Sears, Roebuck & Co.

By 1920 Sears, Roebuck & Co. was wiring the country by mail. Its lighting pages offered everything from plain porcelain pull-chain ceiling lights to multi-arm 'shower' fixtures, almost all of it priced for the working household rather than the parlor of a mansion.

These pages are invaluable for dating, because Sears printed the year on its catalogs and sold in enormous volume. A fixture that matches a 1920 Sears page is, more likely than not, exactly that — which is why restorers and collectors reach for the dated Sears pages first when attributing a find.

The 1920 selection captures the transitional moment: combination gas-and-electric fixtures still appear alongside the newer all-electric pan lights and exposed-bulb pendants that would dominate the decade.