Focus on Mid Century Lighting: Dazor, and the Model 2004 UFO Desk Lamp

Dazor began producing lighting products in the years before WWII drew the US into war. In 1938 Harry Dazey and Albert Perbal formed Dazor to manufacture task lighting products, including a design that Dazey had been working on that featured a spring-loaded "floating arm" design. Some of the first products produced by the company were floor lamps with complex spring-tension systems that allowed the lamps to be positioned where the user needed light, and without the need to loosen, tighten, and re-tighten thumb screws each and every time the light source needed to be re-positioned for work. The company's success boomed with the advent of WWII, not least of all because the US government found out that it could save a lot of money with Dazor lights by replacing the massive overhead lights that it had been using for assembly of items where focused lighting that the user could easily adjust the lighting angle and distance from the work piece was more important. During WWII, the US government was Dazor's biggest customer, and up to 165 employees worked in two shifts to fill orders for lamps. Dazor was also the first company to use fluorescent technology - in fact, GE featured Dazor's fluorescent offerings at the 1938 World's Fair in Columbus. Pretty impressive for a start-up.



Some of Dazor's most iconic lighting products were produced during the post-war boom, when changes in attitudes and tastes meant a major change in the way products were designed, and the materials and finishes that were applied. Patent number USD186904 S was issued to Jacob A. Mehr of Kirkwood, Missouri in 1958 for a "Table Lamp." A cursory search of Google returned no results for Jacob A. Mehr associated with Dazor, but I can only imagine that Mr. Mehr was an engineer or designer who was working in-house for Dazor in the design department. A link to Google's scan of the original patent image is here if you're interested. It looks like Mr. Mehr began the design process as early as 1954 for what would become the Model 2004 if you read the patent text. I'm not sure when Dazor began production of the Model 2004 as I could find no information or specifics on that.

This nice cream-colored lamp was a present from my awesome wife. The lamp is quite robust. The base is very heavy, and is comprised of a heavy-gauge sheet metal pressing (aluminum, I think - but I have not checked it with a magnet) over a cast iron weight easily weighing 15 or more lbs. The lamp will not ever tip over on its own. A rod is threaded into the base through a solid brass fitting and the upper end of the rod is threaded for a solid brass stopper that screws into the end so that the adjustable sliding pressure fitting does not come off the top accidentally. The sliding UFO assembly is composed of a cast, very solid brass switch body with a plastic liner that loosely fits around the shaft of the lamp. The offset UFO body applies weight to one side of the switch body assembly, which is how the lamp retains its position when you raise or lower it. Ingenious, really - with no moving parts whatsoever. Coming out one side of the switch body is a solid brass arm which contains the wire that terminates in a pretty standard brass lamp socket. The UFO shade is another heavy gauge pressing with a lower rolled lip with some small spring clips around the edge - there are 3 or 4 of these. The upper part of the shade has a lip that allows a pierced metal insert to sit in the top for ventilation. The molded fiberglass shade is fairly robust, but should still be treated gingerly. If the shade cracks, the lamp is pretty much worthless as there is no possible way to source a replacement. So if you ever pick up one of these beauties, be careful (read: *VERY* careful) when changing the bulb. Taking the fiberglass shade off is pretty easy, but putting it back on requires patience, finesse, concentration, and did I say patience? I have an LED bulb in mine, so hopefully I won't need to putz around with the shade for many many years. As an added benefit, the LED bulb produces only negligible heat, which should prolong the life of the fiberglass shade quite a bit.

I think these Model 2004 are the nicest lamps Dazor ever produced. They were made in quite a few colors. We have another one in black, but I've also seen them in silver, a bronze color, a sort of teal blue-green, and (IIRC) brown. Some of the colors have the fittings painted to match - the black one we have, for example, has black painted brass upper and lower fittings on the shaft, but that could have been post-production. Dazor made a couple similar lamps with UFO shades -  the Model 2005 sports the same shade, but is a floor lamp with a larger base andmuch longer upright. As far as I know, the Model 2005 came in the same colors as the 2004. I'd love to get my hands on one of these babies, but I have never even seen one in person, so I think that they are much rarer. You see them from time to time on eBay, but because they are so large, such an odd shape, and the cast iron base is so heavy, the shipping usually ends up being pretty high. Might be worth it though, as I've seen auctions on these lamps close for as low as $90 bucks. That's not a bad deal even if the seller wants $60 bucks for shipping. I've shipped some pretty big, pretty heavy, and pretty expensive stuff via Fedex, and I think $60 buck for shipping one of these is well off the deep end, but hey - if you want one and they have one, you are kind stuck paying their shipping price, even if it is high.

There is also the Model 2006, which is not adjustable and sports a gently curving support rod that attaches directly to the same exact shade assembly. I like this one, but not enough to buy one. I suppose that if I were to see one locally, and the price was right, I would almost certainly buy it. Especially if it was this cool blue green color. This model is still very cool, and certainly collectible, but I like the way that the arm looks better on the Model 2004.

The Model 2008 is nearly identical to the Model 2004. In fact, it's so close that I could not tell at all what the differences were for awhile. All I knew was that mine said Model 2004 under the base. There seem to be many more photos online of Model 2008 lamps, so perhaps there was a model numbering change because of a minor internal parts change? I wasn't sure, but both are very definitely cool, and I would not turn down a model 2008 if I found one for a reasonable price - although it does seem that the 2004 is earlier, and may be rarer. The only external difference I've ever been able to identify between the 2004 and 2008? The Model 2004 has a brass tube from the upright to the UFO shade; the Model 2008 has a painted (presumably non-brass) tube in the same place.

The Model 2055 is another fixed desk lamp. Kind of a neat form, and available in colors that I've never seen on either the 2004 or 2008 lamps. This one is a recent example from eBay in a really neat color that I've not seen before on any Dazor lamp. The Model 2056 is a UFO-shaded desk lamp on an arm that rotates on the base, so you can swing it from side to side if you want to illuminate different parts of your desk (if you spread stuff all about your desk like I do). I have seen those occasionally here and there. In fact, I saw one at one of the first flea markets that I went to in Minot the first winter that I lived here. I could have used that lamp for my work lamp in the office - I really should have picked it up.

Which leads me to my final thoughts for this post. If something speaks to you - I mean if you look at it more than twice and really say 'wow' to yourself - that is probably the time that you should get out your wallet and buy it. I've lost a few things by not listening to that voice - a few which I very deeply regret. I Listened to my inner demon saying 'You don't have the space for that right now,' or 'You already have one of those..." If you want it. Buy it. Don't go back later and be sorry. Even if you have to pay a few bucks more than you want.

Because, thanks to those twits that produced Mad Men, these things are getting pricier, and more and more uncommon.