L.118

A typical British lamp with black glazed ceramic base, column of sheet brass and screwed-in glass font. Probably made around 1900.

There are sometimes decisions that are made more emotionally than rationally. I owe this lamp more to an emotional decision, because it cost me dearly! When I discovered this lamp on eBay USA, it was love at first sight. The beautiful blue tulip shade and the finely painted, also blue font magically attracted me instantly! The Victorian tulip shade alone has great rarity value. Considering the horrendous prices such tulip shades fetch on eBay Great Britain, I had to snap this one up. The lamp came from Canada. Unusually high shipping costs and German customs then struck me....

The base of black-glazed stoneware ceramic and the simple column of sheet brass are not something out of the ordinary. The font, on the other hand, is very attractive. It is painted with flowers (enamel painting) and optically vertically ribbed.

The shade is truly exceptional, both in shape and colour. It is relatively low at 127 mm, but 122 mm in diameter at the bottom, much larger than the normal 4 inch tulips. The accompanying globe holder is also a rarity; it is 128 mm in diameter and thus perfectly adapted to the tulip shade. It has 3 locking screws. As the tulip shade has a lipped fitter at the bottom, into which the screws can be screwed, I think that this combination could possibly have come from a gas lamp. The fact that the inner opening of the globe holder fits exactly on the Duplex burner speaks against this.

The burner is a Rowatt Duplex burner. I had to repair a few things on it. Only the chimney that came with it (a large Matador chimney with no brand, probably new manufacture) I had to replace with a proper Duplex chimney.

A lamp that greatly enriches my collection with its colour, despite the immensely high price!

Lamp Data

Added by me:
Glass chimney.

Cleaning and repairs:
I re-soldered an extinguisher blade of the burner and constructed the destroyed transport wick holder with a brass tube and soldered it to the burner.

Lamp body:
Base of black glazed ceramic, Ø 171 mm, without mark.
Column of ornamentally punched sheet brass.
Font of blue transparent glass, optically vertically ribbed, polychrome enamel painting with flowers. Removable font, Ø 145 mm.

Burner:
Duplex burner of Rowatt & Sons, Edinburgh, with extinguisher.
Two wick knobs marked: T. Rowatt & Sons.
Two flat wicks, each 27 mm. Additional transport wick.

Glass chimney:
Duplex chimney with oval bulge. Height 256 mm, Ø fitter 65 mm.
Marked: Griffin-Brand Fireproof Foreign + griffin.

Shade and shade holder:
Tulip shade, turquoise blue transparent glass, darker on top, flat etched floral design, upper rim wavy. Lipped fitter.
Height 127 mm, Ø fitter 122 and top rim 198 mm.
125 mm globe holder for 20’’’ burners; with 3 fixing screws.

Lamp dimensions:
Height up to collar 26.7 cm, total height with chimney 56.2 cm.
Total weight 2400 g.