One of the earliest surviving incandescent light bulbs, made by the English physicist Sir Joseph Wilson Swan (1828-1914) in the 1870s, sold for £7500 (plus 25% buyer’s premium) at Bonhams’ September 19 sale titled Instruments of Science and Technology.
Sunderland-born Swan created his prototype incandescent light bulb around 1860, later using carbonised thread and improved vacuum pumps to increase its quality and lifespan. He first publicly demonstrated this longer-lasting product during a 1878-79 lecture series at the Newcastle upon Tyne Chemical Society before forming the Swan Electric Light Company Ltd in 1880. Bonhams’ rare survivor, with a carbon rod filament, dates from c.1877.