Shedding a little light on Breyer Western Horse Lamps

Most collectors are familiar with the "Ranchcraft" line of Breyer woodgrain lamps sold by Dunning Industries in the 1960s and 1970s. They featured models such as the Running Mare and Foal, the Fighting Stallion, the Family Arab Foal, and even a few animals like the Longhorn Steer and the Brahma Bull. These woodgrain models were mounted on wooden bases and the lamps sported rustic burlap shades.A few non-woodgrain models graced these lamps, too, like the grey Elephant and Donkey and the Bay Rearing Stallion.

Rare woodgrain Buffalo lamp by Dunning

Less common, however, are the Western Horse and Western Pony "scroll base" lamps. Like the Western Horse clocks, they date to the early 1950s, near the beginning of Breyer's model horse history. The Western Horse lamps, as with the clocks, have turned up in both alabaster and palomino. In my experience, the alabasters usually come on black-painted metal bases while the palominos are typically seen on brown or turquoisey-green bases. These metal scroll base lamps are generally harder to find than most of the Ranchcraft lamps.

We know these lamps date to the early 1950s because the Western Horses that are found on them were only made in that time period. Some have black hooves which peg them as the very earliest examples of Western Horses, and we know the black hooves were typical until about 1952. Grey hooved examples of these lamps are also known, but all of them have high grommet saddles, meaning the metal ring that attaches the girth to the saddle is at the top of the fender. By about 1954, Breyer had switched the attachment point to the bottom of the fender (low grommet), saving themselves a couple of inches of girth material per model. So that said, these lamps for sure date to about 1952-1953, and they have been made a bit earlier, but probably not later based on the saddles.

The examples pictured below have the original shade, and I have seen a few other scroll base lamps with shades of the same shape that may also be original. One looks almost identical to mine, but has some mid-century modern style geometric designs printed on it, and another is dark red with thin banding on the top and bottom edge rather than lacing. 

The Western Pony version of these lamps is much harder to find than the Western Horse version. I've only seen 2 or 3 myself. All of those have been palomino ponies on brown bases. Here are some quick photos of mine. (The saddle should be brown, not black.) Interestingly, this guy came with a small burlap shade that matches the shape of the shades for the larger Western Horse lamps. I'm not sure if it's original, but it looks the part.

On the back side of the Western Pony lamp, you can see a small metal band that screws into the side of the pony and bends around the lamp pole. The Western Horse versions of these lamps also usually have the same metal band and screw attachment.

My mom, sister, and I recently acquired the palomino Western Horse lamp pictured above, and we were pleased to discover a manufacturer's sticker on the bottom of the base. As far as I know, no other examples are known with any sort of identifying marks (although if you happen to have one, I'd love to know!), so we were pretty excited to finally have a maker's name to add to our provenance files.

I have not yet been able to track down much information about the Marks Manufacturing Company, but as I work in a top-notch research library, that of my alma mater, the University of Chicago, I have access to some handy sources like a 1956 Chicago phone book. I was able to track down the address of Marks, and  like the Mastercrafter Clock Company, it was a near neighbor of the Breyer factory. All three were located just west of downtown Chicago. Mastercrafters was about one mile due east of Breyer, and Marks was a bit northeast, about 2 miles away.

The use of the zone number (22) rather than a zip code helps narrow the date on this piece to the 1950s, and the high grommet saddles and painting style of the Western Horses on the lamps pinpoint them to the early 1950s. Based on pictures I've found of other (non-horse) Marks made lamps, the company appears to have been in business as early as the 1930s if not earlier. I have not yet been able to determine if it was related to the well-known Clayton Mark and Company (of Evanston, IL) and Mark (no "s") Manufacturing Company of Indiana. The latter two companies specialized in steel manufacturing of pipes and well equipment and were founded by Clayton Mark (of Marktown fame) and his sons. It's not a huge stretch to think that someone in the family might have opted for the decorative side of metal work, but it could also be a complete coincidence.

I plan to do more digging to track down the history of Marks. I'm very curious to know how long the company was in business after their collaboration with Breyer and whether or not it was related to one of Clayton Mark's companies. I'll be sure to blog about anything I find!

Next time, some news on those chinas we all Love!