We’ve all probably seen this before, but it’s still rather sad every time you see it; some person takes a historic or unique light fixture, guts the insides, “restores” it, and then tries to sell it for a ridiculous sum of money, thinking that all the damage they did somehow makes it more valuable.

Case in point:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-Art-Deco-Fluorescent-Drop-Light-Fixture-Converted-to-LED-Pool-Table-Office/292452306295?hash=item4417840d77:g:lQkAAOSwBV5ahzAU

Or this
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-GENERAL-ELECTRIC-GE-LUMINOUS-Electric-Street-Light-ARC-LAMP/284009886212?hash=item42204ef204:g:6IoAAOSwy45fSZGe

Yep...there's a former LG member who does that and sells them on eBay. When I see the listings...even if its something I'd like, I just pass them by.

We’ve all probably seen this before, but it’s still rather sad every time you see it; some person takes a historic or unique light fixture, guts the insides, “restores” it, and then tries to sell it for a ridiculous sum of money, thinking that all the damage they did somehow makes it more valuable.

Case in point:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/VTG-Art-Deco-Fluorescent-Drop-Light-Fixture-Converted-to-LED-Pool-Table-Office/292452306295?hash=item4417840d77:g:lQkAAOSwBV5ahzAU

Or this
https://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-GENERAL-ELECTRIC-GE-LUMINOUS-Electric-Street-Light-ARC-LAMP/284009886212?hash=item42204ef204:g:6IoAAOSwy45fSZGe

The first one, the half-piper, was an unnecessary mod. We can still obtain good ballasts, lamps to keep that fixture original. The $500 price is way too high for basically a sheet metal shell missing all of the original good stuff like lampholders and tombstones.

The GE arc lamp would have required basically unobtanium parts/resources to restore, and really doesn't look any worse when assembled. I almost think the asking price is reasonable, despite it's condition. Good luck finding an actual functioning version of this lamp.

The 'half piper' has already been talked about in the 'BLUCK' thread. 

Worse still are those people who pay the ridiculous prices for that crap. It just encourages doing more

I saw a Revere Cat-Eye flood at an antique mall that had been "Restored"  They removed the ballast and housing, sanded and polished the exterior of the housing , drilled a hole in the side for a toggle switch , installed it on a 4' pole with casters on the base and put an LED R-30 flood bulb in it. All for the princely sum of $800 !!

I saw a Revere Cat-Eye flood at an antique mall that had been "Restored", drilled a hole in the side for a toggle switch

UNFORGIVABLE. I'm not such a stickler for the hidden bits to be accurate, but when the appearance or exterior are irreversibly modified...

EXACTLY !! When I saw the outside polished like chrome and the HOLE DRILLED IN THE SIDE I almost cried !  I've been trying to find a Cat-Eye flood for years .

EXACTLY !! When I saw the outside polished like chrome and the HOLE DRILLED IN THE SIDE I almost cried !  I've been trying to find a Cat-Eye flood for years .

Maybe someday a bunch of CatEyes will come up on eBay for reasonable price/shipping. I don't have the room for larger fixtures, but it is a must have fixture for me, I could make room (aka hide it from my wife)!

Honestly the carbon arc one isn't too bad considering that they didn't make huge unnecessary changes to it on the exterior, and it seems like they mostly kept it original, just adding in the lamp cord and socket. Personally if I had one of those, I would stick a metal halide lamp in it with an electronic ballast, but each to their own. I still wouldn't pay $800 for it though.

One could make an offer on the carbon arc lamp.

I'd be tempted to buy it, honestly...it's not very expensive. Think about how expensive some custom or high end light fixtures are.

Yeah unless a fixture is NOS or in great conditon I'm open to modifying the interior within reason (no drilling etc) but when people drill holes in things like traffic signals it annoys me.

The arc light seems to be the better mod, although I'd personally prefer a better socket mounting (machined custom bracket etc) and probably a mogul base. If I had it, I'd probably try to figure out a way to install a bracket using the existing mounts to convert it to HID. I mean HID would probably be more accurate to a arc lamp anyway.

If the Cat's Eye was 50 bucks or something I'd probably be willing to get it, convert it back to HID, fill in the hole and then paint in silver.