L.003

This little French lamp is the first lamp I bought from my friend Ara Kebapcioglu in his lamp shop in June 2011, when my wife and I were in Paris for a visit. It is thus the actual starting point of my kerosene/paraffin lamps collection. The lamps L.001 and L.002 had been bought many years before in flea markets without wanting to start a collection with them.

I must confess, I am not quite sure of the actual material of the lamp. When I bought it, the vase was completely copper-coloured. Whether it was actually made of copper or of brass that was later copper-plated, I cannot say. The lamp could have been silver-plated in the past, but there is nothing left of a possible silver layer.

There are several such small lamps in France, all with baroque decoration, and most of them are or were silver-plated. I do not know if they all come from the same manufacture. I silver-plated the lamp myself with a silver solution from Britain. See Bronzing and Silver Plating in the chapter Cleaning. The applied silver layer is unfortunately quite thin, under strong artificial lighting the copper surface shines through somewhat.

The W&W burner and the green glass tulip shade that were on the lamp have since moved to other lamps where they fitted better. Here I have put on a burner from Hugo Schneider and a cute colourless tulip shade, which now harmonises better with the silver-plated lamp.

Lamp Data

Added by me:
Burner, tulip shade and globe holder.

Cleaning and repairs:
The entire lamp as well as the burner and globe holder silver-plated.

Lamp body:
3 baroque feet of cast brass, 2 of them broken and repaired, base side length 95 mm.
Vase possibly made of copper-plated brass, ornamentally embossed, probably formerly silver-plated (silver completely rubbed off), Ø 88 mm.
Vase is at the same time a font.

Burner:
8’’’ Kosmos burner of Hugo Schneider, Leipzig, silver-plated by me.
Wick knob marked: Prima-Rund-Brenner.
Flat wick 43 mm.

Glass chimney:
8’’’ Kosmos chimney. Height 180 mm, Ø fitter 37 mm.
Marked: Fabrication Française, Marque Deposée, 8''' + VR in an octagonal star.

Shade and shade holder:
Tulip shade, colourless glass, frosted, deep-etched flowers, top rim fluted and frilled.
Height 75 mm, Ø fitter 64 and top rim 132 mm.
70 mm globe holder for 8’’’ burners, silver-plated by me.

Lamp dimensions:
Height up to collar 14.0 cm, total height with chimney 35.5 cm.
Total weight 620 g.