I have the 182 globe, I would like to finish it off with a nice shade. I think that they had either a pleated plastic one or even opaque painted glass. I know that originals are very hard to come by, and I have heard some not so good reports about some of the repro shades avaiable (Moncrieff etc). Any feedback will be very much appreciated. A genuine original would be even more appreciated Merry Christmas - Steve.
Steve, You can get those pleated plastic shades on eBay. They are NOS but don't come with the frame. If you fancy making a frame you can find details here Photos needed of a collapsible parchment shade for Tilley TL120A Have a good Christmas, Sid.
Hi Shed-Man I can only speak from personal experience but I recently purchased a "ChampagneTopHat-700181c" glass shade from J Moncrieff at £28.00 + p&p for my late TL106. It is a good fit, looks good and the diffused effect when lit is very pleasant. Regards and Merry Christmas, Jeremy
Hi Steve, as far as I know those Moncrief shades are pretty good. If you remember Nigel had one fitted to a table lamp at Ashover. On the post Ashover Festival Of Light if you look at his display the one on the right was the champagne coloured one not sure whether the other is original or not. Having seen those champagne ones in person I have to say that they look very nice. The pictures on ebay don't do them justice. All of this is from what I have seen or been told and I have no personal experience using one. Good luck
Hi Jeremy and Matthew, Thanks for the feedback re: Moncrieff's "champagne" shade . I am now in a dilema as to whether to try the traditional plastic pleated job or go for a glass shade . I do not have a lot of confidence in the pleated plastic shade for a real "User" lamp, but then I speak from little experience (as usual } Also, if I get a plastic pleated shade, does the shade have to be threaded onto the wire hoops before soldering them? If so that is a bit risky from a melting prospect Any more idea or comments folks Thanks - Steve.
Thanks Stephan, So I assume that the shade has split holes that clip onto the wire hoops? If this is the case, I can see why it has been posted that you need "at least three hands to thread it on" Many thanks friend - Steve.
If i was you Steve, i'd just keep a look out for an original Tilley shade, the copies will only decrease in value whereas the originals can only increase, they turn up on Ebay quite often.....Paul
Yes, Steve, the holes are rather grooves that clip on the rings as you guessed The shade is hold in place by the tension of rubber bands that are placed through little holes at the upper and lower end of the plastic.
The plastic, pleated shade only ever came on the TL120 series so it wouldn't be 'correct' on anything else. The ones available from hootflipflopandfart are replacement shades only - as someone said, there are no support rings with them so you'd have to make them (as well as growing another arm to fit it together). Mine's a Tilley original - no rubber bands needed to hold it together. I've also got a modern Moncrieff reproduction. It's OK but it's got a longer skirt at the bottom and IMHO, it doesn't look right on one of the shorter stemmed table lamps - OK on the long stemmed ones though. A proper shade of any description does make a hell of a difference to any table lamp, though - they were never meant to run without one. If it were me, in the short term I'd get a Moncrieff one which are (relatively) cheap 'n' cheerful but keep an eye out for a real one, or one of the earlier reproductions. Yer pays yer money...
I'm not sure where John Ganon gets this shade from: http://www.oillamps.com.au/Kero.html But you could send him an email...
Hi Tony, Thanks for that link, very useful site if you live in Oz, but shipping costs would make it very expensive for me in UK. The shade looks good though. Would be nice if they were made in UK! Hi David, Thank you for your info and advice. I will probably go down that route, Moncrieff and then just wait. Regards to all - Steve.
Difficult to be sure but I shouldn't be surprised if they were - they look like an earlier Moncrieff effort...
Thanks Jeremy, Looks good on the TL10 size lamp, but as David says, it is asthetically a bit too deep for the shorter TL136. But then if push comes to shove! may go for it. Thanks - Steve.
Steve, I know it's a bit late but I have been meaning to do this for you and tonight the lamps looked like they wanted to do a cat walk to show of their shades. Anyway... These are both 136's but one has a 7" vap and the other a 5". I don't know what should be fitted but you can choose what looks best. The first shows original top hats fitted with both vaps, the second is the 5" with another original shade and the third is with the 7". Then the final two show off a couple of vitreosil shades on the 5". Mmm, not sure those last two look much good definitely not the smaller of the two. I thought this may help you choose a shade for your lamp. Best regards Matt.
According to Jim Dick's book, Tilley quoted the height of the TL136 as 16.5 inches tall. Without having a lamp handy for measuring, I'd be guessing that's the height with the 606 vapouriser fitted.
The vaporiser on all the TL106/136 models is the shorter 606. People did sometimes replace them with the 169 to raise the light and of course they work fine either way. So correct is the 606 but really it is about what pleases you best. Only the late 40s pork Pie table lamps were supplied with that glass shade the 1950s models had teh parchment type. In fact the pork pie was sold with a globe and without a shade or with shade but without globe. It was only sold with both and insect shields as an export model. ::Neil::
Hi Neil, Thank you for clearing up that point. I will try it with both 606 and 169 vaps and see what suits me best. However, a parchment shade is very hard to find , so I will start with a glass top-hat, and a globe, and pretend that I am in the tropics and need an insect screen All the best for 2013 - Steve.
Regarding a fabric shade frame sitting on a TL14 Gallery. Does the frame hoop sit on the outer rim of the gallery or on the 3 screws for holding the globe? The crux for me is: there is no evidence of there ever being screws in my gallery, which would suggest it had an opal shade from new, in the TL13 style. The appeal of the fabric shade, however, is alluring...... Alec.
