First off, this site has an excellent rundown on the history of holiday lighting. I'll jump into the post-war America section for some background info:
http://oldchristmastreelights.com/1946_1950.htm <http://oldchristmastreelights.com/1946_1950.htm> Next, here's the detailed history of bubble lights, including the legal battle over the patents: http://oldchristmastreelights.com/bubble_lights1.htm <http://oldchristmastreelights.com/bubble_lights1.htm> There's a quick way to tell if a set of candelabra base bubble lights is "new" versus "vintage". Starting in the early '70s, manufacturers began crimping the top of the tubes to make the tip look like a flame. The old ones are straight. If you're a Lionel train fan, NOMA made the famous talking railroad station. I have reproduction bubble tubes made by Richard Curry who reverse-engineered the chemistries. I made a lifetime purchase eight or ten years ago and he hasn't had any for sale for a long time; that well has run dry. I paid him $10 apiece, lifetime warranty. I asked Rich recently what original Shooting-Star tubes were going for on eBay and all he said was that they're "out of sight". He has all of his trade secrets written down and stashed away with his family. Anyone with deep pockets care to step up to the plate? A good investment opportunity in my opinion. Who doesn't love bubble lights? Oils and shooters are really cool, no one is going to be making them, and collectors who came to the game too late would gobble them up. eBay has banned the sale of bubble lights; you can still find a few listings that haven't been reported yet by some busybody. I think I mentioned in the other thread that new sets still around if you can find them. Don't ever buy just what you need, get one extra set. The bulbs in the ones made in the last ten or twenty years are crap. At least one will blow early on because of a bad vacuum or seal. Also, the action may be anemic because of an insufficiently hard vacuum and colder light bulbs but they're all that's available. Note that there are bubble lights with clear tubes/bases and colored light bulbs. The effect is rather like Easter pastels but with more saturated colors. In the right setting they look very nice. A white or silver tree would be perfect. Imagine if they banned Nixie tubes on eBay because some have mercury in them. O_O Much, much more to tell if anyone is interested... Terry Bowman, KA4HJH "The Mac Doctor" https://www.astarcloseup.com "There is no Main Street anymore except at Disneyland—and try and buy a gun there"—Hank Hill -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "neonixie-l" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to neonixie-l+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web, visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/neonixie-l/5D70AA0B-BD43-4135-AE89-22CEE94B2A08%40gmail.com.
