Light up with cannabis

I am back home from a successful trip. Long, arduous and fruitful. Maybe more on the trip later.

Like two ships passing in the night, Leslie has her own show in Las Vegas and the cat was a bit out of sorts about spending so much time alone.

I think we have it all worked out now but when I got home he let me know in no uncertain terms that he wasn't real pleased.

I got an interesting call tonight. A woman in Arizona, married to a very successful performer that I will not publicly name, found out about a lamp I own and gave me a call.

If you have been to my shop you might have seen one of my prized possessions, the early twentieth century Handel lamp with the marijuana leaves and encircling smoke tendrils.

People have been trying to buy this lamp off of me for years and I just don't ever feel like parting with it.

It is probably the earliest decorative graphic depiction of marijuana I have ever seen. Founded in Connecticut in 1876, Handel produced art nouveau lamps for several decades, before art deco and moderne sent the movement for a loop and into an eventual death spiral, with Handel finally closing its doors for good in 1936.

My shade is signed Handel Co.with an R and numbered #2750. I presume and estimate that it was made in the teens. And don't try to tell me that it is an aurelia or some other plant. Take my word for it, I happen to know what a pot leaf looks like. Kid knows his weed.

In any case, I got to talking to this nice lady and it turns out she wasn't trying to buy my lamp.

She actually has one of her own and her brother in law wants to buy it and she was wondering what it was worth?

I told her  it would have to be a whole bunch of money and she agreed with me. I think that we are both going to keep our reefer lamps. You aesthetically inclined viper heads will have to find your own.

She kindly sent me a picture of her own beautiful shade. Very nice.

I had never figured that my lamp was a lone orphan but I had never seen another in the last twenty years. I decided to google Handel and the shape number. Lo and behold, a third. A 10" version (mine is 12") that had been unfortunately cracked somewhere along the way was sold on ebay in 2013. So maybe there are a bunch of them hiding under wraps out there in various dens of iniquity.

Now pot has been used by humans for a very long time. It has been found in a shaman's grave in China that dates back 2700 years.  Traces of cannabis are said to have been found in Shakespeare's clay pipes and good Queen Victoria is said to have used it for feminine cramping.

But you rarely see it used in decorative motifs and that is what makes these old lampshades so special.  Something to light up your life.