Vintage Mid-Century Modern Saturn UFO 3 ring hanging light fixture Kurt Versen

  
Vintage Mid Century Modern Saturn hanging light fixture designed in the 1950s by Kurt Versen. Kurt Versen designed "Saturn" ceiling light featuring a stacked steel ring light shade suspended by wire to focused light socket. All together this light fixture is 13.5 tall and maximum 19 diameter.. These pendant ceiling lights are usually called UFO or Saturn lights, due to the Saturn like rings of their design during the era of atomic. The form was originally designed by Kurt Versen and they are a good bridge between the Art Deco Industrial and Mid-Century Modern/Modernism design periods, but still following the strict form follows function dictate of the Bauhaus school.

These lights are true Industrial lighting and you could find versions of them in institutional settings with high ceilings and lots of space, such as schools and office buildings, but this version is shorter and designed more for homes. This fact leads me to believe this particular fixture is one of the early ones designed by Kurt Versen in the 1950s but it could be from Prescolite or Smoot-Holman, or all three, none of which can be confirmed due to there be very limited markings on the fixture and the few I have found are not identifying or difficult to read (see pictures, they were found in the light socket). Could be easily spray painted to fit your decor. May need paint depending on the look you are going for.

Have scuffs, scrapes, scratches, paint loss, minor rust spots and minor bending/warping as pictured. I have tried to show everything in the pictures (I have more pictures than this ad allowed so please ask if you want to see any of them). Personally I chose not to change or paint the fixture (except for the light I used) as I like the original patina. There are some indications that parts of it might have been painted in later decades but not sure. The three connecting rings are 19 14 and 9 diameter.

Each ring is 2.5 tall and the concentric rings stacked (the main part of the fixture) is a total of 5.25 tall. The top ring is about 7.5 in diameter, suspended on the three wires that hang the rings and Is removable. The ceiling cap is about 5 1/4 diameter with a modern spreader bar for connection to a electrical box. There are 2 threaded rods with nuts that attach to the bar through the cap. The complete light bulb housing is about 7 tall until you get to where the rings suspend below it.

When flush mounted onto a ceiling, as we did in our entry (see pictures) it drops about 13.5 down total. While you can use a standard bulb in the light bulb housing (and I show that) I chose to use a halogen bulb with a shade that directed the majority of the light in a cone directly down.

It required a ceramic extension to screw the halogen light into the light bulb housing. You can see how this halogen light works in the pictures from our entry. This piece is ready to use. We include the fixture box mounting hardware we used so that you can install it as easily as we did into an existing fixture box. Please examine the pictures as I tried to show everything and ask any questions you have.

This is a great fixture that we used over a dining table and in an entry and loved it. We are downsizing and will no longer be able to install it.

The pictures are of the item you will receive, please review them carefully and ask any questions that you might have. This is from a smoke free, animal free home.

We are downsizing and having to part with our collection amassed over 30 years. Unless noted otherwise, the items for sale are in their original estate condition with age appropriate imperfections. The item "Vintage Mid-Century Modern Saturn UFO 3 ring hanging light fixture Kurt Versen" is in sale since Tuesday, July 21, 2020. This item is in the category "Antiques\Periods & Styles\Mid-Century Modernism".

The seller is "mjts15" and is located in Bryan, Texas. This item can be shipped to United States.

• Diameter: 19"
• Material: Metal
• Height: 13.5"
• Style: Mid-Century Modern
• Color: White
• Type: Light Fixture
• Original/Reproduction: Original