Candlesticks seem always to have been considered a part of the house furnishings in America, for we find accounts of them in the earliest records of the colonies. Many of these were brought from England, and in colonial dwellings still standing we find excellent specimens still preserved. The first candlesticks extensively used here were rudely fashioned of iron and tin, being among the first articles of purely domestic manufacture found in New England. Later, with the building of more pretentious homes, candlesticks made of brass, pewter, and silver came into vogue, the brass ones being the most commonly used, as well as candelabra, and in the homes of the wealthier class were found brass wall sconces that were imported from London and France.
Plate LI.—Colonial Mantel Lamp; Single bedroom brass Candlestick; Sheffield Plate Candlesticks.
A particularly fine pair of these sconces is found in the Osgood house on Chestnut Street, Salem. Here the brass filigree work is in the form of a lyre encircled with a laurel wreath, and surmounted by the head of Apollo. The tree branches curve gracefully outward from the wreath and below the lyre.
In the early part of the eighteenth century, snuffers and snuffer boats, as the trays in which the candlesticks rested were known, came into use. These were sometimes of plain design, and sometimes fanciful, made either of brass or silver. Pewter was also used for this purpose, and later it became a favorite metal for the manufacture of hall lamps and candlesticks.
Plate LII.—Pierced, or Paul Revere Lantern; Old Hand Lantern; English Silver Candlesticks; Brass Branching Candlesticks, Chippendale, 1760.
Lanterns next came into style and were a prominent feature of the hallway furnishing. Many of these were gilded and many were painted, and their greatest period of popularity was during the first part of the eighteenth century. About 1750 the first glass lamps came into favor. These were not like those of a later period, being very simple in form, and not particularly graceful.