Wisdom of crowds
– photo by Mitch Waxman
UPDATE- one of the sharp eyed Lords of the Pentacle has recognized the mysterious column I mentioned in yesterday’s posting (An Odd Impulse) as being part of the Queensboro Bridge- the Great Machine itself. Following text is from the comments of TJ Connick, to whom I am now quite indebted:
Looks quite like the light stanchion that once adorned end of Queensboro Bridge wall on SE corner 2nd Av & 60th St. You can see a shot of it on NY Public Library’s Digital Gallery. Use Digital ID of 707887F in the search window. Its cousin at 59th St is still there last time I looked. Maybe someone can take a look and compare. Seem to recall a lot of time and money spent on restoration of that end about 25-30 years back. Think they took it down and lost it?
A glimpse at Google “street view” confirms. See also library’s picture: Digital ID of 730938F. It’s an old shot of 59th St stanchion. Matches yours, but yours has collar with the depending decorations upside down. Make a ransom note and send it to Dept of Transportation – could be a big score.
– image courtesy NYPL Digital Gallery
On behalf of everyone reading this posting, BRAVO TJ!
Additionally, Kevin Walsh of Forgotten-NY sends along this link to the NYTimes.com from 2001 concerning the lamp post.
The Newtown Pentacle 
Wow, that’s quite a discovery…very nice to see. I was wondering if TJ Connick is the same I grew up with in Astoria on 47th st?
I enjoy this page very much, thanks for your work and research..
allen vella
February 3, 2011 at 1:45 pm
[…] two posts: “an odd impulse“, and “wisdom of crowds” discuss the discovery and identification in some […]
warnings and prophecies « The Newtown Pentacle
December 31, 2011 at 12:15 am
[…] At first, Waxman had no idea what the object was when he posted the photos. But some of his readers did and clued him in to the object’s past. […]
Base of Historic Queensboro Bridge Lamp Rediscovered After 36 Years « Working Harbor Commitee
April 11, 2012 at 3:47 pm
[…] At first, Waxman had no idea what the object was when he posted the photos. But some of his readers did and clued him in to the object’s past. […]
Base of Historic Queensboro Bridge Lamp Rediscovered After 36 Years | Text or Call : 917-557-6066
April 11, 2012 at 6:42 pm
[…] At first, Waxman had no idea what the object was when he posted the photos. But some of his readers did and clued him in to the object’s past. […]
Base of Historic Queensboro Bridge Lamp Rediscovered After Nearly 40 Years | Text or Call : 917-557-6066
April 12, 2012 at 12:27 pm
[…] For the original postings about the thing, click here for “an odd impulse” and “wisdom of crowds“ […]
moderate size « The Newtown Pentacle
April 17, 2012 at 12:17 am
Hi Mitch, a week ago I stumbled onto the lamp base in a similar way. Eager to ID it and see about getting it protected but lost for how to go about doing so, I emailed Forgotten NY in the hopes of picking their hive mind, and Christina pointed me straight here. Amazing! Just to update your readers, the smaller finial pictured in your photos is no longer there, and with the vines on the fence having lost their leaves for winter, the remaining base structure is plain for any ambitious Crow to see…worrisome. So I’d like to add my name to any restoration drives. Hope you can drop me a line — it’s Tim Heffernan, twheffernan at gmail dot com.
Tim
December 2, 2012 at 1:53 pm