I began collecting lamp shades almost at the same time I began collecting Czech glass. Most of them were American, and did not really match my vases, so I made a determined effort to buy shades I thought could be Czech. Then I ran into the all too common problem in Czech collecting: They were advertised as "Loetz" but I knew in my bones they were not. Besides, they were relatively more abundant, which I would not expect Loetz shades to be.
As I have done with my inkwells, I tried to find vases that matched the shades in order to determine provenance. The evidence pointed to Pallme-König (or Elizabethütte), since I had obtained almost exact matches between some shades and vases, but there remained a logical mystery. How exactly had those shades arrived in this country?
A dealer provided the answer, advertising a particularly desirable shade as a "Teplitz shade" included in Catalog 12 of the R. Williamson Company from Chicago. I asked if he could sell me copies of the pertinent pages and he obliged. I was totally unprepared for what I found: Three pages with over 70 color examples of Teplitz shades, several of which I already had!
And the mystery was solved. "Teplitz shades" had been imported in vast quantities for the American market. And they matched the glassware in my collection made by Pallme-König, which had factories in Teplitz.  1. CAT. 12, 1 The shade's distinctive coloring is a marker: A white body with pink and green decoration. As we shall see, there are variations.The shade on the bottom left hand corner corresponds to this one. I am using the Williamson Catalog number:  2. 7743  3. CAT.2, 2 This is the shade pictured on the far right, third row:On this page one can recognize many of the shades that ahve gone through eBay as "Loetz." This is a variation of the second from the left, top row:
 3.7066
This pair shows a variation of the third from the left, second row; they had chunks of the fitter rims missing, but I'd rather have them than not. Besides, once in their fitters, it does not show!  4. 7065
 5. 7027
This is a picture of matching vases:
 6. PINK WHITE TRIO And a set of shades, not cataloged. I found one and several years later found a matching set of three. Patience pays off!  8. HAPPINESS IS . . . I took this one from the internet; it is the fourth from the left, second row:  9. 7077 The third page of the Williamson Catalog N. 12 shows some surprising shades, since they are not what anyone would expect Czech shades to look like:
 Another dealer sent me a copy of Jo Ann Thomas' Early Twentieth Century Lighting Fixtures: Selections from the R. Williamson Lamp Catalog (Paducah, KY: Collectors' Books, 2000), and right there on the cover were Pallme-König shades! This book is a reproduction of Catalog 15, and the section on Teplitz shades has been reduced to a mere two pages and 24 shades.  12. CAT. 15 1  | And now, a picture of vases which correspond to this line of shades: the vase is identified as PK, but the shade is not in the Williamson Catalogs.
 13. VASE AND MATCHING SHADE
Another matching shade  14. FLORIFORM SHADE
The same vase, with pink/red spotting:  15. PEAKED VASE
 16. MATCHING SHADE I have collected internet photographs of shades which I believe to be "Teplitz shades," that is, Pallme-König. You be the judge.  17. INT. 1
         I also classify these, which appear quite frequently, as Pallme-König. They are from my collection:   In my article on PK, there is a lamp that accompanied me for many years. Unfortunately, it met with an untimely end. I kept the base, and one day, as if by magic, I found a shade that more than surpassed my expectations, and that represents Art Nouveau's masterful use of natural forms:
 30. MUSHROOM FORM
 31. PK MUSHROOM SHADE |