Very Art Deco ! late 1920s through 1930s
When was the courtroom built - that's a start.

They may be caste aluminum

Can't help you on price.

Streamline Art Moderne subset of Deco. Wow.
Now, if you had a pair it would be amazing..
Casey

Yeah, the term "Art Deco" wasn't coined until the 1960s, so if it helps you to understand the history of American design to consider this a 'subset' of art deco, I guess that's okay.

A lot of dealers like to call the late 1930's - early 1940s "Art Modern", while I like to think of "Art Modern" as the American interpretation of "Art Moderne", and the German or central European expressions of what we call Art Deco.

Terminology aside, I would place this in the early 1930s, or what I like to think of as Hollywood Deco. This type of shell motif was very popular from 1932-1936. The triple banding was another motif that was common at the time. The general torch feeling -that seems almost neoclassical, I usually associate with later in that time range.

If it is unmarked, you would need an expert in Art Deco or lighting to guess a maker.

Well, what was all that blither?

This post was edited by zorroslw on Fri, Dec 26, 14 at 14:27

Thank you all very much for the input. A few more clues: the Court House had a fire in 1929 and renovated afterwards. The glass shade appears to have originally been painted silver inside and out. Afterwards the outside was painted gold. The rear of some of the mounting plates have an orange Electric Fabrication Union Label with the No. 046483 then followed by 02, 07 and such. I have eight of these sconces, 7 of which are in good shape. The metal is aluminum. Still trying to determine date, make style # and an idea of a value one them. At that point I can decide weather to strip the paint and rewire for sale or just sell them in the condition that they are. Are there other websites available to assist in identifying lighting items? Thanks in advance for additional thoughts.

It's beautiful--and you have eight!!

The eBay community has a 'collectibles and art' forum where you can ask questions. You can also search their current and recently sold listings for trending values.

Here is a link that might be useful: collectibles and art

Noticed you posted message over on eBay. Interesting to find out what the "experts" ~ LOL ~ have to say.

Leanne215, it looks as if your picture didn't attach to your posting on the eBay forum. I doubt that you'll get many replies without a pic.

I just remembered the 'WavyGlass' Old House Forums site, where they have a swap meet section--you might even find a buyer there.

Here is a link that might be useful: WavyGlass.org

Thanks to all for the help. Lights have been identified as: Curtis Lighting, Chicago Il, Golden Armor X-ray Art Deco, mercury glass shades, found in Curtis Modern Luminaires, printed 1937, c/o archives.org. The "Urna" , cat #1548, posted on page EC35. X-ray reflector, finished bronzed aluminum support. finished satin aluminum. Any ideas out there on what they may be worth, whether me re-finishing, re-wiring may be worth the trouble. I do have eight with one missing a part and chipped. Thanks in advance.

Posted by Leanne215 "... found in Curtis Modern Luminaires, printed 1937..."

It is rewarding to hear that my guesstimate was correct. I was afraid to actually say 1937-1939, but often commercial styles are a little behind the common styles.

The first question about rewiring them is who and where you might be selling them to? Also, how good are you at doing that kind of work, which you seem a bit shy to perform.

Take the two worst pieces (in tact not broken shades) dirtyest, dented, etc. and remove the paint, buff, and rewire to see how long it takes, and adjust the cost of the unfinished pieces accordingly. Consider that your work on the pieces is worth $10 an hour, because it is menial labor (if you were doing clock repair you can charge $45 an hour -otherwise, I could hire a highschool kid to rewire a lamp and remove paint -so that is what the labor is worth, whether I have a snot nosed kid do it or I hire Bill Gates.

Considering where they came from a known historic building (provenance) and you can date them to a catalog:

If I had a high end, fancy shop, in an expensive retail center, frequented by celebrity designers in a city that favors this type of design (say Miami) I would be asking about $350 a peace for these, refurbished.

Since your likely highest paying buyer would be the owner of that shop, you could expect half that, or $175, at most.

Consider it would take about 4 hours to redo, in the state they are in -$40, equals $125.

The value of poor condition ones, major dents, chips, cracks, chipped or broken shade of any kind, etc, would be one quarter that price, like $35.

I would clean off the old paint and tarnish, buff with a dremmel and buffing wheel, leave the rewiring for the new owner to decide what type they want, and ask $1,200 for the lot, willing to go down to $800 for the right customer.

This post was edited by Lilylore on Wed, Dec 31, 14 at 12:09

Lilylore, Thank you for the input and perspective, I appreciate your time to write. I do believe I will go with your approach and see how I progress on a single fixture. My only concern was dealing with the present coatings on the exterior and taking care not to damage the silver nitrate coating on the interior, I think it is something I can handle. Enjoy the New Year.