Well I thought I had a great lantern with my 1A Aladdin until I noticed kero seeping from the fount and found many cracks in the fount even though the lantern showed no signs of having been used much. A fellow collector with 40 years experience when asked if he had any spares for Aladdins replied that he had got rid of all his Aussie made Aladdins years ago because they all had major cracks in the founts. I thought maybe he was being overly dramatic but I guess he was right. Anyway I had half a Swedish made 1930's 12A with a good sound fount and have cannibalized that to make one hell of a good, sound, running Aladdin which I am happy with. I have a few unfired lanterns which are shelf queens but the rest have to be in good running order or I really don't want them. To all the purists, I am sorry but leaking cracked lanterns are not my thing.
'Twas meant tongue in cheek Tony, but it makes you wonder why Coleman seems to have gotten it right and so many others didn't when it come to brass founts.
@Reese Williams I knew it was wry. “Coleman got it right”. So did Austramax and Kayen in Australia: same country, same brass supply. Was it the brass quality; or the annealing; or stresses in the manufacturing processes?… Cheers Tony
In the years i have been collecting from memory i have come accross one Coleman stress cracked, two Handi, one Austramax, and numerous Aladdin 1A'S, that said i still have a liking for a good Aladdin
I too have a stress cracked Coleman but I must ad it is an Asian made ColMax 555. A pity because other than the cracked fount it is in a fine condition.
