Topic: More glass bricks/pavement lights/ashtrays?

[Margi]

Good morning all
I have some more items that were sold to me as ashtrays but I would like them to be wall bricks/pavement lights one of them in particular I have a huge suspicion is definately a wall light as it is embossed with Lumax and I can see from research that Lumax is a lighting manufacturer/distributor.  The dark green one I really am not sure.  One of them you may recognise from a previous topic.  Please could you comment as item 1, 2 and 3.

Item 1 previously discussed 13.5x13.5xapprox5.5cm with prism interior mint/aqua colour
Item 2 embossed with Lumax I have two of these just over 11x11cm and height 6cm clear but with a very slight tinge of green
Item 3 no markings 11x11x3.5cm dark green with sloping interior and double band.

Many thanks

[Frank]

The Lumax looks a bit to massive production for any of the various and relatively young lighting companies using Lumax as a name/trademark today. It could still be an promotional ashtray. Was used by Ceag Limited (UK) in 1950/60s (Car lighting). Also used in US, France and Germany and is a name that could have been in use for a long time although it does not yet figure in my lighting maker database. Signs of wear? Bigger images might help.


The green thing looks a bit like a counter tray but odd it lacks a name and has the central ridges.

[Margi]

I hope these are better pictures of the lumax one.  I have pictured the one with lots of wear on but the other shows hardly any.

[Margi]

Sorry I also meant to ask what is a counter tray.  I researched it but all I can find is something to do with beverages which makes no sense to me.

[Bernard C]

Try searching on "glass change tray" or "glass change advertising tray".   There are usually some on offer.

Is there a slot in the middle that would hold a menu card?   In which case it could be a dual function menu card holder and ashtray, like the Dunhill Prong Ashtray, see here.

Bernard C. 

[Margi]

Hi no there is no where for the menu to go, the band in the middle would not hold a hair never mind anything else.  I will go check out the change holder that is more feasible.

[Frank]

The rim around the bottom of the Lumax is odd for an ash tray although the wear is consistent with such a use. It is really too thick to be a lighting component so I would tend to stick with advertising ashtray.

[Sklounion]

I would like them to be wall bricks/pavement lights one of them in particular I have a huge suspicion is definately a wall light as it is embossed with Lumax

Margi,

IMO, you are very near the mark with the Lumax items, but suspect they are pavement lights rather than wall lights or ashtrays. The flange/rand would allow these to be pushed into a steel (or more likely cast-iron) frame, with a thin layer of cement/grout, the flange actually sitting on grout and within the frame. Frame would then be put in position, flanged, flat side up,(ie, pedestrian friendly surface), permitting light to pass from trottoir vers cellier. Allegedly, these were designed in 1930 by the French and Swiss architect-designers, Charlotte Perriand (Fr) and Le Corbusier (Ch) in 1930, so architectural use is more than possible, and likely to have been of contemporary french manufacture.

[ian.macky]

My guess is that two of these are not pavement lights since they do not have any sort of ridges on the sides.  The modern sort of pavement light (post-1900 or so) were set in concrete instead of iron frames, and to aid adhesion and to keep them from being able to slip out of their sockets, they have ridges in the glass, much like Isorex insulators have interior ridges where they are cemented.  Here is a pic of three typical pavement light lenses:



Modern glass wall blocks have lips at the edges and are not completely smooth either for the same reasons.  Your Lumax block does have a small ridge, and  4" square is about right for pavement lights.  It has a clean sort of modern look like the post-1940s UK style.  The name Lumax is of course a large hint that it's meant to transmit light somewhere, somehow.

Take a look at  Watchrod's pavement light here.

--ian

[ian.macky]

The rim around the bottom of the Lumax is odd for an ash tray although the wear is consistent with such a use. It is really too thick to be a lighting component so I would tend to stick with advertising ashtray.

My experience with pavement lights is that the leftover ones tend to end up to people's desks are paperweights, and one like this would be perfect for storing paperclips or loose change etc-- so they tend to see wear patterns different from those that actually saw service.

I've bought them as "ink wells" before, and various other things, but mostly "paperweights".  Your worn Lumax seems to have more wear inside that mere paperclips would cause, but that's still my guess.  But, 50 or more years of loose change or pens or souvenir vacation pebbles might do it-- time will wear anything down.

How thick is the "bottom" of the Lumax?  To be a pavement light, it would have to be heavy.

--ian