Help required to Identify lamp please

    Hi All,


    This is my very first post to the forum and I'm asking for some help please to identify the possible maker of this lamp? It is fitted with a silver plated Wild & Wessel 8''' Kosmos burner, and without the burner is only 175 mm tall. Its fairly solid and heavy for it's size and holds only about 300 ml of fuel. I've examined the lamp everywhere for any model number, signature etc but there is nothing. Does anyone have any idea who may have made this one? I presume it is made from some kind of cast metal (nickel/brass?) and silver plated like the W & W burner.


    The artwork has some pretty intricate work and there is a dolphin (I think) wrapped around the bottom of the lamp base.


    Thanks everyone for reading!

    Hi Bozley,


    the burner is very likely nickel plated.

    The lamp itself looks a bit strange. There is no collar mounted on top of the fount and the reservoir seems to be very deep and not suitable for a 8‘‘‘ Kosmos burner, as the wick is not capable to transport oil from the bottom of the vase.

    Both of that indicate, that it may not have been a factory made oil lamp, but maybe a flowerpot conversion.

    The vase looks like it is made of silver plated spelter and of French origin around 1900 or a bit earlier.

    However it seems to be in remarkable condition. Nice item!

    Could you show a picture of the threaded opening of the reservoir please. That will probably indicate, if it was factory made or a conversion.

    Best regards

    Markus

    Grüße
    Markus

    Hi Markus,


    Thanks very much for your very useful information.

    In relation to your observation that the font seems too deep for the wick to reach the bottom of it - I thought just that initially but the wick fitted does actually almost reach the very bottom of the font (see picture please!).


    Please also see a couple of pictures of the top of the vase with burner removed, as requested - I hope these can assist in further comment from you.


    You obviously know your stuff far better than me but I've found an image of a French silver plate vase online today (see attached image) which shares similarities of artwork with mine I think? However in this instance the vase has fancy artwork at its very top. Whereas my one has a plain flat top finish. Would that suggest that mine is a factory made lamp and was always intended to be used as such rather than a conversion?


    I could be totally wrong and look forward to your observations.


    best regards

    Phil

    Hi Phil,


    probably the factory shared a mould for vases and lamps. Looks like the top part has then been chopped off and adapted after casting.

    But that happened definitely prior to plating.
    And as re-plating is almost impossible on spelter, it should be factory made like it is.

    Nevertheless the fount is too deep for that wick to be feeded at low level.

    You should at first use a proper wick of the correct width and then attach an additional feeder wick to the lower half of the wick.

    Best regards

    Markus

    Grüße
    Markus

    Your lamp reminds me of an example from France that I once presented here, where the lamp base (foot and tank) was made of alpaca (alloy of copper, nickel, zinc, also called nickel silver).

    See here: UNIS - Tischlampe



    115717-unis-lampe-4-jpg

    Gruß Rolf


    Den Kopf nicht nur zum Haareschneiden nutzen...

    Hi Markus and Rolf


    Thank you both very much!


    yes I will get a correct width wick for it and sew a small extension/feeder wick to the base.


    Interesting about your comments about alpaca Rolf because one corner of the foot of mine is worn through to reveal an obvious copper coloured base metal. I assume alpacas looks more coppery than spelter does?


    Last question - Was it usual for these lamp fonts to have absolutely no maker's mark or branding anywhere?


    Thanks

    Phil

    Hi Phil,


    Nickel silver does not need to be additionally silver-plated.

    This alloy has the same surface properties as 800 or 900 silver, but is much cheaper.

    If copper shines through, it will be silver-plated copper.

    Alpaca alloys, however, have silver properties throughout, also in terms of colour.

    Gruß Rolf


    Den Kopf nicht nur zum Haareschneiden nutzen...

    Oh I see! So under the silver plate it could be made of spelter or nickel silver.


    I note the dimensions and fuel capacity of Rolf's lamp are almost identical to mine.


    Cheers

    Phil

    Phil, I would file the material at the bottom with a file with a fine line, then you can see what is going on under the magnifying glass.

    Gruß Rolf


    Den Kopf nicht nur zum Haareschneiden nutzen...

    OK thanks Rolf - I had to use use Google translate to read all of your linked post haha sorry as I do not speak German.


    I note your comments that your lamp still retains a nice undamaged silver plate from conservative polishing as does mine.


    Plus you mention the lack of any definitive identification marks on yours does not detract from your liking of the lamp.


    That's exactly how I feel about my lamp - I may not ever find out who made it and other than it probably being French and made around 1900, but I still find it very attractive and quite unique.


    Cheers

    Phil

    South Australia

    Hi Phil,

    One does try to determine the origin of a lamp, but this is not always successful.

    Nevertheless, you can enjoy it if you like the overall look.

    So I wish you a lot of fun with your little table lamp, which I would certainly have bought myself.

    Gruß Rolf


    Den Kopf nicht nur zum Haareschneiden nutzen...