Cheap House Of Troy N651-AB Newport Collection Portable 30-1/4-Inch Table

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List Price: $205.00
Sale Price: $198.00
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I ordered a pair of these lamps thinking that they would be "Made in America" because the company is located here. I was disappointed to see the boxes stamped "Made In China". The lamps themselves are very attractive although there are a few flaws in the workmanship. I decided to keep them anyway and overlook the flaws that probably are only apparent to myself.

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Of the pair of these House of Troy Newport Collection Table Lamps I first received, one had to be sent back immediately due to a serious defect. Specifically, the factory did not correctly assemble the column to the base, so the lamp very visibly tilted to one side, like the Leaning Tower of Pisa. Hard to believe the factory missed this defect, as it was obvious as soon as I opened the box.

On both lamps, another problem is the finial, in my opinion. For some reason, I expected it to be made of brass. Instead, it appears to be a brass-plated pot metal casting with a crudish thread that is hard to get started without cross-threading. The finial is more or less representative of the workmanship of the lamp as a whole, which is acceptable but slightly "off." If the lamps are hand-finished with the variations this implies, fine, but the hands need to be a bit more highly skilled. My conclusion is that these lamps do not look as refined in reality as in the picture. No doubt I would consider them more favorably if they cost less.

Notwithstanding the preceding, the lamp I did not have to return looks impressive. The overall design is very good. The double lamp sockets with pull chains are an excellent feature, even though the chains don't align perpendicularly with the cord coming out of the base, a detail I would have liked to see. The lamp gives a positive sense of weight, solidity, and strength. And the shade is quite nice, although more tan than off-white.

The bottom line is that the lamps are good enough (when not defective) that I asked Amazon.com to replace the defective lamp, rather than my returning both of them. This decision was not easy, because it seems to me that the price of the lamps exceeds their quality. Hopefully my luck will be better next time and the replacement lamp will not be defective.

Follow-up. The replacement lamp was also defective, as it came out of the box with a sharp dent in the side of the base. These lamps are so well packed that the dent had to be there before the lamp left the factory, in my estimation. I also had this lamp exchanged. The next replacement was free of outright defects as far as I could tell. So finally I have a matching pair of lamps in the living room. They look good enough to have been worth waiting for.