Jan & John Maggs

Antiques and Art

A pair of Queen Anne petal base candlesticks with twist-up ejectors

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An elegant pair of brass candlesticks, with petal bases and four-lobed sockets. This form was extremely popular in England at the middle of the 18th century, and the sourcebooks show many variations on this form.

A candlestick with an ejector mechanism has a round ejector disk inside the candle socket. Beneath that and hidden from view is a mechanism that raises or lowers the candle by twisting the base of the stick. In these sticks, the mechanism is frozen from disuse, and we haven’t attempted to free it up.

The twist-up mechanism was first identified in Paris in 1730 and appeared in London a few decades later, in a form for which Christopher Pinchbeck II was granted a patent in 1768. The Pinchbeck firm is also credited with a very desirable alloy of copper and zinc that was commonly used in the production of jewelry. (See Koldeweij, The English candlestick, Cat 104 - 121)

English, ca. 1750 Height: 7 ¾”; Bases: 4 ¼” square

Price: $675

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