Nautical Lamps

If there was ever a fan of nautical lamps , it was my dear old grandfather. He had nautical floor lamps Made out of broken pieces of driftwood or ships wheels, lighthouse lamps on his table sold in little tourist shops in coastal cities, and even authentic hurricane lamps from on board some of the last schooners to be decommissioned at the end of the age of sail. When you went to his house it would take you away on a flight of imagination. It was almost like being at the bottom of the sea. There was fishing net strung from the ceiling, tangled blocks and tackle everywhere, and all sorts of nautical souvenirs, some of them real and some of them imitation. He did not seem to care that much. For him, it was not the authenticity so much as the ambiance that was important. He wanted things that really gave him the feel of being in the ocean, not necessarily stuff that was authentic.

The funny thing was that some of his more authentic nautical lamps would actually be worth something. Antique ships lights are in high demand from collectors. There has never been more nostalgia for an age than there is for the age of sail. Between would-be pirates, rich day sailors, surfers, and all the other beach bums and ocean bums, there is a huge market among collectors for nautical lamps, compasses, charts, and other collectibles.

If my grandpa cared, he did not show it. His nautical lamps were strewn all over the place, regardless of their value. Sometimes you’d see a precious antique lying neglected in dusty in the corner behind a few cheap lighthouse lamps. This used to irritate my sister to no end. You see, she was an amateur antique collector, and valued those sorts of things. When she would tell him how much this or that piece was worth, he would just scoff and say something sarcastic to her. It was clear that he did not care.

Since he passed away, his nautical lamps have disappeared. Some of them have been sold off, others inherited by this or that relative, and a few remain unaccounted for. I managed to get ahold of one when we were dividing up the estate. It is an authentic lighthouse lamp that once lighted a New England lighthouse about 150 years ago. God knows how he got it. Every now and then, I light the lamp and look at it out of the corner of my eye, thinking of my grandfather