Na, not home made. No place for a
lens to fit or you would see indications of a large standoff behind the
gel frame. That's like a 8"
lens hole and will have been a large standoff for such a
lens size. If it had a
lens it will have been at least 1.34" thick in size and will have easily cracked with heat. Think back to the age of horizontal
gel frames - in this case metal but of that age. Say a age in switching to higher wattage lamps this was capable of, and the obsolete wooden
gel frame. You still mostly had the choice of spot or
wash lights. And yes they would seem home made as per the ability of the age.
Ever tell the tale about how like five years ago I needed to make some replacement parts for some PC fixtures? I had also gotten in some 1911 period accessories for PC/arc fixtures - a lot of them, but I wasn't going to buy fixtures just to mount them or I would want to display such lights bought also - alone. Given I had the original parts to copy, I made jigs and
hand stamped the sheet metal to make more fixtures amongst other details.... took an entire summer to make six more lights plus the replacement parts needed. It was a lot of work and cheaper in man-hours even than it will have been to buy one. Plus the joints on these seem while not lead solder, original in bolting and bending - hard to re-produce with all of the various complex bends shown. Yes, I have physically made fixtures from the era, and repaired many more including silver braizing parts to make parts to others. Making one or a few lights is seemingly easy but easily eats up man/hours and materials + you need fabrication shop tooling, pars and ability. And an original to copy or a lot of design time to invent as I did with some parts on other lights.
At an antique shop basement I once found two very similar lights in a bin under a table.
1) Brenkert Hi-Lighter 5"
PC Spotlight c. pre-1910-14; 250w
Med. Screw G-30. Sym to a C700 or C701, Brown Olive Drab, Swivel ball wall mount, mounting fabricated.
Fixture designed for
FOH use.
1) Brenkert 5" Floodlight c.1910-14; 250w G-30
Med. Screw. Sym to a C700 or C701, Black Paint, No recess for
lens retaining clip. Swivel ball wall mount, mounting fabricated.
Fixture designed for
FOH use.
Given different original colors they were from opposing years, but were in general the same lighting
fixture. One had a means of
lens retaining ring in the front casting, the other didn't. One was designed for one purpose, the other perhaps later remove the
lens and you could do both.
Also have something that looks like an extended
beam projector from the same early age:
1) National X-Ray
Reflector Company 12" Floodlight / X-Ray
Projector c.1911-1916; 1Kw G-40, E-39 Mog. Screw
base. Rosette bottom Mount
yoke, similar in shape to a 8"
Fresnel but longer, missing any means of front
lens assembly for such a concept, and with two horizontal
gel frame clips mounted to the frame - pre-1930's. Similar to a
beam projector but no means of mounting the
spill shield. Replaced missing famous rear stationary glass mirror
reflector with 8" aluminum. focusable lamp to
reflector. From Atheneum Theater. Four more possibly in ceiling of the Chicago Theater.
Brenkert and National X-Ray
Reflector Company I have posted links to in the past. Unfortunately due to Window's 10 upgrade (downgrade) I cannot find either direct link showing the above lighting fixtures in period catalogs.
While I have never seen the above box flood before, I do think it is period.