Rows of Green Shades

Banker’s lamps are the lamps that you see in libraries, studies, and courtrooms among other places. They have become a familiar sight to many and have a brass base and a kelly-green shade. You can see the shining green glow of these familiar lamps in academic environments.

First banker’s lamp

In 1909 the first banker’s lamp was introduced when a New York City engineer named Harrison D. McFaddin got his patent to create “a new, original, and ornamental design for lampshades.” He called his design Emeralite and manufactured it through his father’s houseware company H.G. McFaddin & Co. The now-familiar green glass shades were produced in a factory in what today is the Czech Republic.

At this time other companies jumped on the bandwagon and started manufacturing lamps naming them “Greenalite,” “Verdelite,” and “Amronlite,” however the original Emeralite brand is looked at as the premier banker’s lamp. Today actual Emeralite lamps are no longer produced and many reproductions are now sold.

The green shades

The reason banker’s lamps have rounded green shades it that this gives off a soft light that is easy on the eyes. They were designed to protect the eyes by eliminating glare and improving the quality of light. So as you sit reading or writing by a banker’s lamp your eye won’t tire as easily and you’ll be able to see your material clearly.

The green-tinted light makes it easier for people who have to read and write for long hours. However, even though people enjoy working by these lights there is no actual proof that they are better on the eyes than other kinds of lights. Having a light that is soft and easy on the eyes will help lessen eye strain and you’ll find that you blink less.

One way or another the banker’s lamp sales pitch worked and banks, libraries, and other institutions bought them and they became a familiar sight. Emeralite had impressive clients like the Bell Telephone Co., General Motors, Harvard University, F. W. Woolworth & Co., and others. These lamps look quite impressive when you walk into a library and see a whole row of green-shaded lamps.

The timeless ubiquity of banker’s lamps

The Boston Public Library has a stately reading room and they have chosen to use banker’s lamps. Even though these lamps don’t have the standard banker’s lamp design they have become a popular sight in the library. They were installed in the reading room in the 1990s when the library was under renovation and have dark green shades.

Banker’s lamps are also ubiquitous and have been seen on TV and in the movies through the decades. Among the shows and movies where banker’s lamps have been seen are “Seinfeld,” “Frasier,” “Legally Blonde,” “Gilmore Girls,” “Goodfellas,” “Dick Tracy,” several James Bond movies, and more.

Banker’s lamp in whatever style and design remain a familiar sight and most likely if a person walked into a library or other institution would be quite surprised if they did not see the familiar green shades.