Listen—we’ve all fallen prey to the sort of lighting lethargy that keeps our hastily-purchased mass market table lamps on our bedside. A fluorescent task lamp might still hover over the couch, a garish flush mount shedding its harsh light. So why a vintage lamp? Because it indicates you thought about your lighting instead of going the route of a last-minute, add-to-cart impulse buy. This was deliberately searched and purchased. This was a choice made with historical design context in mind, whether it’s midcentury modern, Art Deco, or Hollywood Regency. A carefully considered piece of lighting shows your home decor chops—you’ve gone above and beyond the look of the room to consider the vibe of the room. A magnificent vintage piece communicates all that. We rounded up a few retailer options to find just the thing you need for a living room revamp, a ceiling light overhaul, or a lampshade upgrade.
Our Top Retailers for Vintage Lamps:
- Best for Vintage Rarities: 1st Dibs
- Best for Keyword Searching and Local Sellers: Etsy
- Best for Sleeper Hits: eBay
- Best for Vintage Reissues: Design Within Reach
- Best for Midcentury Modern Picks: Rejuvenation
- Best for Antique Murano Glass Finds: Abask
Best for Vintage Rarities: 1stDibs
We pull from 1stDibs regularly when shopping out our various home tours, where we can find the iconic works sprinkled throughout the homes of celebrities, designers, and celebrity designers. A Charlotte Perriand sconce indicates at least one substantial coffee book on the oeuvre of Le Corbusier is nearby, and a reissue of the 1960’s Gelato lamp by Italian designer Carlo Nason’s are just the tip of the iceberg. In other words: Design dorks will delight in this catalog of artifacts and iconic pieces.
Best for Keyword Searching and Local Sellers: Etsy
Etsy is a go-to when you’re searching for a vibe rather than a specific model or designer. Try keyword searching for terms like “Art Deco” or “ginger jar lamp” and a trove of collectibles, like thrift-store-friendly finds and veritable antique gems, will surface in search. The online marketplace’s vast web of sellers means a library of vintage lighting that spans centuries and styles, often times for less than what you’d find at places like 1st Dibs and Chairish since sellers choose what they price for shipping. Contributor Lori Keong has had good luck buying pieces there from across the pond in the UK and even further afield in Slovenia, with lots of vintage sellers from the states like Philly’s Betsu and Chicago’s Spears Furnishings selling their wares on Etsy as well.
Best for Sleeper Hits: eBay
eBay brought me such things as this vintage Tarogo frog made from Ichiban rice paper that I passed up in a thrift store in Maine and thought about for months before it surfaced on the secondhand retailer. Now he sits proudly on an armoire overlooking my dining room. Which is to say: Every vintage table lamp that’s ever existed is somewhere in their backlog. Chinoiserie, vintage Noguchi lamps, kitschy conch shell lamps, Tiffany glass shades, the OG Pixar lamp—it’s all there.
Best for Vintage Reissues: Design Within Reach
Design Within Reach regularly re-issues iconic models in collaboration with the original manufacturers, giving second life to pieces like Verner Panton’s Panthella (1971), Herman Miller’s 1952 Cigar Lotus floor lamp, Greta Grossman’s 1947 Gräshoppa, and the Space Age-y Nessino table lamp which debuted in 1967, to name a few.
Best for Midcentury Modern Picks: Rejuvenation
Rejuvenation’s vintage collection is part of a larger initiative to prevent waste. The brand’s Portland-based restoration studio team finds and restores over 3,000 antiques around the world every year to help keep them out of landfills. While the vintage pieces are one-of-a-kind finds, a large selection mirrors Rejuvenation’s midcentury modern-inspired offerings, like 20th-century brass lamps and designs with floral and gilt detailing.
Best for Antique Murano Glass Finds: Abask
Abask has some of the most beautiful antique Murano glassware lamps we’ve seen to date. Case in point: Albano Poli’s stained glass creation pictured below. The artist got his claim to fame for collaging colored glass across geometric lighting fixtures. Modern glass lamps like this one are easy to come by across Abask’s collections, as well as minimalist metal lamps and hand-painted ceramic lamps, if those better suit your style.
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