CHICAGO — Wow, man.

In one of the grooviest bits of financial news to emerge yesterday, Chicago private-equity firm Talon Merchant Capital disclosed that it has acquired the producer of the iconic 1960s fixture commonly known as the lava lamp.

Perhaps wanting to keep things mellow, Talon didn't provide many details of its purchase of the operating and intellectual-property assets of Lava World International Inc.

But it did say it expects plenty of growth opportunities for Lava World, maker of the lamp which, with its psychedelically oozing crimson blobs, first burst into prominence during the flower power era.

The acquisition "is a revitalization opportunity," Talon President and Chief Executive Seth Marks said. Although Lava World has experienced some growth-related "turbulence," he said, "this is a brand that resonates with a multigenerational market."

Before the sale, Lava World had been part of family-owned Haggerty Enterprises of suburban Elmhurst, Ill.

The lamp has changed hands before. British inventor — and nudism devotee — Edwin Craven Walker is credited with developing the design. When he displayed what he called the Astro lamp at a trade show in Germany in the mid-1960s, two American entrepreneurs bought the U.S. rights and began producing what they called the Lava Lite in the Chicago area.

As the social unrest and drug culture of the 1960s era gained momentum, so did sales of the lamp with the waxy globules.

With the arrival of the Disco Age, however, Lava Lite sales dropped off, and in 1976, a Chicago novelties entrepreneur, the late Lawrence Haggerty, acquired the rights. Haggerty Enterprises has continued manufacturing the lamps, over the years gaining a reputation as a fierce protector of the brand.

In terms of sales, the lamp has had its ups and downs over the years. Although Talon CEO Marks declined to specify the company's sales, he said it produces "roughly a million" lava lamps annually, which retail at prices ranging from $20 to $150.

Like many U.S. manufacturers, Haggerty shifted production of the lamp offshore years ago as a cost-cutting measure.

In time, Talon said, a limited amount of lamp production could return to the United States.

"We plan on creating some higher-end products, which the company used to do," Marks said.

In the 1970s, he said, lava lamps were on display "in a prominent showroom in the Merchandise Mart, with $1,100, 4-foot-high lava lamps." The costlier products would likely be produced in the U.S., he added.

Talon, which calls itself a provider of capital to middle-market consumer product companies "during periods of growth, restructuring and change," immediately changed the acquired company's name to Lava Lite LLC, and installed its own representative as head of the company.

The incoming CEO of Lava Lite is Larry Gurkin, best known in the Chicago area as a co-founder of the former luggage importer Ingear Corp. In recent years, the lava lamp has increasingly been sold through mass-merchandise channels such as Target and Wal-Mart, high-volume vendors that can move a lot of product but are notorious for using their purchasing muscle to obtain the lowest price from suppliers.

In doing business with such "big-box" retailers, Marks said, companies "need some financial depth to accommodate the growth." Talon, he said, will provide that depth, and Gurkin is a veteran of dealing with the big chains.