Swan’s first bulb sheds light on Bonhams science and technology auction
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’ sale titled Instruments of Science and Technology.
Sunderland-born Swan created his prototype incandescent light bulb around 1860, later using carbon…