A rare and original 1930s BL1 desk lamp by Bestlite, designed by Robert Dudley Best, with original chrome and Bakelite-tipped switch, adjustable swan neck arm and black enamel shade and base.

This lamp has been in my possession for over forty years and has been used almost every day during that time. It has a few superficial scuffs on the shade and base, as you would expect from a lamp that is 90 years old, but given that the enamel finish is original, it’s in remarkably excellent condition. The Bakelite tipped switch is also original (some BL1 examples out there have been modified) and works perfectly, as are the mechanics of the lamp, including the lampshade ball socket that moves smoothly in all directions, and the grip that holds the adjustable swan neck in place wherever it’s placed. The lamp has been rewired at some point and has a UK plug.

All in all, you will have to go a long way to find a better example of the BL1. Why pay top money for one of the many modern reproductions out there when you can own an original?

The Bestlite BL1 Table Lamp was regarded as one of the first examples of Bauhaus in Britain and, although initially favoured by car mechanics on account of its adjustability, the swan-necked BL1 achieved iconic status when it was pictured on Winston Churchill's desk in his air-raid shelter beneath Whitehall during World War II.

Robert Dudley Best (1892-1984) was heir to the world's largest lighting manufacturing company Best & Lloyd, providing traditional lamps to a prestigious clientele, including for the Titanic and the Orient Express, However, while studying in Düsseldorf, Dudley Best was greatly influenced by the avant-garde Bauhaus movement that accentuated bold simplicity in architecture and design. Best drew his first design of the BL1 in 1930, resulting in possibly the first example of British Bauhaus design.