Identifying candlesticks and lighting fittings

Sockets, prickets, and drip pans — dating domestic light.

Before the socket came the pricket: a spike that impaled the candle, standard on medieval candlesticks and surviving longest in churches. Socket candlesticks with broad drip pans mid-stem are 16th–17th century; pushed-up ejector sticks, baluster stems, and paired cast halves mark the 18th; heavy loaded bases the 19th.

Fragments are typical finds: a socket with part of a stem, a drip pan, a base ring. Note how the socket was made — cast in one, seamed sheet, or with an ejector slot — and any lathe-turning lines. Rushlight holders (sprung iron pincers on a stand) are a related rural form.

Record height of what survives, socket diameter (candle sizes changed), and metal. Sooting and wax traces confirm use; a socket diameter too wide for any candle may actually be a different fitting altogether — say so rather than forcing it.

From the guide library inside Collectors Catalogues, a free app for cataloguing antiques and finds with honest, museum-grade records.

More on metalwork

Identifying harness and horse fittings — Pendants, mounts, and buckles.

Identifying weights — Standardised mass, marked.

Identifying keys and locks — Bit, bow, and stem.

Identifying pins and needles — Head form and point.

Identifying mounts and fittings — Rivets, solder, and back.

Identifying buckles — The commonest metal-detecting find after coins — and surprisingly datable.

Home · Get the app · Guides · Museums · Privacy · Terms