The Charm of Vintage Italian Tole Chandeliers

Our last blog was about antique light fixtures and chandeliers. We have sold many vintage chandeliers over the years and I want to highlight vintage tole chandeliers, in particular because they are so charming. 

Tole refers to the decorative paint on metal and if it is a vintage Italian chandelier, they probably were made in and around Florence. The tole chandeliers and that are on our website were all hand sourced in this area and are from the 1950’s/60’s.

This floral tole chandelier looked wonderful in a customer’s bedroom at their lake home . The antique gate also came from MERCATO. A friend who is a blacksmith combined the two gate section pieces together to make a very distinctive headboard. I like this photo because it demonstrates how tole chandeliers can mix with very different kinds of things; the gate is antique, very large, dramatic and makes quite a statement, while the chandelier is very feminine with petite painted flowers. It’s all how you put it together, and this room looked great. The gate and the chandelier don’t compete, they each add personality to the space.

  Here is the largest tole chandelier we’ve ever had...

It was perfect for this high ceiling of a customer’s music room. You don’t see a tole chandelier of this size very often.

This tole chandelier is unique, the flowers are birds of paradise. 

The  vintage chandelier below has lovely blue flowers; like all of the chandeliers we sell, it has all original paint.

We have quite a variety of vintage tole chandeliers, some of which have not yet been wired. Most of our customers take these to lighting stores for wiring, there they can also add the chain and canopy . Here in the Kansas City area, the wiring cost varies. The cost is roughly $100 for a 3 arm chandelier and $175 for a 5 arm chandelier.  If you are looking for a unique and charming chandelier for a room, you might want to consider an Italian tole chandelier.