immediate sense of quality and taste to the new lines. This gave the company an immediate advantage over newer competition. Additionally, no upstart could match Aladdin's network of franchise dealers.
    Throughout the long period of Aladdin's dominance in kerosene lamps, the products were marketed and sold as high-quality products at a reasonable price. To aid in its drive to capture the higher-end markets, Aladdin purchased competitor "Crest Company" in 1934. Crest had been marketing the highest quality electric lamps in Chicago since 1915. The two companies maintained a marketing distance, designed for very different clientele. Under Aladdin's direction, the Crest line of electric lamps featured fine Rookwood ceramics, Saxony and Kenton Hills porcelain, Lenox, Spode, English Moorcraft, and Chinese Cloisonnes in their eighteenth century period designs. Many of these lamps are signed by the artists, sold in very limited editions. Mantle Lamp company sold the Crest division in 1939, after which the company continued to prosper for many years.
    Aside from the acquisition of Crest, Aladdin also sought to raise the image of their own brand-name electric lamps from that of simply utilitarian to products that would appeal to higher end tastes. The influence of Art Deco on their designs can clearly be seen. The earliest of the Aladdin electric lamp models incorporated Art Deco into their design. These lamps and other products are some of the most prized by collectors of Aladdin. The company attempted to equate the artistry of Lalique with the introduction of their trademark glass opalique, used for their lamp designs in the early 1930's. 

Aladdin's Glass
    By the 1920's and 1930's, the progress of scientific and technologic innovations began to make their mark on glass manufacture. New glass formulations were just beginning to be developed for a wide variety of modern consumer and industrial usage. Aladdin's contributions to this developing field can be traced back to Henry Helmers, who became

Aladdin's glass superintendent in 1935. The company produced many types of glass for use in their lamps and shades:
-High-temperature Boro-silicate (chimney glass); used for chimneys and liners for thermos
-Ordinary soda-lime glass; transparent or colored crystal with a lower melting point. Used for vases, shades and lamp fonts.
-Moonstone; a semi-transparent alabaster glass with a misty translucence similar to natural moonstone. Aladdin's moonstone glass was mostly white, pink, green and yellow, common in the 1930s and 40s. This glass was briefly marketed under the name Aladex in the late 1930's.
-Marblelike Glass; made in colors blended to resemble marble; generally in shades of amber and green. The inside of the lamp base was painted to match the colors. Examples of these lamps are rare.
Opal Glass; marketed under the name Alacite beginning in 1939, this glass was used extensively by Aladdin. It is opaque, ivory colored glass; the first truly opaque glass made by Aladdin for lamps. The company some 17