I'd be very interested to see images of BR49 lanterns from the very early years of production. I note all in the image galleries are late 1954> and feature the later bail style handle and stamped Tilley tanks. All except one from a 2011 thread, which was found at a car boot in 1997 and is an ex-BR workshop lamp. This features the earlier loop handle, though I cannot see if the tank is stamped or not. I'm curious as to whether the first versions appeared with a Pork Pie or Guardsman type tank with a side decal denoting model number? I have just spent quite a bit putting together parts to build this, what I consider to be, a good representation of a very early BR49 circa 1951. Never seen a claimed original though! Anyone?
Thanks very much. But I stress again, it's a bitsa - albeit an expensive one of course! I'll post some better pics when I'm a little more assured it's a fairly accurate build. Not many pre-54 ones exist it would seem!??!
Thanks @Buggerlugs . Some more pics: This lamp was made up out of a very good condition Guardsman and preheater parts made up from an accumulation of eBay bits and parts from a BR49A. The latter had - imo - a 2/3rd preheater from a much earlier lamp, so over a period of time I managed to get the proper bits for the 49A, and then swapped the parts over to form this one. The shroud handle, as was pointed out by someone previously on a different thread, is from a much earlier lamp and has 'PAT APPLIED FOR' on it. Even in circa 1951, that was probably a bit late too, but more suited to this lamp than a 1964 one and was likely a catalyst for me to build this one - even more so as they appear to be somewhat underrepresented.
The Durosil glass does have a crack, which I've superglued, but it's largely irrelevant because this lamp will not be lit.
