L.250

A usual zinc cast lamp by R. Ditmar with a faceted cut font made of crystal glass. So nothing extraordinary at first glance. If you take a closer look at the burner, you will notice the special feature of the lamp: This burner is one of the rare burners, because it uses two different wicks just like the Sonnenbrenner, but it is not a flame disc burner.

The lamp is illustrated in the Ditmar catalogue of 1897 (no. 6540) and belongs to the earlier Ditmar lamps; probably from about 1880.

The burner is the 15''' Patent-Saugdocht-Rundbrenner (= patent transport wick round burner) from Ditmar. This burner burns with two separate wicks: A tubular wick as a burning wick and a soft woven transport wick belong to it. An absolute rarity of this burner is the removable wick knob! I have no other burner with this feature.

Unfortunately, the conical Vesta shade shown in the catalogue is not available at the moment. Therefore, I have used an old Vesta shade in a convex shape. The shade holder, on the other hand, is original Ditmar with the decorated edge of the hoop. It is also interesting that the three arms are made of iron, while the rest of the shade holder is made of brass.

The zinc casting was originally bronzed with a copper bronze. The catalogue states "Roth bronze". In order to come as close as possible to the original, I have re-bronzed the base with a mixture of brass and copper bronze.

Lamp Data

Added by me:
Glass chimney and Vesta shade.

Cleaning and repairs:
Shade holder re-soldered. Zinc casting bronzed.

Lamp body:
Base of ornamental, stepped profiled cast zinc, Ø 153 mm. Under the base a lead weight. Base marked inside: Logo R. Ditmar and "Muster geschützt R. Ditmar". Original copper bronzing partly well preserved.
Font of faceted cut, colourless glass, Ø 149 mm, removable. Undermount with wide thread, 24.6 mm.

Burner:
15’’’ Patent-Saugdocht-Rundbrenner of R. Ditmar, Vienna.
Wick knob marked: R. Ditmar Wien (logo of R. Ditmar). Wick knob removable.
Original round wick Ø 24 mm; original transport wick.

Glass chimney:
14’’’ Kosmos chimney. Height 250 mm, Ø fitter 52 mm.
Marked: Cristal Supérieure 14''' + crown in garland.

Shade and shade holder:
Vesta shade, white milk glass, top rim flat rolled.
Height 162 mm, Ø fitter 231 and bulge 261 mm.
235 mm shade holder for 14’’’/15’’’ burners; original by R. Ditmar. Arms made of iron, rest of brass.

Lamp dimensions:
Height up to collar 18.3 cm, total height with chimney 48.3 cm.
Total weight 2330 g.