I'm sure we all remember in the late 1980s and through the early 1990s, when standard shaped GLS lamps such as this, generally in lower wattages were a common sight as decorative items.  They seem to have become a somewhat rarer sight in recent years, especially over the festive period where many houses used to line the eaves with them having switched over to the more energy efficient and long lived LED products which are becoming increasingly affordable.  These lamps generally were seen for those purposes in bold colours (most commonly red, yellow, blue, green and sometimes pink), usually coloured with an external lacquer or powder coating.

This particular lamp is a bit of an enigma.  It's on in a series of coloured lamps with our local Morrison's Supermarket has for sale.  I'm unsure however whether they are attempting to grab back some share of this market, or if these lamps are designed more for atmospheric lighting inside the home.  The colour of this lamp (despite the apparently orange colour the lamp looks in the photograph of it lit) is a slightly pale red colour (as the photo below of the lamp illuminating my workstation shows correctly).  The main differences between this lamp and those which were often seen as decorative outdoor lamps are in method of colouration, and wattage.  This is a 60W lamp, rather than the usual decorative lamp rating of 25W.  The downside of this is that it means that the lamp runs far hotter than its common counterparts - which if it were used in an outdoor environment would greatly increase the risk of the lamp shattering if water were to land on it when it was lit.  The colour to this lamp is created by the use of a powder coating applied to the inner surface of the bulb.  This has the advantage of being far more durable than even the hardest wearing external coating, but is more expensive to produce.

Due to these factors, and the fact that there are a very limited selection of colours available (red, peach, terracotta and orange), I can only deduce that they're aiming this lamp at those wanting to create a rather bold visual contrast with lighting in their homes, and this lamp can indeed do that extremely well.  It should be noted however that the coloured coating does cut down on the overall light output a LOT, and the light level produced by this (as well as being distinctly red in colour) is rather weak, about what I would expect from a 30W clear bulb.

Overall, this lamp is an interesting curiosity, and as a collector, of course I'm happy to have one (well, two actually thanks to Morrison's having gone and packed it in such a manner that the packaging has to be destroyed to get the lamp out.  So I got two, one to keep in its packaging, and one to use for photography).  Practically it's not a huge amount of use though.  There are far better ways to get coloured light (standard lamps and filters - allows you to use more energy efficient lamps then as well), coloured compact fluorescent lamps are something also which I expect to start to see more commonly over the coming years.

Morrison's Supermarkets have quite a range of lighting products available now, all branded under their own name.  I would be very interested to learn who the OEM of these lamps is.  If anyone out there knows, please drop me a line and let me know.