Dating Kerosene/Paraffin Lamps

When you collect antiques, you naturally want to know the age of your objects. Even if the collected antiques are not archaeological finds, one still wants to know from which time period the pieces originate. Only the reasonably reliable dating of such pieces opens up the possibility of not only classifying the collected objects in terms of cultural history, but also of understanding their technical stage of development. This is the only way to gain guidelines on how to repair and complete such an object.

This also applies to kerosene/paraffin lamps which, although they dominated the world as a light source for a relatively short period of time from about 1860 to about 1920-30s, underwent a significant technological evolution during that time. A good, meaningful dating of a kerosene/paraffin lamp should not exceed a time span of 10-15 years, if possible. And this is where the big dilemma begins: The vast majority of kerosene/paraffin lamps are neither dated nor signed. The only indication of a manufacturer is the logo on the wick knob of the burner. But this reference is only valid for the burner, not for the entire lamp. The kerosene/paraffin lamp seems to be an anonymous product in most cases, which can only be attributed to a manufacturer if one is lucky enough to identify the lamp in an old catalogue of that company. Catalogues are unfortunately very rare and not available to everyone.

Exceptions are lamps that already bear a trademark or marking from their producers, for example "La Lampe Belge" by Lempereur & Bernard (Belgium), or "The Miller Lamp" by Edward Miller & Co. (USA) or "R. Ditmar Wien" by this manufacturer. There are also many American lamps that do not bear a manufacturer's name, but instead exact dates of patenting that make it possible to trace the patentee and his company. Then you at least know from which date these lamps were produced. Nevertheless, an exact dating is not possible, because these lamps or at least their burners were still produced for many years under patent protection (patents very often referred to the burners - the only technically demanding parts of the lamps).

A reasonably reliable dating of a lamp is already one of the most important bases for its valuation. But how can one date lamps without basic knowledge of the manufacturing companies? Especially with European lamps, it was possible to exchange burners, chimneys and shades at will, as long as the dimensions matched. This results in an almost insurmountable difficulty in dating a lamp if its main components, especially the burner, were replaced at some point with parts that were made years or decades earlier or later than the lamp itself.

I will try to explain this with a fictitious example: Let us assume that we have purchased a lamp that is the product of a lamp manufacturer we do not know. The burner on it is a Matador burner by Ehrich and Graetz. We know that this burner was first introduced to the market in 1895 and was produced for many years thereafter. However, we do not know whether this burner was used to replace the original burner several years after the lamp was acquired, as it promised a better light output. The lamp in our example may have been produced and sold in its original composition in 1875. Without a trained eye for lamp shapes and styles, we would then date the lamp after 1895 because of the Matador burner, but this would be wrong. It is thus quite clear that the burner supplied cannot provide any definite help in dating a lamp, as it may have been replaced.

Even if a lamp is illustrated in an old manufacturer's catalogue, it is not always possible to date it with certainty. My Favorit lamp L.002 by R. Ditmar is shown in both the Ditmar catalogue of 1897 and the much later catalogue of 1926. This means that this lamp was produced and sold at least during this long period (if not before and after). This example could be representative of many other lamps, as lamp manufacturers produced their successful lamps unchanged for many years.

14‘‘‘ Favorit lamp of R. Ditmar as lamp no. 8981 in catalogues of Ditmar
From left: The Favorit lamp L.002 in my collection
Illustration in the 1897 catalogue
Illustration in the 1908 catalogue
Illustration in the 1926 catalogue

Dating According to the Art Style

The dominant art styles in each case can of course give us a clue as to when a lamp was made. Lamps with pronounced Art Nouveau ornamentation cannot be dated before 1890, as this style, which dominated throughout Europe, only established itself from 1890 onwards. It is true that the Art Nouveau period was relatively short; its end began to appear as early as 1910. By the start of the First World War, Art Nouveau was already pretty much passé. However, this does not mean that lamps in pure Art Nouveau design were no longer produced after 1910. On the contrary, once lamps had been introduced, they remained in the manufacturers' range for a long time, especially when the falling demand after the First World War slowed down the development and production of new lamps.

The lamps of Historicism, which were very rich in eclectic ornamentation, were also reissued long after Art Nouveau had long since become established. On the one hand, the buying public, and especially the richer clientele, was quite conservative when it came to style and still wanted to have the stately lamps of past style eras, and on the other hand, the lamp manufacturers could not react very quickly to the new fashion trends and bring the corresponding lamps onto the market quickly. The Historicism lamps by Wild & Wessel, for example, are still fully represented in the 1894 catalogue, when Art Nouveau had already become the definitive style in arts and crafts.

After the First World War, the lamps were simpler and less overloaded with ornamentation and pomp. Production techniques became more and more rationalised and complicated lamps were no longer possible. Elaborately hand-painted glass vases and fonts were replaced by simple, unadorned all-metal constructions. More expensive, prestigious lamps of this era then tended to display contemporary Art Deco patterns. The variety of shapes and richness of ornamentation of earlier decades are no longer to be found now.

Lamps in different artistic styles ca. 1840 -1920
Top row, from left: A French clockwork oil lamp (1840; dating from the book of P. Deitz)
A French Moderator oil lamp (1855; dating from the catalogue of W&W)
A glass lamp by W&W from the classicism (ca. 1870)
A German glass lamp from the classicism (ca. 1875)
A cast zinc lamp by R. Ditmar in the Neo-Renaissance style (Historicism, ca. 1880)
A cast zinc lamp by W&W from the Historicism period (1884; dating by British Registration Number)
Bottom row, from left: A German zinc cast lamp from the Three Emperors Year 1888 (Historicism)
A British brass Arts & Crafts lamp (predecessor of Art Nouveau, ca. 1890)
A French zinc cast lamp in Art Nouveau style (ca. 1900)
A brass lamp in the style of the Wiener Werkstätte (ca. 1900)
A lamp by R. Ditmar in Art Nouveau style (ca. 1910; shown in catalogue 1912)
A German lamp shortly before the Art Deco period (ca. 1920)

This consideration is somewhat important, as most petroleum lamps currently on sale tend to date from a time period from about 1870 to about 1940. Older lamps are rather rare and (if still in good condition) correspondingly expensive. The dating of a lamp can only be done in rare cases in a narrow time period. To do this, you have to be a very experienced collector with a trained eye, or have as many manufacturers' catalogues as possible and also follow dating by museums and auction houses in order to be able to draw analogous conclusions. All this is not very easy and requires a lot of practice. It is therefore understandable that in many cases, even with renowned collectors, simple phrases such as "early 20th century" or "1890's" or "around the turn of the century" can be read as dating. Very broad dating such as "second half of the 19th century" is not at all uncommon and testifies to the considerable difficulties in establishing a narrower and more secure dating.

Misleading Time Terms

Now it is also time to clear up some of the misleading time terms used by eBay listings. First of all, I would like to denounce the very frequent use of the word "antique". There is hardly a lamp on eBay that is advertised without the attribute "antique", and that across countries, internationally. Unfortunately, there is no legal definition of this word to put a stop to this nonsense. Even lamps produced only in the second half of the 20th century are marketed as "antique". To my understanding, the word "antique" should be reserved for items that are indeed very old. Lamps that are more than 100 years old, for example, should be called "antique" with a clear conscience. All newer lamps should be dubbed "old" or “vintage”.

A similar abuse is practised with British lamps, as they are almost invariably advertised as "Victorian". However, the Victorian era finally ended with the passing of the long-serving monarch Queen Victoria. A great many British lamps, some of which were even manufactured considerably after that time, are still advertised as "Victorian", as this probably contributes more to their sales success.

A serious error in the German eBay is the dating to Biedermeier times. This dating usually appears on older glass lamps, and is simply wrong! The Biedermeier period is dated from 1815 to 1848, and during this period there were no kerosene/paraffin lamps, as kerosene/paraffin did not yet exist as a fuel. The era of kerosene/paraffin lamps did not begin until 1860 with the industrial distillation of kerosene/paraffin from crude oil. The lamps that existed in average German households in the real Biedermeier era were probably rather simpler student lamps that burned rapeseed or colza oil.

Another misleading period term appears with the French tripod lamps (lampe à tripode or lampe athénienne): they are succinctly counted as belonging to the "Empire" period. Here, too, a complete ignorance of the style epochs and their times is involved. "Empire" is the dominant artistic style of the Napoleonic era, i.e. from 1799 to 1814, when there were no kerosene/paraffin lamps. There was a second, later "Empire" epoch, from 1852 to 1870 during the reign of Emperor Napoleon III, but this epoch is more correctly called the "second Empire". The style of the tripod lamps, however, clearly belongs to the first "Empire" period. If we look at the built-in burners of these lamps, we see that they were produced after 1880, i.e. after the end of the second Empire. In such cases, it would be correct to mention that the lamp was built "in the style of the Empire period" instead of placing it directly in Empire period.