Have'nt seen one like this anywhere. Italian?? Globe is, at least. Lantern appears unmarked. Steel fount and frame are olive green painted. Military perhaps?
New one to me as well. Where was it found? Glass marks are difficult to photograph and I can't read all of the marking on the globe. I got Societa An---al. Incandescenza A Gaz Milano. 288X It is any clearer with the globe in hand? That burner arrangement looks like a cast copy of a Primus or maybe Veritas. Interesting piece. ::Neil::
OK, well a quick Google (StartPage, actually) brought up this:- which suggests the unclear word is 'Anonima' or something like it, anyway. However, clicking on the link provided nothing more - I couldn't even find the text I had searched for. Maybe someone else can make a bit of progress with it...
...or maybe this:- http://www.arteliberty.it/manifesti_mataloni3.html Anybody 'parliamo Italiano'? I suspect the globe may be from some sort of gas burning lamp, rather than the lantern in question... Edit: Good old Bing:- "Name Italian poster art historian, Mataloni entered the 1891 as an apprentice lithographer at le Officine Grafiche Ricordi of Milan, scoring, four years later, the famous poster for the incandescent lamp-patent Auer, the first to join the collection of Ferdinand Salce, whose collection of posters is now kept at the Museo Civico Luigi Bailo, Treviso. The sinuous Art Nouveau style expressed by its designs caused the admiration of the great art scholar Vittorio Pica, one of the first critics to interested in advertisement. Mataloni also worked for publishers Chappuis and De Agostini (the latter also created the famous brand with the figure of Atlas). He also illustrated many book covers and catalogues, working also at the prestigious annual «Novissima."
I found an expired auction for a book referencing the company name here. It has a mantle lamp on the front cover.
I found the lamp, poorly listed, on the big auction site, offered amoung many Russian articles. The seller, however was Italian, and the parcel was sent to me from northern Italy. I hoped that it might be the elusive Russian made pressure lamp. The burner and the burner shielding inside the vent are very similar in design to the Primus 1020, but all slightly smaller. The burner is mostly cast iron-even the air tube, both brazed and gas welded together, with the 'U' tube being the only brass component in it The alcohol cup is iron as well as most other parts. The ceramic burner cap is the same size as 250cp Petromax. The glass globe is thin, and the same size as 350-500cp Petromax. My thin Schott-Jena globes from the '30s and 40's will fit, but a thicker modern Schott replacement globe will not go into the frame. Although there is no way to know for sure,my feeling is that the globe is original to the piece. The lamp has had little use and I don't think it had ever been broken down before. The globe markings are somewhat weak, but I think David got the gist of it. I include a few more images.
Well, it seems that everything on internet is related to veryold ages of the "Società...". The newest article I found until now is this one, a catalog from the 1911 but there is no prevew: Link The other articles related to Giuseppe Mataloni talk about Mattaloni himself instead of the light company. It seems that the Societá Anomina started with the Welsbach patent for providing public ilumination in Milan form 1890 until the electricity became obviously the better alternative in the last years of the XIXth century and from these years are the Mataloni posters, exactly to advertise the advantages of the gas light. I could find nothing else. Juan PS: I "parlo" Italian!!
Interesting lamp with some odd features. The lever operated pricker is the type used by Continental from Germany but the burner and such are rough copies of Primus types. So it seems we can call this an Auer Lantern made by the Societa Anonima Incandescenza A Gas either in Milan or Rome. So previously unkown perhaps but now at least I can name it and list it. Great find. ::Neil::
Burning brightly on Jet A with Optimus 4a 350cp mantle and globe from Coleman 288. Requires suprisingly little fount pressure.
I just bought an italian Fair 200 CP lamp that has the same AUER globe, with very clear markings. Once it gets home I'll post some pictures. This is the first time that I've found this kind of globe on a lamp, especially on a Fair model. What I think is that these globes don't belong to any lamp manufacturer, so they're just replacement globes made by the AUER company. I'll post some pictures asap. Cheers, Nicola
