Hi all; Here is the remainder of my old Coleman lamp/ lantern collection. I sold all but these in the late 1980's. This picture was taken in bright Arizona sunshine in mid summer, this is why the mantels don't look as bright as they really are. Mike... P.S. Can you guess the models? Hint: there are none post 26'. Second from left has wrong shade, since corrected.
Hi Mike! You saved the best lamps and lanterns eh! Very nice! The Quick-lite lamps are one of my favourite. It is good to see the mica globes/shades. Cheers, Jeff
Hi Jeff; Actually the older and rare items went to various collectors. I kept the "low" buck ones as users for myself, note dents, scratches and dull finish. Most of my collector stuff was near mint. Mike...
Ya I noticed the dents and dull finished. Mint lamps, stoves, and lanterns are nice but don't tell a story. The fact that many of these old 327 quick-lites just need a quick clean off and new mantles and they are ready to go is something. The stories and life's these have seen would be interesting. Jeff
That is a nice little collection of some of the best stuff Coleman made. The early Quick-Lites are just so easy to fettle and run. Nice to see a Model AA running. ::Neil::
Hi Neil: The Air-o-Lite is actually an "A" as the "A"'s were sold to Sunshine Safety from 1914-1915. Sunshine did not receive AA's during this time. They are basically the same excepting the way the were marketed and some but not all had minor differences. Beware of the "Green" book as it has many errors. Mike...
Hmmm. Yes you are right however model A does not have a sliding cover over the valve and has a much more pronounced high dome fount. Trouble is Coleman used the same letter designation for your lamp as well. So we have two distinctly different lamps with the same model number. It may not be strictly accurate but AA does imply the later lamp with sliding cover. I don't have all the early paper scanned in so it is not as easy for me to find the evidence. I will have to have a hunt and dig out the details of both A and AA lamps and post them here somewhere. We are very much aware of the shorcomings of the Green Book. In fact I mostly ignore it and have taken most of my info from the vast pile of paper we got from Herb and from Coleman catalogues. ::Neil::
Hi Neil: Sorry I am not very good at scanning. Hope you can make it out. I believe the model you are describing is the model R with pear shaped font and exposed valve. Both the A and the AA had covered valves and turban shaped fount. Mike...
Yes I am starting to think I had this wrong. I also have that catalogue image here and it clearly shows your lamp so you are absolutely right it is a model A. I have been hunting through Herbs notes. He shows a lamp he calls model NA or AA which is the same as your model A. However I suspect he says NA because this variant has the N type burner which does not have a pricker. By implication I assume model A will be an M type burner which does have a pricker. Sometimes this game is not so simple and I think I am lacking a few vital pieces of paper here. Mind you some of the illustrations from Herb are suspect anyway. He shows me what he called model AQ but the illustration is a model A. As far as I was aware AQ has a valve above the handle but this valve is missing in Herbs illustration image. Herb did sterling work in sorting out he paper and making notes but I do remember us having several discussions about them and he was well aware that som etimes he just did not have enough info to be 100% sure. Having said all that I must have got the idea of a high dome fount model A from somewhere. I was not and am not in the habit of inventing stuff but follow the evidence as presented and make assessments based on what information I have. So I need to go look through another three folders of Coleman stuff to see what I can find. ::Neil::
Neil: I think I solved the mystery. The Green book strikes again. Look at the model "H". it has no slider. The "A" at the top of the page I believe is mislabeled. This text was inserted by Green book editors. It is the second version of the R with fuel valve under slider cap with filler. Also scanned the model R which looks as you described. Mike...
Maybe you are right. Sometimes it is hard to understand where Karl got his info from. Well I know where but how he interpreted it is sometimes a mystery. I know he slected and took photocopies of a deal of paper from Herb's archive and used that to create the book. We in the Lamp Guild were given copies of everything Herb had a few years later. So what Karl had we also have plus some stuff he did not take and I have copies of it all here. It is a vast archive and I will have to trawl through it all to see where he might have got his info. There may not be an answer though because Karl was not above making an assumption or two. I must say here that whatever the faults in the green book, and,there are many, we have to remember that when it was published it was a wonderful guide to Coleman stuff in general and Karl at least deserves credit for publishing it. OK so now we know a great deal more but then Karl himself is aware of this and has given the right to the book to the ICCC so they can prepare and publish a revision. This is an ongoing project right now and I hope that in the not too distant future we will have a brand new Green Book. ::Neil::
I do appreciate the green book despite it's misgivings. I use it in conjunction with the archives I obtained from Herb and Coleman as I did in this thread. Mike...
That green book makes me smile sometimes. Have you found the model 408 Economy lamp illustrated in there yet? I do like this sort of chat. Now and then I learn stuff and get proved wrong. I don't have a problem with being wrong. Once proven I learn and we get closer to the truth and the bottom line is the truth here not my ego or anyone else's. I will have to revisit the evidence and rewrite stuff maybe but that is a good thing so many thanks. ::Neil::
