Got this yesterday and haven't done a thing with it - yet! Pretty nice shape except for the handle. Appears someone tried to get "creative" with it and really screwed it up! Have to work on that later
Awesome find @george she looks in really good nick. The L427, L327 and the L227 are up there as my favourites. Looking forward to your fettle and of course, the money shot. Enjoy Cheers Pete
Thanks to you all! The worst thing on the 427 is that handle; it looks like it was run over by a truck! Even the mica globe is in fine shape. It could be original, too. The top was a 9 out of 10, and for something almost 94 years I could not pass it up!
Looks well preserved and had not been fired up very much. I've never seen a single L427 or 327 here in my area and extremely unlikely I stand any chances of finding one in the wild.
Well they were sold in Malaya in the 1920s so you may still find an old Coleman one day. In fact there were two Coleman Kero lantern models sold there in 1929 and we don't know exactly what model they were or at least we think maybe they were models 221 and 222 because they were shipped out in 1929 as export kero lantens but we have no idea what they looked like. Keep on hunting and maybe solve one of the last Coleman mysteries. ::Neil::
Well at least still some hope. Thanks Neil. The 1920s had been quite a while back. I'd reckon they would have been mostly sold to the ruling British residents or perhaps the more well-to-do locals. Not so many local folks in old Malaya could afford a car or had much use for petrol/gasoline back then.
A lot of the adverts are in English so I suspect they were the target market. There are lots of adverts over maybe a ten year period so I would assume a lot were sold. Easy enough to find here Digitised Homepage ::Neil::
I sure hope that be the case, @Jean J . @Mackburner Most printing would be in English back in the then British-ruled Malaya. In fact, Singapore had been part of Malaya back then. The rest, Chinese, Arabic and Indian. Your suspicion could well be right.
@MYN Keep an eye on eBay, those 427s show up on there quiet often. No secret, I got the one I show here from eBay.
In the process of a restoration job on this one. First restoration I've made a real attempt at since the arthritis kicked up. I will post some photos when I'm finished. If all continues to go well it shouldn't be much longer. It has a beautiful clean font and the top is a real 9 1/2 out of 10! At first I didn't think it was this nice but I got quite a surprise.
@george That really is a lucky find! Hope you can get the pump and bail sorted. Good luck. Regards Jeremy
@X246A Jeremy, check ball in the pump valve is apparently stuck. Leaves the air out when you try to pump it in. Going to have to take the barrel with the pump assembly out. Had this happen before so nothing new...
That is a lovely lantern, in tip top condition. Good luck putting the finishing touches to her, I'm looking forwards to seeing how she shapes up.
Yep, check ball won't hold air so got my son to remove the pump assembly. I couldn't struggle with it so he took to his place. Had it out, cleaned it up and even blasted out the font. What a difference! The inside of the font looks like new. FYI here's a photo of the pump disassembled. This, in my opinion was quite a set for the time (1926). When I get it back in one piece I'll get some more photos - who knows, maybe even a money shot.
Smart piece of design. Those pump tubes can be tough to remove as they are screwed in seriously tight. Easy to fettle though with a clean out and maybe a new SS ball so they mostly work as intended again. ::Neil::
@george This is one of the early Colemans that really “floats my boat”. Yours is a top example and I’m very impressed by its overall condition. Well done on a great score and restoration. I’m looking forward to the money shot. Cheers Pete P.S. It’s anther one of your beautiful lanterns that would look really really nice with mine. Do you have my address to send it to me as an early Christmas present?
I like the removable pump design. At least that makes it easier to repair a leaky pump tube or the air outlet tube should that be the case. Or in the case of a badly clogged air outlet tube, a removable design improves the accesibility and makes visual inspection easier. Those can be tough to clear out especially if the NRV's seized in place and unremovable.
Well after much screaming, cussing, yelling, and asking myself, "why in the name of God did you ever get involved in this hobby", I got the 427 sorted out! Here's the money shot: