L.334

A simple hanging lamp in lyre form by the British manufacturer Veritas with beautiful ornaments in Art Nouveau style; approximately from 1900-1920.

I had bought the Veritas font with the high quality burner by Schwintzer & Gräff from a well-known German collector and had to get the matching hanging fixture in lyre form afterwards. So the lamp came together in two parts bought completely separately. The primary reason for the purchase was simply my interest in the burner and its extinguishing device with movable fins (see Kerosene/Paraffin Burners - Raiser and Estinguisher - The Extinguisher). That it would subsequently become a proper hanging lamp in the collection was not initially in my concept.

The burner is the famous Patent Royal burner by Schwintzer & Gräff for center-draft lamps with the integrated, innovative wick drive via a worm winding system. S&G also built this burner for Veritas (Falk & Stadelmann), London. I had to get the original flame disc from the UK separately. The original glass chimney from Veritas is also a purchase from eBay Great Britain. The light green Rochester shade came from Germany, but matches the Veritas shades in colour and size.

I had bad luck with the hanging lyre: the lyre was broken in three places during transport. After a few unsuccessful attempts at soldering, I fixed the parts with two clamps made of copper wire and glued them together with Stabilit over a large area. I had to remove all layers of paint from the lyre in a caustic soda bath and then sand it down very carefully to remove any rust. Then I treated it with Hammerite rust converter and painted it with Faubourg Patina. I bronzed the decorated parts with copper and brass bronze. I constructed the missing smoke bell from a well matching brass part of an electric lamp.

Lamp Data

Added by me:
Flame disc, glass chimney, Rochester shade, self-made smoke bell and hanging lyre.

Cleaning and repairs:
See above.

Lamp body:
Hanging device in the shape of a lyre made of iron band, with decorations in Art Nouveau style made of cast iron, original by Veritas (Falk & Stadelmann, London). Lyre width 38.5 cm. Brass smoke bell self-constructed. A cast iron ring at the bottom for inserting a font.
Drop-in font of smooth brass sheet without ornamentation, two-tone (light and dark) copper plated, Ø 155 mm. Extra filler, marked: Lampe Veritas. For hanging into the lyre.

Burner:
20’’’ center-draft Patent Royal burner of Schwintzer & Gräff, Berlin, with gallery lifter and extinguisher, for Veritas, London. Burner thread 61.5 mm.
Wick knob marked: Lampe Veritas. Black glass inlay.
Wick knob ring marked: Manufactured in Germany by the Veritas lamp works.
Original flame disc for Lampe Veritas, two-staged hat on tube.
Round wick Ø 31 mm.

Glass chimney:
20’’’ Matador chimney with slim bulge. Height 270 mm, Ø fitter 64 mm.
Marked: Lampe Veritas Sunbrand F.P.Checkley Glastonbury Fireproof Best Crystal Made in Austria.

Shade and shade holder:
Rochester shade, white milk glass cased light green, flat top rim.
Height 187 mm, Ø bottom 300 mm.
300 mm cast iron shade holder, underside with meander decoration; original part of Veritas hanging lyre.

Lamp dimensions:
Total height 73.5 cm (height not variable). Total weight 3760 g.