I wish I could remember who pointed this out years ago, but I think it was one of these ladies:

This photo takes me back to the summer after my folks moved to Fairfield for the second time. It was following my sophomore year at IU, and I’d invited several high-school friends (from our first round in Fairfield) over for lunch.

One of them noticed a certain lamp.

“Isn’t that the lamp from the Dick Van Dyke Show?”

What?!

To this day, I’m stunned that anyone would recall a specific lamp from the set of a 1960s sitcom, even one as memorable as the Dick Van Dyke Show. It’s not as if there was an episode built around it – it was just there, on the end table, in Rob’s office, next to the couch.

It was also next to our couch. Here’s a favorite photo of Mom, with a photobomb from that lamp.

Well it turns out the lamp wasn’t just in Rob’s office, it was in his bedroom, as well.

Dad doesn’t remember exactly where he and Mom purchased their chess lamp. He thinks, though, it was during our Pittsfield years, where we lived from 1962 to 1970.

The brass lamp was made by the Laurel Lamp Company, which, according to a Sotheby’s-affiliated website, was an “active tastemaker in Mid-Century Modern lighting from the 1950s to the 1970s.”

Here’s a closer look:

Where is our chess lamp now? I asked Dad over the phone yesterday, “Could you check, mate?” It’s safe in the attic, he says. And no, he would never pawn it. After all, ’twas his Queen who chose that lamp. (Update: It’s now in son John’s house.)

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