1930s Chaplin-Style "Lamppost Drunk" Figural Novelty Table Lamp, Red Panel Shade

Top hat askew, wine bottle in hand, one leg kicked back — he's had a night. The figure wraps around his ornate cast street lamp with the easy confidence of a man who's made this post his best friend. Modeled after Charlie Chaplin's Little Tramp, this formally dressed hobo is a stock comic archetype of the era — the kind of image that turned up on Depression-era clocks, banks, and barware across America. The stepped foliate base and fluted column are cast in aluminum, finished in black over silver, the layers worn through each other in a way that reads more as patina than damage.

Lit, the four-panel trapezoidal lantern shade throws a warm red glow through its translucent inserts — exactly the light a good bar deserves. Wired with a pull-chain switch on a standard socket and its original braided cloth cord, this is a lamp you actually use. Working examples with undamaged shade panels turn up less often than one might expect; the celluloid-type panels of this vintage are fragile and were frequently swapped.

CONDITION

Good and fully functional. Chipped paint throughout, with the black finish worn to bare silver metal across the base, column, and figure — age-appropriate wear that adds character rather than detracting. All four shade panels are intact with even red tone.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall: 15 1/4" H × 6 1/2" W × 5" D
• Construction: Cast aluminum base and column
• Shade: Four translucent red panel inserts
• Switch: Pull chain
• Bulb: Standard socket
• Cord: Original braided cloth
• Unmarked
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale — Not Included