Bought this Job Lot on ebay for a grand total of £103. It was collection only and the location was 300 miles away. Fortunately for me my brother lives in that area and is a delivery driver. He was able to pick them up on one of his routes and drop them at my house the next day on another of his routes. The job lot consists of :- 3 porkpie x246's one all brass complete 2 X246B's one of them all chrome 2 X246A's one with wingnut type pump 1 1947 Coleman Sunshine of the night Model 249 (Needs a glass) 1 Bialaddin X300 (Glass cracked) 1 PL53 complete with Tilley 182 glass 1 R1 complete 1 Long stem table lamp (Top missing) 1 FL6 Flood lamp Complete and 3 blowlamps. Nearly all items are in working order I'm new to the lamp scene but I think I did rather well here Bought my brother a realy nice single malt for his trouble
Shame about the blow-lamps but every silver lining has a cloud... BTW, I think your X246As are actually X246 Guardsmen and the Bialaddin looks to be fitted with an earlier Vapalux hood. The R1 is missing it's guard. Nonetheless, a good haul...
If you look at what you have there are actually two first type pork pie X246s there. As you show them you have one first type (all brass with brass hood) one second type (Steel frame with brass hood)and one hybrid (Brass fame and enamel hood)If you shift a brass hood to the other brass frame and put an enamel hood on the steel frame then that makes a type 3 and you have a spare type one. Nice finds either way as they are not so easy to find. ::Neil::
Green with envy! So many beautiful lamps and lanterns OVER THERE! Please do share as you clean them up and LIGHT THEM!
I know the feeling. First time I traveled to the US I came back with 21 lamps in the luggage. Got pretty close to the weight limit with two cases I could hardly get of the ground but America was awash with stuff I had to have. Second trip was not so good and I only brought back about 15. If you came here I have a shed full of spare stuff waiting for some kind soul to relieve me of. ::Neil::
The last and only time I was in the UK was during our honeymoon 33 yrs ago. A most pleasant and memorable trip. I'd love to go back, and when I do, I'll plan it around some of your gatherings like Ipswich, Newark, etc. This time however, I'll be bringing an empty steamer trunk; so many nice lamps on your side of the pond! Dan
This was the first of the Job lot to be restored I have completed a few more and Pics will follow soon
Yea netsniper I know what you mean but in this case it was just strip and polish. In futuire restorations I will bear that in mind. Restroation stages would be more intresting
However you did it , it look very good and I'm amazed at the shine. Will the painted hood withstand the temperature ?
I painted the hood black because it was thin and delicate and therefore tricky to polish. Also when it's lit it will go back to black anyway. The paint I used will withstand 600 degrees C. I'm not sure if this is high enough but we shall see when I light it. The yellow top is just enamel paint and willcertainly burn so will have to be removed while lit. I have been looking for a company that dose enameling but as yet have'nt found one. I have another one of these lamps from the same Job lot that is missing the yellow top and the brass ring around the hood. If anyone has these parts spare Please PT me
Thanks for the update, I too have been looking and I must have contacted about 30 different companies around the world including the tech division of ICI but as of yet nothing I am going to experiment baking VHT but I'm waiting for a small oven to come up on the bay that I can use in the garage/workshop because the stink from baking paint in the kitchen won't be acceptable to her indoors
I have never had much enamelling done but when I do want to go this route I mail the parts to Fred Kuntz in Ohio and he gets it done for me. Better still Fred also repairs any damaged metal before enamelling. It has always been reasonably cheap this way and the mail cost is not great because the parts don't weigh much. I am not sure about this but from looking at Coleman and Tilley there is no doubt American enamell is much better than English. Might be the metal of course but this was my original reason for asking Fred if he could do this work and so far I have not been dissapointed. ::Neil::
Some years ago now, I googled around and came up with contact details for the British Vitreous Enamellers Association (or something like that, anyway). I telephoned them but unfortunately couldn't get past 'lazy, disinterested 16 year-old receptionist' on the front desk so I didn't manage to make any progress whatsoever with a local (or even national) enameller. Maybe she's moved on (or more likely, been sacked) so it might be worth making enquiries again... Here we are:- Vitreous Enamel Association.
Yes Fred does this stuff as part of the business so anyone who can pay is a good customer. email him on:- Fred Kuntz fredkuntz@adelphia.net ::Neil::
