Braingle: 'The Antique Lamp?' Brain Teaser

The Antique Lamp?

Logic puzzles require you to think. You will have to be logical in your reasoning.

Puzzle ID:	#23566
Fun:	(2.89)
Difficulty:	(1.32)
Category:	Logic
Submitted By:	vikingboy
Corrected By:	Mad-Ade

The Jones family of Ohio is entertaining their cousin Henry, who is visiting from Belgium.

After staying for several days, Henry is getting ready to leave, when he presents the Jones with a gift.
It is a lamp that Henry claims is a very valuable antique that has been in his family for 70 years. It has small Bohemian figures that dance around the base when the lamp is turned on. Henry plugs it in to show the family how it works.

After Henry leaves, the father looks at his family, and says, "While it may be a pretty lamp, and it was nice of Henry to give it to us, it is not a Belgian antique."

Why is the father so sure?

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Comments

onlyeeyore Jun 10, 2005	Cool cool!
beastie_gurl Jun 10, 2005	i agree agree!!!!
beastie_gurl Jun 10, 2005	seriously tho, i liked it
zonahobo Jun 10, 2005	I over-simplified and thought that the fact it was electrical disqualified it .. but it could have been more than 100 years old and still been electrical.. so you have correctly identified one of the great banes of world travel and a great business opportunity.. converters! I learned from Google that Belgium and France are similar but different from the rest of Europe.. If you travel, don't bother packing anything electrical!
secerlemak Jun 23, 2005	that is very smart! I liked it!
angeleyes_7 Jun 23, 2005	good job
okieman51 Jun 23, 2005	I too thought that just being electrical, it was no antique, did not think of plug in, real good, u got me there, but i liked it a lot.
Andreea Jul 15, 2005	good one!! i got in the hint!!
Sunrose Sep 14, 2005	Nice Job, easy but still fun. Nice way to tell it as well. Hope to see more from you soon
stormtrooper Jan 03, 2006	I caught that right away. But it was hidden well.
madleon Mar 23, 2006
tintiniscool Jun 07, 2007	Great.
scallio Sep 14, 2007	Very clever if easy. I enjoyed it. I do NOT enjoy having to travel with a converter kit in order to plug my blow dryer in while in other countries though! I even melted a curling brush once in Germany. Right plug coverter, wrong electrical current adapter thingy!
lucy_i Apr 05, 2008	Nice, but didn't get it as its usually possible to get any converter
bradon182001 Apr 05, 2008	Good teaser. Having never traveled to any other country except Canada, it was the last thing that would have crossed my mind. I was aware of the fact that you needed to use a converter when traveling to other countries, but having never actually done any traveling, never gave it a thought.
hugh_Jass Apr 05, 2008	Don't you think if he was coming from Belgium, planning to stay for a while, he would have brought an adapter?
doehead Apr 05, 2008	As a heavy world wide traveler,it came to me immediately.But would be hard if you never traveled to foreign countries.
avonma Apr 05, 2008	Easy, but fun.
lordmikel Apr 05, 2008	By the nature of the riddle, I think it is erroneous to think that an adapter was used.
mondayschild59 Apr 05, 2008	After reading the hint, I had it right off the bat. I loved it. Thanks for the great teaser. Monday~
talanpoe Apr 05, 2008	If he was planning to give the lamp as a gift, he was simply thoughtful enough to have the plug replaced with a U.S. version. (Or perhaps he rewired it himself. I've rewired a number of old lamps; it isn't that difficult.)
auntiesis Apr 05, 2008	The easiest simplest answer was also the correct answer. Cute teaser even though it was so easy.
martinb216 Apr 05, 2008	easy teaser but a good one
Lassie730 Apr 05, 2008	Very interesting. Great teaser.
smartymarty Apr 05, 2008	Easy but fun. Thanks
TRomo9999 Apr 05, 2008	Nice Teaser! Hint gave it away though!
mosca Apr 05, 2008	Nice teaser; however, I agree with talanpoe that Henry could have rewired the lamp. When I was reassigned from Germany to Missouri, it was only necessary to change the wall plugs on the lamps and they worked fine, even the ones with the inline switches.
vikingboy Apr 07, 2008	Thanks for the comments...
Meganan Apr 07, 2008	Good teaser
katamaster Apr 09, 2008	It is a good try. One could have easily replaced the plug so it would fit in a US lamp though.
elentir Apr 05, 2011	I figured that a Belgium lamp wouldn't have Bohemian figures... they are different regions.
JohnMorr Apr 05, 2011	And solution and comments are all completely wrong. The lamp could have had a US plug fitted - which would have been a courtesy to the hosts - but Europe runs on 230 volts and the US on 110 volts - so it simply wouldn't have worked. Reasonable puzzle, wrong answer.
dsjt Apr 05, 2011	However, being a smart Belgian, Henry may have known this and thoughtfully had the plug changed before presenting the lamp as a gift.
crazy10man Apr 05, 2011	It was a nice try, but the wrong plug is not a logical answer, as others have pointed out. I did enjoy it though.
patiencewithaP Apr 05, 2011	I had two thoughts...first, that a 70-year-old lamp probably wouldn't work without having been rewired...then thinking that to be considered a true antique, it would have to be 100 years old. Didn't really dawn on me about the voltage problem! Duh!
juju1946 Apr 05, 2011	Ow! That was a forehead slapper for me. Of course. So easy, I didn't get it.
VitalStatistic Apr 06, 2011	I thought of this answer then dismissed it. It is really really easy to rewire an appliance with a new lead, although I am an electrician by trade. I'm not sure what voltage was used in Belgium 70 years ago, so there could have been a problem there. The hint made me think it might be DC instead of AC, but an incandescent light globe would still work, at least for a short while. I thought maybe they didn't have portable lamps back then, with lighting being provided by only wall or ceiling mounted fixtures. I also thought maybe the dancing figurines might not have been possible back then, depending on how they were done. All said though, a good riddle that gets you thinking