And here’s 2 examples from my other collection of Victorian oil lamps, which I’ve just finished fettling and cleaning up. Both bought as dirty wrecks. Disassembled, degreased, cleaned, re-wicked and tested… much easier than fettling a faulty pressure lantern in general, but a different kind of animal. Here we have an 1895 US central draft Edward Miller Juno oil lamp in brass and an 1880 Cranberry glass parlour duplex lamp.
Yes, they’re great pieces. They’re not as collectible as pressure lanterns so can still be found at a good price. The value is mostly in the elaborate glass shades so you don’t want to break that if it’s original.
Very nice lamps those. I'd reckon they are less likely to fail than pressure lanterns. Only thing is one needs to be extra careful with the glass globes/chimneys. I'd say they are every bit as collectible.
Thanks Alex, they are really handsome The controls on the Miller are quite different from a lot of lamps ? being built in as opposed to being part of the wick holder cage thingy?
Yes, the Miller Juno is an earlier design and sports an ‘internal’ circular wick carriage with rack and thumb wheel raising mechanism. As this can be temperamental, in 1902 it was replaced with a more conventional wick raising winder on the burner assembly. This lamp was the ‘Vestal’. Meanwhile in mainland Europe we had lampe belge and kosmos central draught lamps, and a mixture of duplex and central draught in Britain. And then someone discovered candoluminescent mantles…..and pressurised fuel tanks fitted with vaporising tubes…..
View attachment 103838 The wickies collection with 2 early Aladdins (model 11 and 12) with original mantles and wicks. Ran out of shelves! View attachment 103838
Hi Alex, L&B stands for Lempereur & Bernard, at that time a well known Belgian manufacturer of wick lamps and to a much lesser extend wick stoves. These are often referred to as "lampe belge" because of the L & B on them but that's not their proper name (but not really incorrect as they were made in Belgium after all )
Thanks Wim, yes I do have a couple of those on the shelves. One is next in line for fettling. The challenge is finding the time, as usual. We’re heading towards long and wet, dark evenings now, so perfect for those long abandoned fettling jobs!
