Underwater scene?

[Andrew2]

Does anyone recall those rather odd ornaments, usually in the shape of a ship's wheel, that tended to grace the top of the telly? In the centre was (I think) a transparent dome, inside which was an undersea scene of fish, a treasure chest etc. This was illuminated by mains power which arrived via a length of dangerous-looking thin 'speaker wire' cable.
I thought they were terribly 'common', but at the same time they fascinated me!

[Cobaltblue]

Yes My grandparents had one on top of the telly in fact ISTR lots of my relations had them but as they were all in places like Newlyn I guess not surprising

Couple of pics from the net

[Radio Wrangler]

My grandparents didn't! Might be something to do with grandad having had two ships sunk from under him?

What he did have were two very large (to me as a small kid) shells stood each side of the fireplace.

David

David

[G6Tanuki]

I remember them.... tacky, as you say. Some of them were water-filled and had little metallized-plastic flakes (like in a snow-globe) - heat from the bulb caused convection-currents to circulate the flakes and give a 'twinkly' effect to the water.

We never had anything so horrid - our 1960s TV-topper was a sailing-ship, about 18 inches long/high, with a 15-watt pygmy bulb in the base to illuminate the sails/rigging.

[Station X]

We've had a thread on these TV top ornaments before, but I can't find it at present.

[Martin G7MRV]

Equally horrendous were the vintage cars, horse and carts, and paddle steamers with a little tranny radio built in! All three of my sets of grandparents had these.

(this doesnt include my Corgi RTL van with a radio in it!)

[G4XWDJim]

Originally Posted by Radio Wrangler

What he did have were two very large (to me as a small kid) shells stood each side of the fireplace.

David

David

So did mine, highly polished brass a foot tall and about 3" - 4" diameter. Must have made a big bang.

Jim

[Andrew2]

Originally Posted by G6Tanuki

I remember them.... tacky, as you say. Some of them were water-filled and had little metallized-plastic flakes (like in a snow-globe) - heat from the bulb caused convection-currents to circulate the flakes and give a 'twinkly' effect to the water.

We never had anything so horrid - our 1960s TV-topper was a sailing-ship, about 18 inches long/high, with a 15-watt pygmy bulb in the base to illuminate the sails/rigging.

Oh yes, as a TV engineer I've had to shift plenty of those before turning the set around to take a shufti. Not to mention those weird blue blown-glass fish! And how could we forget having to lovingly pick up and move the dozens of tiny pot fairies, cats, Toby Jugs and glass Bambis which the customer had thoughtfully kept in place to amuse us?
And at risk of being admonished by our moderators, having to get rid of the piles of newspapers, Radio Times and shoes & slippers from the space between the legs? Sorry, wandering OT again.....

[Radio Wrangler]

Yup.

You just hope they weren't live..... There have been a few incidents of houses being evacuated while 'souveneirs' were removed. At least underwater scene ornaments are relatively safe.

I once bought an old piece of WWII radio gear. It had a bank of crystals inside with small charges fitted between them.

David

[broadgage]

Another rather tacky ornament was a model ship illuminated from within by a number of Christmas type lights. Often the lamps were fitted permanently and not user replaceable.
Often holiday souvenirs.
Not confined to atop the TV, but that was a popular location.

Later displaced by lava lamps in some cases.

[Martin G7MRV]

I suppose thats one thing with the modern wall mounted ultra slim tellies - very hard to put cheesy ornaments on top of them!

[Lancs Lad]

Hang on, what sort of shells are we talking about, please?

I just immediately assumed pretty sea shells!

Not military ammunition!

[Radio Wrangler]

Shells, Naval.

In the words of the Navy Lark; whizz-bangs and Oooh-Narsties

David

[g4aaw pete]

Originally Posted by Martin G7MRV

I suppose thats one thing with the modern wall mounted ultra slim tellies - very hard to put cheesy ornaments on top of them!

Wrong!

There will always be tat, how much tat lasts for 40 odd years? There must be a (potential) line of slimline TV tat, recumbent snakes perhaps, or the classic Nessie!

[Station X]

Screen saver of fish swinging round?

Yes I know that only CRT screens need screen savers.

[Andrew2]

How about a 'Kilroy' (Mr Chad) type of thing that could hook over the top edge of our shiny new slimline TV's? For added tat-factor, they could be illuminated by an internal LED and be powered from the TV's USB port.

[Martin G7MRV]

Originally Posted by Andrew2

How about a 'Kilroy' (Mr Chad) type of thing that could hook over the top edge of our shiny new slimline TV's? For added tat-factor, they could be illuminated by an internal LED and be powered from the TV's USB port.

well, most of the programming has the tat-factor these days...

[bluepilot]

I don't know whether it counts as a TV-top ornament but when I was a boy "motion lamps" were all the rage. Here's one with an underwater scene:
Underwater motion lamp
I had one with a couple of cars on (a model T and a Bearcat). They seem to be very rare and expensive now.

[G6Tanuki]

I guess its movement was powered by some sort of vane-structure fitted in the rising heat from the bulb, in much the same way as 'flame-effect' electric fires with a vane assembly above a red bulb.

I've never seen such a 'motion lamp' device myself, but a decade back some friends put their obsolete non-HD LCD TV in their fireplace and fed it from a concealed laptop showing a "log fire" screensaver!