Very good lads! They were bought at a bargain price and i like the price on the white wick box, two Shillings and three old pennies, which is about 21 pence nowadays.
Very nice finding those mantles, Jeff! I'm told the old Super Aladdin burners perform better than the newer 21 burners.
I have a newly acquired 21. It's doing very well in spite of the fact it is running a hand me down "blown" mantle from my #23. I'm very stingy about throwing them away given what they cost these days. The skirt of this one lifted from the base...ended up like an umbrella. I tweaked the supports until the skirts ended up down on the base again. Has been good for a few weeks so far - it might last the winter - who knows?
Did you know that the current Aladdin mantles are manufactured under contract by Peerless? Only for sale through Aladdin channels, though.
Hello Phil, I have used Aladdin burners from model eleven upwards and in my experience the model 14 / Super Aladdin / model A burner works the best. Wick fed mantle lamps need to well maintained or they will not work well.
Near £15 seems to be the going rate for buying them in the UK. You can do slightly better buying several at a time but not by much. Finding them for much less is exceptionally lucky.
My best for a mantle was 75 pence from a car boot. I didn't want the change so I gave him the full pound, I'm generous like that.
Well if it was unburned you did well. Some sell them on ebay 2nd hand! By the time it has shipped it will be just a frame and dust. I reckon that tip means "you're a toff mister..."
I've noticed that many items, not necessarily lamp related, sell for the same number of pounds in the UK as the number in dollars in the US. Aladdin mantles are an example of this phenomenon.
Last one I bought (2013) was £9.03 inclusive of taxes and shipping. Where from? New Jersey, USA. That was from BIC Warehouse through Amazon. They don't list them anymore . . .
Sounds to me like you have the best junk shop ever. If it were me I would just camp there considering what you have found from this shop. Excellent finds mate.
That junk shop has been moved to larger premises and it's more of an antique shop now and the prices are higher, but a few months ago I did find a rough Tilley X-246-B lantern there and it was cheap enough, it's a parts lantern and those are useful.
It's still very quiet on the lamp front here, so I put together this Tilley Guardsman lantern, it's built from parts which I had, hence the black hood which is a bit rough but it's still solid.
Nice one mate. How does she run? Looks fine to me with the black hood. We don't see many brown hoods down here, so it looks normal to me, and if it was brown and rough like that I would be happy, as they are like finding hens teeth which are rare.
I have not fired it up yet because it's light here most of the time, it's the opposite during the winter though, but the tank holds pressure and I have tested the vapouriser. That hood is from a very rough X-246-B lantern, I also used the burner from it and after a strip down and a good soak in vinegar and a thorough cleaning, I then installed some proper brass air pipes, the old style which have threaded ends and nuts, the burner had modern steel pipes fitted, all going well, I shall fire the lantern up later in the year.
Hello fellow lampers, I finally have another pressure lantern, it's a 1950's chromed Bialaddin 305, the before and after images are shown below. I had the hood and burner and glass in storage.
Thanks for the positive comments fellow lampers! I found the lantern on Ebay UK., and the buy it now price and the postage were reasonable. I spent about 3 hours yesterday afternoon restoring the lantern, first of all I dismantled it and then drained the dregs of the very old and stinking paraffin, then the dunk test and then the first clean up with white spirit and a soft cloth. Then the second clean with washing up liquid and water and a rough sponge, I repeated that process as often as required and I gave the tank a good rinse or three, but it was surprisingly clean. I had a control cock which was already fettled so I fitted it and that was also the case with the vapouriser, the chromed burner air buttons had been in storage for many years, perhaps over twenty years, it's difficult to recall precisely, but they have now been used. I'm pleased with the result of my efforts, however, I did not use the chrome polish which I have in the shed, perhaps that will improve the shine.
Thanks Martin! The filler cap and the air release screw were filthy with dried paraffin (which sticks like varnish) and muck, so those parts needed a good soak in vinegar and after that they cleaned up well enough.
Here is my most recent restoration, the two before images are from the Ebay listing. Tilley made the TL-10 for about 20 years, but in my opinion, this example dates from around 1930. The gallery is a later one and I had to fit a modern burner because that is all that I had. The lamp cleaned up well and I'm pleased with the result, in my opinion, the TL-10 is a grand looking lamp.
