I received this lamp about a week and a half after it was ordered. It arrived well packaged, and I was a little surprised by how substantial it was!. The base is lovely- it has a lot of presence with out taking up too much visual space. My only complaint is with the lamp shade. It lets very little light through- even with a very bright 3 way bulb. Even with that said, knowing I will be purchasing another shade for this lamp, I still feel that I got an excellent value for the lamp base. This lamp was an inexpensive instant update for my living room.