I stumbled across these lamps when some friends forced me to take one home from a fundraising auction a couple years ago. At first, the lamp seemed really ridiculous, but it really ended up growing on me. So, naturally I poked around and tried to find some more information about it, but was not able to find anything on the web. All of the lamps carry a label on the back that says "Apsit Bros. of Calif." and a year.
I was, however, able to find some for sale on eBay, and ended up getting sucked into purchasing more. The lamps with the blue background are the ones in my collection (5 total). Total is now 47 lamps on this site! (continued below...)
The name "Apsit" is very frequently misspelled as "Aspit". These lamps are all plaster cast, and are hand painted. I've learned a lot from people emailing me about their own lamps, and it sounds like they were sold unpainted, and people would buy them, paint them themselves and then sell them. Thanks for all of your emails!
The oldest lamp I've found so far is from 1974, and the newest from 1987. At least, that's what they say on the back of each lamp. You can see some of the dates in the pictures of the lamps.
It's a complete mystery how much these lamps are worth. Since they're all painted by different people, they vary widely in quality. I've seen them up on eBay selling for anywhere from $10 to a couple hundred. I think it's all just in the luck of finding the right buyer!
Most of the lamps share either a frontier or nautical theme, although there are a couple of outliers. I have no idea how many of each lamp were made, or how many different lamps are in existence. I have seen several duplicates of lamps now, and it's interesting to see how they were painted differently.
This is pretty much all I know about the lamps, if you have any other information or own one yourself, please email me, I'm interested to learn more! I'd like to post visitor comments on this site, so if you email and you'd prefer not to have your message posted here, let me know.
From a reader in Bend, Oregon
In the 1980's I was acquainted with the Apsit Brothers in a business I had in San Leandro, CA.
I don't recall their first names, but I can tell you this about them.
They lived and worked in Bakersfield, CA. One brother was an artist and would sculpture the original model from clay. He was very good.
The other brother made latex molds of the models and then cast them in Hydrocal plaster. Hydrocal is Trade name of US Gypsum's casting plaster, which is harder than the common plaster used in drywall.
I owned a retail business called Laura's Plaster Craft which specialized in this sole product. The store sold statuary and plaques of many descriptions and from many suppliers.
The Apsit Brothers line was a big seller. Two very popular lamps were the Pelicans and the Stage Coach. There should be many of the Apsit lamps in these in existence. I sold their stuff unfinished and provided the customer with the training and material to finish the item themselves.
Some customers like the item but wanted just a statue and not a lamp. In those cases would remove the pipe from the upper part of the statue, and then close over the opening with new plaster.
I closed the store in the 90's and retired. I still have one of the "Apsit Brothers Lamp" unfinished. It is a cowboy with his saddle at his feet. It is about 20" tall. Wish I could get some of the art today.
From Apsit Lamp fan Matt
Peter,
I came across your site as you seem to be the only person online who has any sort of information regarding Apsit bros lamps. I actually own the lamp from 1980 of the miner with the cart of gold. I very vividly remember my grandfather having a very similar Apsit Bros. lamp on his desk when I was a child, and I found this lamp on ebay, and bought it. I dont know what it is about these lamps but I find them to be very special and cool. Oh and heres something that I am sure that you will enjoy. The other night I had tivoed seinfeld and it was an episode called " The chicken roaster", well at the end of the episode Kramer is laying in bed and on his night stand it looks like an apsit bros lamp! I have included the youtube link to the end of the episode. Just thought that you'd like this, as I think that this is the first time one has been seen in mainstream media.
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