This "eyeball lamp" comes by way of St. Louis Craigslist and was somewhat of an impulse purchase. "That's kinda cool," I thought, "looks sorta like a Sonneman Orbiter." In the trunk it went. Yes, they did look similar, but it was missing the trademark handle and they've pumped out knockoffs of Sonneman's by the thousands, so I thought nothing of it.
Then I get home and, in the process of giving it a once-over, noticed this tiny green sticker.
Yep, it's confirmed. This is a "Kovacs", not a Sonneman. Oh well.
Or is it...
I hadn't heard of the Kovacs name before, so I performed a little Google magic and guess what.
It's a gen-u-ine Sonneman!
From what I can gather, Robert Sonneman designed a series of lamps for Robert Kovacs' light fixture company. This included the orbiter series, but also a number of other lamps that didn't include the adjustable Orbiter handle.
The details all match up (the hinge, the wire, the stand material, etc.), so unlike a lot of other ID attempts, I'm fairly certain about this one (though feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken).
So now this little guy is gonna direct his cyclopic gaze over my study. No more Walmart junk-lamp here!
