Disgusting isn't it? And now the push-up will work!

Okay...so how does it work?

Early candle sticks had a mechanism for pushing up the candle....when they were hand made and usually not to uniform in size at the bottom. The candle would fit about 3 inches into the candlestick. there was a plate at the bottom of the candle cup attached to a rod which went through the bottom of the candle stick and was usually held in place with a cork with a hole in it.
When you burned the candle down to the lip of the candle stick, you could push up a couple of more inches and get another hour of burning from the candle. But after many years and hours, the middle of the candle stick got filled with old wax and the push up no longer worked. By boiling out all that gook, the push up will again work.
I collect them...

Interesting!

Practical too. It's good to collect things that are useful, even if you don't have blackouts that often! Plus it's pretty enough for a holiday display.

I have something like 18 or 20 of them......going broke buying candles!
Plus the silver ones....
Used to have a holiday party...but for the kitchen, all lit with candles....counting the votives in the windows and the pillars on the coffeetable....something like 50 candles....took 2 people 20 minutes to light!

Ah, but it must have been worth the time! Bet it looked absolutely lovely!

Thanks for the info about these "push-ups" :)

Don't think I've ever seen one, so, I need to know - are the mechanisms obvious if I were to turn one upside-down?

I think the pictures below show whats what....

Here is a link that might be useful: Old candle sticks

Interesting - I never thought about boiling them to get the wax out, duh! I have 2 large, very heavy, copper ones with reflectors (from a ship, maybe?) where the candles are pushed up automatically with a spring. Except wax has one of them completely frozen, including the spring.

Hmmmmm, maybe I'll get to use these for the Holidays after all! Thanks for the tip.

Make sure to use a pot dedicated to "candlestick cooking"....it takes a lot to clean out the wax well enough to use the pot for cooking again!

I don't have anything that interesting but I'm inspired to do some decorating beyond my plastic joke tree!

Plastic "joke tree"? Is that like my silver joke tree?...so bad that it's now becoming "trendy"....which of course means nothing to a person with a house full of "used furniture"!

I'm not sure if it's the same tree. It isn't one of the "classy" old aluminum ones. I bought it a few years ago when I had a kitten and a newly mobile infant and didn't want to mess with the usual tree. I'm a purist and can't stand a fake tree pretending to be a real one, but no pretending with this cheapie. I'm quite fond of it in all its tacky holographic tinsel glory--a great tree for all the handmade textile ornaments we've been given over the years.

Sorry for the offtopicness! My candleholders don't do anything. :( But I want to see the rest of the collection!

My silver tree is one of those with removable branches, each stores in a paper sleeve....really super kitsch!....cute Alice in Wonderland.....and is that the white rabbit with her??\
I was a purist about real trees.....but one day I saw the light....also realized why I "got a cold" every christmas"....and life is a lot easier with a fake tree!!

I'll post pictures of the brass candlesticks when they all are polished enough for polite company....
I have the wax boiled out of the few that were a mess....now to shine them up!

Very interesting Linda. I've just been 'enlightened'. ;o)