Breyer Nightlights - The Mystery of Who Made Them?

Fall is officially here in Chicago---the leaves are turning and the days are getting noticeably shorter and cooler---so this seems like an extra fitting time of year to write about Breyer nightlights. I do have another post or two about Breyer lamps in the works, but I need to photograph a few of the oddballs in our collection when I visit my parents in December before I can wrap that subject up. In the meantime, I will tackle a few other topics, and nightlights feels like the next logical choice. 

Breyer nightlights are an intriguing mystery. We don't know who made them, and while a variety of models were used for them, they all seem to have a consistent style to them. The vast majority of night lights were created using vintage glossy models from the 1950s and 1960s. (There are a handful of matte models from the later 1960s as well, but they seem to be less common.) Most nightlights have a hole low on the barrel where the nightlight bulb can be replaced, and the switch is usually in the shoulder. Western Horse nightlights are the exception---most of them have the hole on their back cleverly hidden under the saddle and the switch along the top of the neck. Some nightlights are freestanding and some are attached to oval wood bases. 

This glossy bay Family Arabian Mare is a typical 
freestanding example.

A Western Horse nightlight showing the alternate placement 
of the switch and hole (under the saddle)

A matte grey Donkey nightlight

Most nightlights are horses, and the earliest ones, such as the Proud Arabian Mare and Foal nightlights, date to the latter half of the 1950s. 

Other early nightlights include a number of animal molds such as the Boxer, Walking Hereford, and Brahma. Some of the Western Horse nightlights were probably made in the mid to late 1950s as well. 

Breyer nightlights tend to be somewhat hard to find, and some of them are definitely much more rare than others. For example, Western Horse nightlights seem to have been big sellers, and they can be found on eBay fairly regularly. In comparison, Proud Arabian Mare nightlights are quite scarce and rarely come up for sale.

Interestingly, some nightlights on bases are paired with clocks. These are almost always Fighting Stallions, sometimes even pairs of Fighting Stallions, one on either side of a clock. I've seen glossy palomino, alabaster, charcoal, and appaloosa examples. As you can see in the pictures below, the horses have been found facing left or right.  The bases are usually oval, but our appaloosa has a rounded rectangular base. The clock movements were made by United, a division of the United Metal Goods Company of Brooklyn, New York, but they were likely ordered by whoever made the nightlight and base. 

As delightful as these nightlights would be to use on a regular basis, especially as mood lighting in a cozy model horse room for example, they are unfortunately highly susceptible to damage. The heat given off by the original bulbs is enough to discolor and crack the plastic of the model, so it's best to replace them with something that doesn't get hot if you really feel the need to use the nightlight. (An LED perhaps? Definitely ask an expert first though because I am not one). 

I bought this poor guy already damaged (for science)

So that said, who did make the Breyer nightlights? Unfortunately, I don't have a good answer. Given the consistency of the pieces and their relative abundance, I have to think they were the product of a company rather than just a kitchen table industry. I have heard speculation over the years that Dunning Industries, the lamp maker, might have made them, but we know now that the nightlights predate the existence of Dunning by a number of years. Furthermore, to the best of my knowledge, no nightlights have been found with any sort of sticker, hang tag, or other identifying mark. A number of companies made decorative nightlights and/or TV lamps in the 1950s and 1960s using plastic and ceramic items. Hartland for example produced nightlights as part of their religious figurines line, so it was a popular idea. (There are Hartland horse nightlights as well, but that's a subject for another post.)

One Breyer nightlight has been found with an original box however...but as you can see, said box is an original Breyer Western Horse mailer box.

My mom, sister, and I acquired this very cool nightlight and box several years ago, and there are a few things of note about it. The first is the white sticker on the box that says "WHITE 57-2993" indicating the color of the model in the box. The number, though hand-written, is formatted in the style we see in holiday catalogs at the time which may or may not be significant. The other interesting thing is the little slip of blue paper that was tucked inside the box. It gives instructions on how to change the light bulb and the address of the retailer that apparently sold the nightlight, the Miller Paint and Cabinet Shop of York, Nebraska. 

George Miller opened his store in January 1959 after expanding a cabinet and woodworking business he'd been running from his home for a number of years. It originally sold wallpaper, paint, glass, and cabinet hardware [1]. But by the following year, the store advertised the best selection of toys and hobby supplies as well [2]. Within a few years, their inventory included supplies for stamp and coin collectors, HO trains, Barbies, paint-by-number and mosaic tile kits, model boats and airplanes, and more [3]. By the mid-1960s, the store name had changed to Miller's Paint and Hobby Shop, and based on their advertising in the local York newspaper, it would seem that the toy and hobby part of the business had surpassed the paint, wallpaper, and cabinetry side of things.

In 1975, George retired and sold the business. It became Wagner's Decorating and Hobby Shop, and while it eventually moved to a new location in York, it was still operating on a reduced scale as of August 2026. George went back to running a small cabinet framing shop from his home, and a 1988 newspaper article shows that he also made model horse sized vehicles (a time-honored Midwestern hobby). There is however no mention of horse night lights in any of the articles I found about him.

Oddly enough, there is yet another York, Nebraska, connection to night lights. The only advertising that has ever turned up for night lights that I'm aware of is an ad from the February 1961 issue of the Arab Horse Journal.

Clarence W. (Red) Burch was an active equestrian and horse breeder in the 1960s and 1970s, and he was regularly mentioned in newspapers of the time. In 1962, he moved his farm to nearby Grand Island, Nebraska, and ten years later, he had moved operations once again to McCool Junction, Nebraska. He bred Arabians and Quarter Horses and regularly helped host and organize horse shows in the area. By the early 1970s, he had started a side business making rosettes for horse shows [4]. A lengthy article in the local newspaper in May of 1972 explained the rosette making process and Red's business ventures rather thoroughly, but there was no mention of nightlights. By 1985, Red's ribbon business had expanded to include trophies as well, but they were of the generic pre-molded type available in any trophy shop of that time [5].

So where does that leave us? I'm honestly not sure. George Miller presumably had the know-how and materials to make the nightlights, but they are never once mentioned in any of the local newspaper articles or ads about him or his store. Nor is anything having to do with electrical wiring mentioned in relation to his business. Red Burch and his various equestrian endeavors received even more coverage in the papers, but likewise, he was never mentioned in conjunction with making the nightlights nor doing electrical work. (That said, the wiring in Breyer nightlights is very simple, so one would not need a great deal of expertise. I'm sure it was covered in issues of Popular Mechanics at that time more than once.) It is certainly possible that George or Red made the nightlights over the course of what was apparently a 10+ year span. They may even have collaborated. York is a small town, even more so 60 years ago, and I can't imagine that they didn't know one another. It is also equally possible that both men simply ordered nightlights from whatever company was making them.

The person who originally bought our Western Horse nightlight in the box filled out the "to" and "from" address fields on the back of the box. Carol Sue Scott of Syracuse, Indiana, sent it to "her hon" (her words) Eugene Carroll of Urbana, Indiana. Perhaps it was purchased on a vacation passing through Nebraska? We'll probably never know. (Whatever the case, as best I can tell, it appears that Carol married a Mr. Phipps and avoided becoming Carol Carroll.)

Anyway, when we first bought our nightlight with the original box, I wondered if perhaps Breyer had done the nightlight installations in the models. It would be the work of just a few minutes to drill the holes and insert the wiring and switch, and they had done somewhat similar work in the mid-1950s installing music boxes into Fury Prancers for Sears. This is all well and good for free-standing models that will still fit in their original Breyer mailer boxes, but the nightlights on bases, especially those combined with clocks, presumably throw a wrench in the works. And once again, no primary source material from Breyer has ever been found. So until someone unearths conclusive proof as to who made the nightlights, we'll just have to remain in the dark on this particular mystery.

(No, I am not apologizing for that terrible pun.)

There is another type of Breyer nightlight I have seen a few examples of that appears to be the work of an unknown but separate maker. Like the nightlights shown above, these are also consistent in construction. They feature a red roan Running Mare and Lying Down Foal or a buckskin Quarter Horse Gelding and Lying Down Foal, both mounted on a rectangular base. Both models, adults and foals, are lit. The adults have a hole cut in the back of the barrel for the distinctive lightbulb hardware and the switch is in the cord. The foals lift off the base to reveal a light that fits through a hole in their undersides. I did not think to check if the red roan models on our nightlight have USA stamps or not, but they can only date to the late 1960s or early 1970s. (I'll update this when I do have a chance to check.) 

 

 

Note the distinctive hardware that holds the bulb in place.

 

A variety of hobbyists have made aftermarket nightlights over the years, mostly from the 1990s or later, but those are usually recognizably different from the original 1950s and 1960s vintage nightlights. Unfortunately, there is a seller on eBay currently making ethically dubious night lights out of vintage models with reproduction Tenite stickers and sometimes altered finishes, so be careful and don't be fooled by imposters. 

While the maker of the original nightlights remains a mystery, Breyer did create a lovely homage to those pieces for the Vintage Club in 2024. According to Breyer's sales pitch for the model, Kirk, the Geronimo mold in glossy dapple grey, "features an internal LED light and removable cord so he can be displayed on a shelf or in your home as a functional lighting fixture!" He's a fitting addition to the line and the company's history. 

 

Photo by Breyer

 ______________________________________________________________

Sources:


1) "Miller Paint Shop Opened." York News Times, January 29, 1959, pg. 1

2) York News Times, April 12, 1960, pg. 10

3) York News Times, April 7, 1964, pg. 6

4) Jim Cunningham, "Red Could Easily Be A Double Winner," York News Times, May 31, 1972, pg. 1

5) John Ortmann, "Spare Time A Sparse Commodity Since Retiring Into Ribbon Business," York News Times, September 9, 1985, pg. 1

Still More Breyer Lamps: The Colorful Glen-Tek Lamps

One of the first Breyer lamps my mom and I found in the early days of our haunting antique stores and flea markets in the 1990s was a Glen-Tek Silky Sullivan lamp. As the resident horse racing fan in the house, it ended up on my dresser all through my middle and high school years. (It's still there in fact. One of these days, I need to bring it back to Chicago with me.)

Over the years, we found several more Glen-Tek lamps---a couple more Silky Sullivans and a mahogany Proud Arabian Foal. These two seem to be the most common lamps produced by the company. 

(The shade was borrowed from a 
Dunning lamp. It's not original.)

As you can see, the Glen-Tek lamps have distinct bases---a light colored top, contrasting color around the beveled edge, and little round feet on the underside at the corners. Many of them have a small accessory decorating the base like a fence, water pump, or drum. 

Both the Silky Sullivan and mahogany Proud Arabian Foal lamps can be found for sale on sites like eBay pretty regularly. That said, there are at least six more Glen-Tek lamps I'm aware of, but they all seem to be quite a bit harder to find. I can only assume they weren't made as long as the aforementioned Silky Sullivan and mahogany Proud Arabian Foal lamps. 
 
The first of these is another Proud Arabian Foal lamp, but featuring a dapple grey foal instead of a mahogany foal. They too have the little fence panel on the base.

Photo by Christina Dils

Occasionally, some lamps have Swaps instead of Silky Sullivan. He faces in the opposite direction and also has a fence.

Photo ganked from Facebook

One of the cutest lamps Glen-Tek offered is this palomino Family Arabian Foal with a little red water pump and bucket. The edge of the base is painted white, and the lamp pole and cord are also white to match.

Photo by Christina Dils

But I think my favorite Glen-Tek creation is this classic Lipizzaner lamp with the little drum accessory. I was delighted to find one on eBay earlier this year, and while it was pricier than I would have liked, I justified it as a birthday present to myself. (I feel like that was quite solid logic.) Like the Family Arabian Foal lamp, this one also has a white trimmed base, lamp pole, and cord.

This lamp with a Classic Arabian Stallion and Foal is the only Glen-Tek lamp I have seen with two models on the base. 

This bay Rearing Stallion lamp looks fairly similar to a Dunning lamp, but like the other Glen-Tek lamps, it has round feet under the base helping to distinguish it.

Photo by Christina Dils

As you can see from the photos below, the feet on the bottom of the bases varied a bit. Some are quite round while others are sort of compressed. They all have a lamp cord that emerges from the underside.

Photo by Christina Dils

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find out much of anything about the Glen-Tek Scientific company other than it was located in Scottsdale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. Breyer historian and author Nancy Young related in her Breyer Molds and Models books that Peter Stone told her the company was co-owned by Rudy Schorsch who was later involved in the mail order company Horses International. (They offered a handful of Breyer special runs in the 1980s.) As you can see on the stickers on the lamp bases in the photos above, the only address given for Glen-Tek was a PO box, so I was unable to search for any company property records. Rudy himself is also an enigma. He apparently passed away in June 1989 at the age of 58, but I couldn't find an obituary for him. There are no references to the company in local newspapers either. I am hoping to look through my stash of Western Horseman magazines when I visit my family in December in case Glen-Tek advertised in the classifieds, but I'm not sure how many magazines I have from the later 1970s. (It should be noted that the Arizona Glen-Tek Scientific lamp company was not related to Glentek, the southern California servo motor and drive company.)

So that said, while we don't know the specifics of the Glen-Tek Scientific company, their products give us some good clues about when their Breyer lamps were made. Based on which models were used and how they are painted, it appears the Glen-Tek lamps were probably made from the mid-1970s until the early 1980s. Swaps and Silky Sullivan were not released until 1975, and the Lipizzaner debuted in 1976, so that gives us a pretty solid starting time frame. The Proud Arabian and Family Arabian Foals were available earlier, but the painting style of the foals on the lamps I've seen appears to be later 1970s in my opinion. I've only seen one example of the Rearing Stallion lamp, and it looks like a very late 1970s or early 1980s piece to me.

The Classic Arabian Stallion and Foal lamp likely dates from about 1979 to 1981 which probably gives us an approximate end date for the Glen-Tek lamps. The Classic Arabian Stallion was shown with no star and tan hooves only in those years in Breyer's catalogs, and the palomino Classic Arabian Foal was last available in 1982. Given that no lamps have turned up with models made outside of about 1975-1981/1982, I suspect that accounts for the years of production pretty accurately. 

If anyone reading this knows more about the Glen-Tek Scientific company or has a Glen-Tek lamp not shown here, please feel free to comment or send me a photo at mumtazmahal (at) gmail (dot) com

Thanks for reading!

More Breyer Lamps: the Griffin Lamp Manufacturing Company

I plan to write a couple more posts on Breyer lamps which I think will wrap up the subject pretty well (barring new primary source discoveries, of course), but that said, these posts will unfortunately be a bit light on specifics. Unlike Dunning Industries, these other lamp companies apparently don't seem to have inspired write ups in their local newspapers. 

The Griffin Lamp Company (or sometimes the Griffin Lamp Manufacturing Company) of Springfield, Massachusetts, is one such company. (Not to be confused with the Griffin Lamp Company of Hamilton, Ohio, which did not make Breyer lamps.) Griffin lamps featuring Breyers are a bit on the scarce side, and as best I can tell, they were likely made sometime around the late 1960s or the early 1970s. The Western Prancer lamps seem to pop up more often than lamps featuring other Breyer molds. The Western Prancer lamps came in buckskin, palomino, smoke, bay, and appaloosa. 

The only other example I have a photo of at the moment is this buckskin lamp that Andrea Gurdon showed in her collectors class at BreyerFest 2023. There's a larger photo on her blog sans saddle. I was interested to note that the Prancer on her lamp was mounted facing in the opposite direction as mine.

Only sparse documentation exists for these lamps, chiefly two advertisements in Western Horseman magazine---one from June 1970 (below, left) and the other from November 1971 (below, right). They are much the same other than the later ad includes the smoke colorway. 

I only know of two other styles of Griffin lamps at the moment, this intriguing sorrel Five-Gaiter on a plastic base just like the Western Prancers owned by Linda Pope...

And this lovely star-faced bay Stretch Morgan on a wooden base owned by Sande Schneider. Interestingly, the Griffin name is stamped on the underside of this base. 

All of the models found on Griffin lamps so far were available from Breyer by the mid-1960s and most were discontinued at some point in the early 1970s. The black and white pinto Western Prancer is the only early colorway for that mold not found on these lamps, and as it was discontinued in 1966, that may mean that none of Griffin's horse lamps were available until 1967 or later. I don't know if the Morgans on wood bases constitute earlier lamps than the ones with plastic bases or perhaps simply a more expensive or more formal option.

If anyone reading this has come across other Griffin lamps, including Western Prancers in other colors, please feel free to email pictures to me at mumtazmahal (at) gmail (dot) com, and I'll update this post.  

In trying to track down the history of the Griffin Lamp Company, all I've been able to find is a smattering of classifieds ads, a brief reference to employment in a wedding announcement, and an obituary, and unfortunately, that's pretty much it. With what little information that provides, here's what I've been able to piece together. 

The Griffin Lamp (Manufacturing) Company was founded by Edward J. Griffin who was born around 1910. Griffin served in the Army in World War II and started the business in his hometown of Springfield, Massachusetts, sometime after he returned home from the war. [1] Unfortunately, I haven't found anything to indicate exactly when he started the business, but based on a September 1960 real estate ad for the building the lamp company later occupied [2], I suspect it was in late 1960 or 1961. The earliest reference for the company I have found is a 1961 wedding announcement that mentioned that the future bride worked for the Griffin Lamp Company, so that seems to fit. [3] There are a smattering of classified ads in 1962 in particular and then again later in the 1960s looking for new lamp shade binding machine operators, but otherwise, I haven't found anything of interest until the 1970 and 1971 Western Horseman ads pictured above. 

In August 1973, Griffin published a classified ad that referenced horse lamps as part of their first annual sale. They were apparently on sale from $25 (approximately $189 in 2026) marked down to $9 ($68 in 2026). This matches the prices from the Western Horseman ads, but it's impossible to say which horse lamps this ad referred to. 

The Morning Union, Springfield, MA, August, 6, 1973, pg. 25

Later classifieds ads in 1975 and 1976 only mentioned novelty lamps from the company, not specifically horse lamps. The last such ad I can find for the company dates to August 1976. By October of 1979, the building that once housed the Griffin Lamp Company was being assessed for an electroplating business [4], and in May of 1982, the building itself was once again listed for sale. [5] The company founder, Edward Griffin, passed away in February 1983. [6]

Based on what I've gleaned from the newspapers, my best guess is that the Griffin Lamp Company was in business from about 1961-1976 or perhaps a few years more. And given the scarcity of the horse lamps, I suspect they may only have been available from about 1970-1973, and it seems like they may not have made a lot of them. 

I hope you've enjoyed this post! I'll be tackling Glen-Tek lamps next. Thanks for reading!

Sources:

1) The Morning Union, Springfield, MA, February 17, 1983, pg 31

2) The Republican, Springfield, MA, September 30, 1960, pg 34

3) The Republican, Springfield, MA, December 5, 1961, pg 22

4) The Republican, Springfield, MA, October 5, 1979, pg 32

5) The Morning Union, Springfield, MA, May 18, 1982, pg 33

6) The Morning Union, Springfield, MA, February 17, 1983, pg 31

The Montgomery Ward Davy Crockett and Lucky Ranger Lamps

Since I am on a Breyer lamp blogging kick, and I'm sort of covering the subject in chronological order, that brings us to the mid-1950s and a pair of lamps sold through the Montgomery Ward catalog. In 1955, the Davy Crockett craze was at its peak thanks to a series of movies, popular comics, and especially a Disney TV miniseries that aired in 1954 and 1955 starring Fess Parker in the titular role. Anything and everything that could be licensed with the Davy Crockett name---from coon skin caps to dolls to clothes to bicycles---was made and sold (more on this in an upcoming post). Breyer got in on the craze quickly, and by August of 1955 had announced their new Davy Crockett and horse model in Toys and Novelties. 

For Christmas that year, the Montgomery Ward catalog offered Breyer's Davy Crockett set on a table lamp. The base was molded plaster meant to resemble a desert scene complete with green cacti. The shade featured a silhouette of the horse and rider pair in an illustrated desert scene. Examples have been found with Davy on a plum brown Fury Prancer as well as on a palomino model. 

Interestingly, the shades on all of the examples I've seen are printed in reverse compared to what is shown in the catalog. They vary in color---some are lighter, some are darker, some have less contrast between the background and the design. I've seen a fairly even distribution of brown and palomino Prancers on these lamps. 

A typical palomino example

A close up of a plum brown example

My sister and I are lucky enough to have found a couple of odd variations as well. Two of our palominos are full basecoat chalkies, and one of our plum brown examples managed to escape the factory with no white markings.

 

Close up of a basecoat chalky Prancer on a lamp

No white markings on this (very dark) brown Prancer

Wards also published a "Holiday Sale" catalog in 1955 which offered another Fury Prancer lamp, this one with a palomino horse, a plain shade, and Lucky Ranger as the rider. It is possible these lamps shipped with Cowboys as well since the molds are identical and the color scheme is similar, but the handful that I have seen that were found in the wild, including my own, came with Lucky Ranger.

Many thanks to Robin Roberts for this ad!

I lucked into the set below while out and about in Chicago some years ago. I was absolutely delighted that it still had the original shade, and Lucky Ranger still had one of his guns. 

In my experience, the Lucky Ranger lamps seem to be a bit less common than the Davy Crockett lamps. But given the magnitude of the Davy Crockett craze, I imagine Montgomery Ward got far more orders for Davy than for a generic cowboy. That said, these lamps with both riders do turn up periodically, but the plaster bases and the lamp shades are fragile, so finding them in good condition can be a real challenge. As far as I know, neither of these lamps were offered beyond 1955.

As I mentioned in my previous post about Dunning lamps, there has been hobby speculation for years that these lamps were Dunning products. However, now that we know Dunning didn't start his business until 1964, we know that can't possibly be the case. So while we do know when these lamps were made, we still don't know who made them. And unfortunately, as of this writing, I don't yet have an answer.

Both Breyer and Montgomery Ward were Chicago companies, so if I had to guess, I would bet that whoever made the lamp components was probably also a Chicago company. None of the six plaster base lamps in our collection have markings on the bases that I'm aware of, and I don't know of any other collectors who have found examples with stickers or hang tags or the like. If anyone reading this has an example of these lamps with some sort of provenance about the maker, I would love to know!

More Breyer Lamps: Ranchcraft Lamps by Dunning Industries

Breyer models have been featured on lamps made by a variety of companies over the years, but probably the best known and most ubiquitous are the Ranchcraft lamps made by Dunning Industries of Greensboro, North Carolina. Dunning used both woodgrain and realistically painted models on their lamps, but the woodgrains seem to be more numerous. I had planned to tackle the subject of Breyer lamps in chronological order since I sort of accidentally started out at the beginning with Marks Manufacturing lamps, but as I was researching Dunning Industries in recent weeks, I realized that I needed to tell this story before I tackle the rest.

A typical woodgrain Dunning lamp with the
 original burlap shade (photo by Amanda Reed)

The primary reason for this is Dunning's history and dates of operation. Like many other collectors, I assumed that Dunning started business sometime in the 1950s and likely produced their lamps into the early 1970s. Collectors have speculated that in addition to the typical woodgrain lamps, Dunning may have also made the Davy Crockett and Lucky Ranger lamps on plaster bases that date to the mid-1950s (the subject of my next post) and that they may also have made the night lights. As lovely as it would be to wrap up a couple of Breyer mysteries so neatly, I now have conclusive evidence that neither of those suppositions can be true. To wit, Dunning Industries didn't exist until 1964. 

The story begins with John Miles Dunning III, age 33, a resident of Greensboro, North Carolina, who, in his capacity as "a manufacturer's representative for several furniture companies," attended a furniture expo in Chicago in 1964. [1] While there, it occurred to him that there was a gap in the market for floor and table lamps, and on his long drive home, he stopped in hardware stores and five-and-dimes in the small towns along his route, buying "kerosene lanterns, horseshoes, the old fashion type of water pumps, miniature coin banks, barrels, and antique jugs and bottles" to turn into lamp bases. [2] He and his wife then cannibalized electrical parts from old lamps and literally began their new business venture on their kitchen table. 

John Dunning [3]

Dunning then took samples of his wares to a regional furniture market, and within three days, he had over $20,000 in orders. (That's the equivalent of a little over $215,000 in 2026.) The furniture companies he worked for all subsequently fired him when they realized he was their new competition. Dunning took it in stride, and with the help of his wife and next door neighbor (who became the company vice president), he turned Dunning Industries into the world's largest manufacturer of wood lamps in just four years. [4]

Dunning had taken shop classes in high school and had had a summer job demonstrating how to use woodworking tools for Sears, so his company produced all of the wood components for their lamps in-house. The Dunning "factory" moved from the family's kitchen table to a tavern basement to a series of multiple buildings before finally getting its own purpose-built plant in 1969. By this time, Dunning had started traveling to Europe to find miscellaneous statues, architectural sculpture bits, and figurines that he could cast copies of in wood-like composition to use for his lamps, as mirror frames, wall decor, and more. [5] 

In October of 1969, only five years after starting the business, Dunning sold the company to American Interiors, Inc, of Danville, Virginia. [6] He stayed on as chairman for another year before leaving to start a new company, Dunning Limited, that made wooden end tables and other furniture. The company was still in business as late as 1980. John Dunning retired at some point but apparently continued to enjoy woodworking. He passed away April 18, 2002. [7]

Meanwhile, Dunning Industries, his original lamp company, continued on under new leadership until June 1983 when a catastrophic warehouse fire brought the business to a screeching halt. The fire marshal determined that the cause of the fire was arson, and while the company owner said he planned to move the company to Lexington, Kentucky, by February 1984, the employees had been let go and all of the surviving factory machinery had been listed for sale. [8]

So now that we know Dunning Industries wasn't founded until 1964, we can safely conclude that they can't possibly have made any of the 1950s Breyer lamps. Likewise, given that some Breyer night lights clearly date to the 1950s (the Proud Arabian Mare night lights, for example), we can rule out Dunning as the source of those as well. 

I don't know when Dunning first ordered Breyer models for his lamps, but I can't help but wonder if he saw some woodgrain models while in Chicago in 1964. Given that a few factory-painted-over-decorators have appeared on Dunning lamps, I would guess they were available by 1965 or so (the decorator line having been discontinued in 1964). Also, the woodgrain Brahma model was last available as a regular run in 1965. Provided Dunning didn't special order any after the fact, we know those lamps likely date to Dunning's second year of business (maybe even the first). (That might also explain why the Brahma lamps are fairly uncommon.)

Bay Running Mare and Foal lamp with
original leather Dunning hang tag
(photo by Danielle Cutshall)

The foal on Danielle's lamp is chalky bay factory
painted over a decorator (because the decorators
sold poorly and were thus repurposed)

My own chalky Running Foal lamp painted over gold charm
(Note the interesting round bases on both of these!)
(Wellman collection)

Occasionally, 1970s oil crisis era chalky models turn up on Dunning lamps as well, specifically Donkeys, leading me to think that Dunning was still ordering Breyers at least as late as 1973 or 1974. They were for sure still available as late as 1972 based on this Miller Stockman ad (scroll down) on the excellent Breyer Horse Reference site. That said, given that we don't see models from the mid- to late-1970s on Dunning lamps, I suspect that that was likely the tail end of the association between the two companies.

A pair of chalky Donkey lamps my mom and I found. They
are green plastic underneath. (Wellman collection)

So it seems likely that Dunning made lamps featuring Breyer models for only about ten years, roughly 1964-1974, give or take. But they certainly made them in large numbers and with quite a variety of horses and animals, so happily for collectors, many of them are quite affordable. The most easily found lamps feature woodgrain Fighting Stallions, woodgrain Family Arabian Foals, and woodgrain Running Mares and Foals. 

Woodgrain Fighting Stallion lamp showing 
the typical Dunning burlap shade and 
rectangular base with routed edge
(Photo by Sande Schneider)

Many of the woodgrain models on lamps are unusually dark brown, much darker then the average non-lamp woodgrains. Dunning may have specially requested the color to match the lamp bases. Or, since some of the woodgrain lamps were definitely ordered after the regular run woodgrains were discontinued, the darker color may be the result of later requests. For example, the woodgrain Running Mare and Foal were made from 1963-1965, but the Miller Stockman ad linked above shows that they were available on lamps from Dunning in 1972. The woodgrain Fighting Stallion, Running Mare and Foal lamps, and Running Foal wall sconce lamps are often darker toned.

This dark woodgrain Fighting Stallion was
once on a lamp (Wellman collection)

Some of the more common lamps I mentioned above also come in realistic colors that are often a bit harder to find. The Family Arabian Foal lamps can be found in matte palomino...

(Wellman collection)

and the Fighting Stallion lamps turn up in matte bay, and much less often, in glossy palomino.

(Photo by Des Corbett)

The Running Mare and Running Foal lamps are pretty easily found in woodgrain or bay, but they also come in a couple of fun variations that are harder to find. I've seen a lamp featuring a bay mare and woodgrain foal as well as an alabaster mare and smoke foal (and possibly vice versa, too). They can also occasionally be found in glossy dapple grey. My sister and I are lucky enough to each own an example of this pretty lamp.

(Wellman collection)

 
While most Dunning lamps have rectangular bases about an inch thick with a routed bevel along the top edge, other base shapes and styles have been found. As we saw above, some of the Running Mares and Running Foals came on oval, unbeveled bases. This Rearing Stallion lamp has a simple rectangular base with no flourishes.

(Photo by Katie Foley)

 
Several more elaborate bases are also known, and they all seem to be quite scarce. This sweet lamp features two woodgrain Shetlands on a tall, 2-part oval base. Woodgrain Quarter Horse Geldings and Family Arabian Stallions have also been seen on these bases. 

(Photo by Des Corbett)

In addition to table lamps, Dunning also made Breyer sconce lamps that featured woodgrain Running Foals.

Sconce lamp with shade
(Photo by Sande Schneider)

A few other horse molds occasionally turn up lamps like the bay Clydesdale Stallion and woodgrain Family Arabian Mare. The Grazing Mare and Foal can also be found, but rarely. I've seen a few examples of matte palomino and matte bay...

(Photo by Debbie Thomas)

...which brings me to the subject of some of the most rare and desirable Dunning lamps. A handful of models that were not released as glossy regular runs can be found in glossy on Dunning lamps. Some of them have decorative rope trim around the base, such as this glossy palomino Grazing Mare and Foal lamp. All of the glossy lamps are quite scarce.

(Wellman collection)

The glossy smoke Belgian is probably the most desirable of the Dunning Horse lamps.

(Photo by Rachel Bergman)

At least three animal molds were also glossed for Dunning lamps, the Longhorn, the Buffalo, and the Elephant. (We do own an example of the latter, but I don't have a photo of it yet. It's on the ever-growing to-do list!) 

Glossy Longhorn lamp (Wellman collection)

Glossy Buffalo lamp (Wellman collection)

While these glossy animal lamps are very rare, Dunning happily offered a variety of other more common animal molds on lamps, both in woodgrain and in realistic colors. 

Woodgrain Longhorn lamp with original
shade and hang tag
(Photo by Stephanie Blaylock)

Bighorn ram lamp (Wellman collection)

And lastly, we come to two of the rarest Dunning lamps, the woodgrain Hereford and woodgrain Buffalo. Unlike the other woodgrains found on Dunning lamps, neither the Hereford nor the Buffalo were ever offered in woodgrain as regular runs. They were special orders by Dunning and are usually only found on lamps. I am aware of two freestanding woodgrain Herefords, one with holes drilled in the bottom of his feet to go on a lamp. I don't know of any freestanding woodgrain Buffalo.

(Wellman collection)

A pair of woodgrain Buffalo lamps (Wellman collection)

Some Dunning lamps have been found with original hang tags. The vast majority of them are leather, but my sister and I also have a paper one. (Another photo I need to take.)

A typical leather hang tag (Wellman collection)

A few of them still have stickers as well declaring that the bases are made of solid oak. Here's one on the base of our matte Elephant lamp. 

My sister and I own many Dunning lamps, more than 45 at last count, and often in duplicate or even in triplicate. (When you keep finding cheap Donkey lamps at antique malls, you buy all 4 of them. I don't make the rules.) So that said, I am rather behind in photographing our collection. I am hoping to remedy that to some degree at the holidays and maybe see how many of our lamp models have USA stamps versus those that don't. I suspect Dunning lamps featuring Breyers were probably being phased out in the early 1970s, but I would be curious to have some more solid data on that.   

In the meantime, I thought it might be handy to compile a list of known Dunning lamps. If I've forgotten any, please feel free to comment below, and I'll update the list. Also, if you have a photo of what you think is a Dunning lamp that I've neglected to mention here, please feel free to email a photo to me at mumtazmahal@gmail.com


Bear and Cub: Usually brown, at least one known with brown mama and black cub

Bighorn Ram: Brown

Brahma: Woodgrain

Buffalo: Matte brown, glossy brown, woodgrain

Clydesdale Stallion: Bay

Donkey: Grey (often chalky)

Elephant: Matte grey, glossy grey

Family Arabian Foal: Matte palomino, woodgrain

Family Arabian Mare: Woodgrain

Family Arabian Stallion: Woodgrain

Fighting Stallion: Matte bay (at least one chalky), glossy palomino, woodgrain

Grazing Mare and Foal: Matte bay, matte palomino, glossy palomino

Hereford: Woodgrain

Longhorn: Matte tan, glossy tan, woodgrain

Quarter Horse Gelding: Woodgrain

Rearing Stallion: Matte bay, matte palomino

Running Mare and Foal: Matte bay (foals sometimes chalky), woodgrain, bay and woodgrain combo, alabaster and smoke combo, glossy dapple grey

Running Foal: Matte bay (sometimes chalky), woodgrain (as sconce)

Shetland: Woodgrain (pair)


Thank you to everyone who contributed photos to this post! I plan to cover the rest of the lamps by known manufacturers in the coming weeks, and then I'll write a catch-all post for the mysteries that do not appear to be aftermarket. As always, thanks for reading!

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Works Cited:

1) Conrad Paysour, "Old Gadgets Light Up Huge Lamp Business," Greensboro Daily News, May 7, 1967, 59. 

2) Ibid.

3) Ibid.

4) Conrad Paysour, "Dunning Industries to Build New Plant on I-85," Greensboro Daily News, March 19, 1969, 13.

5) Eleanor Kennedy, "Dunning Makes it Lightweight," Greensboro Daily News, March 27, 1969, 14.

6) Ellen Scarborough, "He Changes Basic Ideas into Money," The Charlotte Observer, October 22, 1972, 71.

7) Obituaries, News and Record, April 19, 2002, 21.

8) Staff, "Detectives: Building Set On Fire," Greensboro Daily News, June 17, 1983, 3.