Hickeys and Bobesches

Yes, these are names of real pieces of hardware. What is a “hickey,” you might ask? Well, it is a fitting that allows one to hang an electrified fixture from an old gas chandelier mount. I would imagine that this old type of mount continued into the electric era, even when the gas pipes themselves were no longer run in new construction, simply because of the ubiquity of the mount style. Anyway, I found one of these in the fixture mount in the living room after pulling-down the drop ceiling. I was instantly amazed, since this exact piece of hardware was what I really needed when I was hanging the chandelier in the dining room. I didn’t have one, and didn’t know one existed, so the current solution (pardon the pun) is that the electrical wiring comes out around the cap to get to the wiring in the ceiling. Now that I know that these things exist, I can order one so that I can hang the dining room chandelier properly, and then I can install a nice medallion to make for a nice finish. This also means that I’ll be able to install a nice fixture in the living room and do it the right way the first time. Thanks to the folks at Old House Web for listening to my description and answering my question on the first shot. Woo hoo!

Here’s an example of what a hickey looks like: 

You can find out more about this and all sorts of other odd lamp hardware over at Antique Lamp Supply. They’re awesome.

– jonathan