American Electric illuminated glass globes were produced for only a short period, from the mid 1930s to about 1962, when economically more affordable and less labor intensive plastic replaced the glass globes. Yet no plastic orb can provide the beauty and craftsmanship of a glass globe. The hand blown glass orb is covered by 12 individual, hand applied paper gores representing the map and mounted onto a beautiful walnut base. The perfectly aged patina displays a world at the dawn of WW2. Germany is still shown in its post WW1 borders while the Japanese Empire has already occupied Manchuria in China and re-named Manchukuo. History of the manufacture: Replogle   1930 – July 2014 Luther Replogle, a former sales rep for Weber Costello and Denoyer - Geppert, began making globes in his basement with imported British map gores. The breakthrough for his company occurred in 1932, when he obtained the contract to produce commutative globes for the worlds fair in Chicago in 1933, distributed by Marshall Fields & Co. During WW2 Replogle did not keep up with the constant change of political borders and continued printing the maps of 1939 through the early 1940’s . However, to encourage customers to continue purchasing his globes, he offered coupons for globes to be updated for a minimal fee once WW2 has ended and political borders have been established. In the 1950’s Reploge ventured out into producing a few very unique globes, such as the Surprise Globe, the Wonder World as well as a Magnetic Air Race Globe Game and the Quiz Globe. It was an attempt to expand sales into the toy market while competing with well known Children’s Tin Globe makers such as J.Chein and Ohio Art. In Spetember of 2010 Replogle was the last independent globe maker in the USA and purchased by the Herff Jones corporation. In July of 2014 Herff Jones seized all globe production and terminated the last 120 employees. This was the end of an era as there is no Globe manufacturing in the USA anymore. The globe itself is made of glass, covered with 12 individual , hand applied paper gores, representing the map. The globe has beautiful coloring, the warm golden oceans create a superb contrast to the clean, minimalistic styled base made of walnut. The half meridian compliments the rest with brass and black accents. Diameter of the globe itself is 12 inches with a total height of about 16 inches. The Globe is in very good condition for its age. Only minimal wear is visible, Some minor pinholes of the map are visible when illuminated, please see pictures. The colors are rich, details crisp, the light is functional. The mounting is in good condition, with minor age appropriate wear in form of minor pitting to the meridian and aging to the varnish of the wood base. Please see pictures for details.   The age of the Globe has been determined by the political borders displayed, which are as follows: Europe is shown in its borders prior to WWII. Austria has not yet been annexed by Germany (1938). The Islands of Cyprus and Malta are shown to be under British control. The Irish Free State is displayed with Dublin as its Capital. Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are shown as independent countries rather than as a part of the USSR. Middle East-Asia: Persia has changed to Iran (1935). Palestine is shown instead of Israel (ch 1948). Jordan is called Transjordan.Instead of Indonesia the Netherlands East Indies are shown. Today’s Malaysia is shown as the Malay States. Thailand is still shown as Siam.The area of Manchuria in China is shown as Manchoukuo and occupied by Japan. (1932-45). Korea is shown as Chosen and also under Japanese occupation. Colonies are displayed as follows: French West as well as Equatorial Africa, Angelo-Egyptian Sudan, British, Italian and French Somaliland. Tanganyika Territory and the Belgian Congo are shown; Rhodesia is divided into North and South. Italian East Africa is not yet listed as such (1936), though Ethiopia is shown under Italian occupation.   This fine artifact will be exceptionally well packed and shipped domestic for $30.00, $70.00 world wide. $375        SKU 914REPILLWAL35