72 usmc Posted October 25, 2022 Share Posted October 25, 2022 SRF Page 1 WW I Snead Victory Lamp- Morgan Explosion SNEAD VICTORY LAMP and the UNCLE ED LAMP: INTRODUCTION This was an old post on Surplusrifleforum (SRF) that was very popular as a reference. SFR had a 2 June 2017 crash, and again on 4 June 2020 both times resulting in missing photos and information on the former forum. Treasure Bunker has members that post and read in the De-activated and Antique Guns, Munitions and Fuzes section about artillery shells and trench art made from shells. The Snead Victory lamp is made from 75 mm shell tossed around from the Morgan Explosion at a World War I ammunition plant in the United States. The T. A. Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant, also referred to as the Morgan Munitions Depot blew up at 7:36 pm EDT on Friday, 4 October 1918, in the Morgan area of Sayreville in Middlesex County, New Jersey, United States. It was suggested that I should reproduce this former SRF forum archive. These Victory Lamps are a rare collectable. It is not common trench art, rather the lamp is a factory production. The old Wayback Machine Archive saves are a mess. A total upgrade is required. I have redone the former 13 pages while maintaining as best as I can the page number (original page at top) and the post order from the original SRF post. However this forum post started in 2017 and continued to the termination of the SRF forum (July 2022). It was a gradual learning process as more and more information came to light. Consequently, in the newly revised update it made sense to eliminate some posts and reorganize others. In some cases maintaining the same order was counter productive. The new update does not exactly follow the old format. All references and their links have been renewed so they function. Most photos are reproduced as screen shots from the Wayback Machine Archive as best as I could. Most of the photo sources are now removed due to age from ebay and other auction sites. With SRF only five photos per post were allowed, hence there are many comments and posts deleted in order to regroup the photos into this new update. Basically, I have maintained the original post’s dates, authors name, and page numbers. I made note if I moved a major section from different pages. However, there has been much needed additions and editing modifying the original scrambled text from the SRF software upgrades and crashes. Page one is very early with questions and speculations that have proven wrong over time. I have added comments to indicate the incorrect ideas found on page one. I have also added sub tittles for ease in reading. Finally, I have removed all the page links to the Wayback Machine Archive for the corrupted SRF original posts. This is basically a fresh upgrade presented on the Treasure Bunker forum about the history of the explosion and the Victory Lamps; there parts, restoration, and different versions identified by myself since 2017. I rewrote this in an effort to familiarize readers about the Victory lamp and ashtray. These Victory lamps are made from original 75mm artillery shells and show up for sale occasionally on ebay and auctions in the U. S. Unfortunately, they are rarely encountered and their price is $100 or more. Most have been so modified they are no longer in original condition. I have yet to encounter a Victory lamp or ashtray at an antique store. Rapidrob, an SRF moderator, started this former post when his friend gave him a lamp. Rapidrod's first post encountered photo loss. His photos are gone due to photo bucket now killing off the free posting of photos. However, in later pages he shows his lamp again. In 2017 Rapidrob stated: QUOTE "I was able to meet up with rap1610 a fellow SRF member as he made his way to visit an ailing friend in Texas. Robert had talked about a 75 M/M lamp he had from WWI and asked if I wanted it. He gave me the lamp which is made from the common French 75 M/M shell used by the French and us as the gun was one of the most advanced in the world in its day. ( it has an effective recoil dampening system that prevented the gun from moving off zero when fired) there are surviving films of the gun in action. The shell is engraved on its body and the copper rotating band. The body is marked “Victory May 11, 1918 75 M/M” The rotating band is marked "They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore." While the shell is an interesting piece of WWI history it has a much darker history than just to be fired at the Hun Troops. The shell is in fact one of the shells that rained down upon the citizens of the town of Morgan in Middlesex, New Jersey. On October 4 & 5 1918 the Gillespie Explosive filling Plant’s building 6-1-1 exploded. The blast so devastated the plant that it was impossible to put out the fires as the fire mains had been shattered. The fires spread to the other 697 buildings and magazines setting them on fire where they too exploded from the heat. There were over one million 75 M/M shells stored on site to be shipped to the war in Europe. The blast was so severe that on eye witness account from miles away from the blast site said “The shells fell on us as if it was a hard rain”. Since most of all the persons living close to the plant were killed outright no one was left alive to notify the authorities as to how many residents lived there. The force of the blast and heat left little of the inhabitants intact for burial and untold persons were vaporized leaving no trace what so ever. They know that the 100 plant workers were all killed as the plant exploded many times during the 24 hour event and that 62,000 citizens of Morgan lost their homes due to the shock wave and raining projectiles and debris. Even windows on the island of Manhattan were blown out. To add insult to injury, the blast happened right at the start of the devastating “Spanish Flu” ( known to have killed 1,000,000 persons) that 300 Morgan residents exposed to the elements after the explosions, caught the flu and died. The Shell Lamp is made from one of these 75 M/M shells that were recovered by the Sneade & Company and converted into a table lamp. The lamp was not inexpensive to purchase. It cost 20 dollars in May of 1919, which was a lot of money then. You had to make payments to the company. The lamp was offered in Natural Gas, Kerosene or Electric. I have not found where the shell was offered as being plated but there are photo’s of the lamp in at least three finishes There is no mention that any of the lamp’s proceeds went to the victims of the blast. That being said in 1918 it would have been gauche to mention that as it was assumed the company would always do the right thing. The lamp shade was designed by a well know artist at the time. I have not found a photo of the complete lamp shade, just a side view of it. I do not know what the theme of the lamp shade was. The lamp shade on my lamp is long gone as is the wiring and the lamps Harp. The lamp is very well made and the bronze base and fittings are 1st quality. The base has a rubber strip on its rim to prevent scratching the surface of a desk. Mr. Vanderbilt had one of these lamps on his New York Offices desk. An interesting piece of history that has a dark side of its intended life on both sides of “ The Pond”. END OF QUOTE SOURCE 1) http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-lamp/ Wayback Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20200608122523/https://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-lamp/ 2) http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/then-and-now-aftermath-of-the-1918-great-explosions. Wayback Archive; https://web.archive.org/web/20200609023225/https://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/then-and-now-aftermath-of-the-1918-great-explosions/ Explosion at Morgan: the WW I Middlesex Muntions Disaster By 72usmc a reply A book is out: Explosion at Morgan: the WW I Middlesex Muntions Disaster, The Historical Press, 2012. The local historical society has a 160 page, paperback book on the Morgan Gillespie plant explosion that occurred on 4 Oct. 1918. Go to Amazon and see: Randall Gabrielan, 2012, Explosion At Morgan; the cost is approximately $18. This is a fantastic read. Post by 72 usmc Tue Mar 1920 10:34 am Here is a Video from the Morgan Explosion Centennial lecture about the Morgan Explosion by the author Randall Gabrielan. QUOTE "The Morgan Explosion Centennial On October 4, 1918, at 7:30pm an explosion occurred at the T.A Gillespie Company Shell Loading Plant in Morgan, New Jersey. The chain reaction that occurred would leave hundreds dead and hundreds of buildings destroyed. Sayreville, South Amboy, and Perth Amboy were evacuated leaving tens of thousands homeless. Author and historian Randall Gabrielan will give a presentation on the 100th anniversary of the tragedy. Before the lecture, join us in commemorating the 100th anniversary of America’s involvement in World War I. Explore the story, from the battlefield to the home front, in a milestone exhibit showcasing an array of artifacts. “Over There, Over Here: New Jersey During World War I,” at the Cornelius Low House will be open until 6:30pm." END OF QUOTE Approximately 50 minutes. SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZ-kDQZdRJE Victory lamps recovered in a trash can: A nice find in the garbage! SOURCE: https://welovegarbage.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/queens-garbage-company-finds-world-war-i-victory-lamp-in-estate-property-cleanout/ Wayback Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20211026090449/https://welovegarbage.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/queens-garbage-company-finds-world-war-i-victory-lamp-in-estate-property-cleanout/ 75-year-old ordnance cleared from schoolyard. Here is a recent newspaper article on the local school and buried shell cases. Considering at the school in 1994 they recovered 5800 shells and people still find them, the lamp company must have obtained thousands. The local paper wrote an article about the School. The source is American City & Country, 1 March 1995: SOURCE: https://www.americancityandcounty.com/1995/03/01/75-year-old-ordnance-cleared-from-schoolyard/ QUOTE "75-year-old ordnance cleared from schoolyard Mar 1, 1995 McAnally, Sandy | American City and County A fireball that lit the skies around Morgan Depot on Oct. 4, 1918, is still haunting the residents of Midlesex County, N.J., today.The cause of the fireball was an explosion that destroyed the Gillespie Ammunition Plant, the largest load and pack production plant in the world during World War I. Approximately 12 million pounds of explosive compounds, more than 300,000 loaded artillery shells and numerous A fireball that lit the skies around Morgan Depot on Oct. 4, 1918, is still haunting the residents of Midlesex County, N.J., today. The cause of the fireball was an explosion that destroyed the Gillespie Ammunition Plant, the largest load and pack production plant in the world during World War I. Approximately 12 million pounds of explosive compounds, more than 300,000 loaded artillery shells and numerous rail cars and buildings were destroyed in a series of explosions that killed more than 50 civilians. The fallout still lies scattered in the backyards, forests and school yards of Sayreville, N.J. The tragedy of 1918 that brought together a stunned community, the Ordnance Division of the U.S. War Department and fire and emergency medical support has inspired a similar union today. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineer's Huntsville Division and New York District, government contractors and borough managers of Sayreville have joined forces to clear 75 acres of explosive debris. Roland Belew, technical project manager from Huntsville Division, and Sayreville Mayor John McCormick have worked since November 1993 to inform residents about suspected problems and to coordinate the removal of ordnance and the evacuation of residents living near the contaminated sites. Belew's team focuses on two time-critical projects -- the grounds of the Eisenhower Elementary School and the undeveloped area across the street from the school. The target date for completing the time-critical projects hinged on the beginning of the 1994-95 school year for Eisenhower Elementary School on Sept. 7. The Environmental Protection Agency conducted a ordnance and explosive waste (OEW) sampling in August 1993 as part of an investigation of privately owned munitions plant sites. The survey found 12 75-mm shells and one 8-inch diameter shell in the undeveloped area across from the school. New York District Life Cycle Project Managers Maj. Stephen Ressler and Silvio Calisi responded quickly to coordinate evacuations and local police efforts. On August 8, after the work plan was developed and key players were assigned, ordnance removal experts from UXB International of Chantilly, Va., under the guidance of Dusty Rhodes and Tom Baksa of Hunstville Division, started searching the 15-acre school site. The actual removal process began with subsurface sweeps. Unexploded ordnance specialists used hand-held magnetometers (metal detectors) to scan the designated terrain. Each anomaly or "hot spot" (e.g., nail, bottle caps, cans, artillery fuzes or live shells) registered by the magnetometer was flagged for investigation. During a two-day search, over 1,000 "hot spots" were indicated. By the last day of August, 6,805 anomalies were flagged and dug up for inspection on the school grounds, uncovering one 3-inch mortar, three 74-mm shells, one 4.7-inch diameter empty shell and 15 explosive adapter boosters. All items were dug up by hand and destroyed at Fort Dix, N.J. The cumulative ordnance found in the area across from the school included one 3-inch diameter Stokes mortar, two 75-mm shells, two 155-mm shells, one 9.2-inch diameter shell and 103 adapter boosters. The 9.2-inch shell, weighing 300 pounds, was discovered the first day of the search and transported to Fort Dix for detonation. During August, the schoolyard of Eisenhower Elementary School was successfully cleared, and school grounds were restored to their original condition. Ongoing work involves 60 acres near the school -- an area targeted for development of high-density housing. Searchers will use magnetometers over the entire site, and all anomalies will be flagged and dug up for removal and inspection. Ordnance specialists will continue to provide expert assistance in the clean up of these 60 acres. Belew considers the progress made during the time-critical projects exceptional. "There are always snags that develop in projects that have a broad scope coupled with time constraints," he says, "but, for the most part the cooperation among Huntsville Division, New York District project supervisors and the city of Sayreville has been outstanding." Ressler agrees. "The Mayor and Borough Council have contributed extensive and exemplary service in support of this project," he says. "In our view, our excellent working relationship with the borough has brought this phase of the project to a successful end, and we hope to continue relying on them for future removal efforts." An engineering evaluation and cost analysis is being done on the remaining 3,000 acres of the plant site to determine if additional action is appropriate. That study will be completed by the end of 1995." END OF QUOTE Early Impressions It seems the early lamps had a USGI steel WW I helmet as a shade, but then they switched to a more common, most likely a bigger seller for the house wife, an artist made parchment shade with two scenes depending on if the lamp was lit or off. Very few of the original shades survived. I see that ebay has three lamps currently for sale ranging in price from $400 down to $124. There are no know parchment shades that I can find. It appears the lamp was sold with the parchment shade or helmet. It would be neat to find a relic "found shell" on ebay from one of the local city residents. I have not seen any of these unmarked, rusty dug shells offered. I would think that their must be more than a few metal detector looters looking for relic shell bodies to sell. Lots of the original newspaper items from 1918 are archived on the Wayback Machine Archive. There is also a DVD made by the high school/historical center by the same authors that compiled the book. There is mention in the 1995 newspaper article that the shells are found empty, they are not loaded with explosives when found. I wonder what becomes of all these relic shell casings? For the price of $18.40, that VICTORY lamp with a normal spring wire, parchment shade must have been a big seller for Snead and company. It would be neat to find an intact lamp with the tag still intact on the bottom with a WW I helmet and the harp that supported the helmet. Actually, I am not sure a harp was the correct attachment unless it is just a modification for a two bulb lamp. Odd that they had the Bryant, red/black push button switch rather than the black turn on switch. It would be neat to find an intact original copy of the double sided, Snead & Co. sales brochure for the lamp. Since this post, I have actually recovered an original copy and it is shown later in the post. The Morgan historical web page has volumes of on-line history; see http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/ 1) The use of 75mm shells during WW I: SOURCE: https://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/give-em-an-artillery-shell-from-morgan-harry/ Way back Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20200609012159/https://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/give-em-an-artillery-shell-from-morgan-harry/ 2) Victory lamp specifications, see this link: SOURCE: https://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/morgan-momentos-world-war-i-victory-lamp-specifications/ Wayback Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20200609031603/https://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/morgan-momentos-world-war-i-victory-lamp-specifications/ 3) The Treasures of New York City link has a picture of two lamp found in the trash that show the original switch on the broken lamps. This photo of the salvage finds shows an original cord, correct plug, and the Bryant socket on a single bulb Victory lamp style. SOURCE: https://welovegarbage.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/queens-garbage-company-finds-world-war-i-victory-lamp-in-estate-property-cleanout/ Wayback Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20211026090449/https://welovegarbage.wordpress.com/2012/08/26/queens-garbage-company-finds-world-war-i-victory-lamp-in-estate-property-cleanout/ 4) The original specification sheet: https://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/morgan-momentos-world-war-i-victory-lamp-specifications/ ) Sources (2, 3, and 4) indicate a Bryant push button rather than the single pull chain or Benjamin angled pull chain sockets. The Bryant single pole, key turn switch socket was also popular for lamps ca. 1920s. Actually the push button was a newer switch type. The pull chain was more common on early lamps. Bryant was a big name during the 1910-40s. You can still find plenty of vintage Bryant push button, all brass sockets for repairs. Lighting companies in the U. S. still produce reproduction cloth wrapped cord and bakelite plugs to finish off the lamp. More about the correct parts is found on pages 2-4. Here is a source for reproduction parts, but most antique stores have vintage parts in bins that can be utilized to get the correct patina and part. SOURCE: Antiquelampsupply https://antiquelampsupply.com A Double Socket Victory Lamp Is this an early helmet mount? I am unsure, this lamp is slightly different. This has a brass rod (two socket cluster) with two Benjamin angled pull chain sockets. (later I actually found a similar lamp that is discussed at the bottom of this page). The lamp switch: The Bryant bakelite turn key switches have "BRYANT " written on the key. They have an irregular pattern lock feature called the "new Wrinkle" snap together socket. Other smaller companies with similar switches are made by and marked Hubbell, P & S ( Shurlok socket), Western electric, and Monowatt. Later 1930-1950s sockets are made by Paulding, Leviton, and Weber. Generally the bakelite turn key has the company name on the black key as well as the side of the brass socket. Benjamin made special lamp sockets and glass shade holding adapters for fancy reverse painted lamps and floor lamps. Hubble made the nice acorn pull chain ends found on slag glass and reverse painted lamps. Most of the old switches are real brass with bakelite keys. The Victory lamp did not use a turn key switch; it utilized a red/black push button shuttle switch. The double socket Victory lamp used Bryant pull chain switches. In general,: most of the vintage lamps you see for sale no longer have an original switch. To get an original switch back on a lamp look for old appliances with original cords and sockets. A nice old socket with patina and vintage cord from an old 1920s-40 lamp or a cord from an electrical device will restore the original look to a Victory lamp. It's worth $5 for an old toaster or iron just for the bakelite plug at Goodwill or an antique store. If you are going to use the lamp, do not use an old cloth cord because the rubber coating has hardened and cracked which exposes the wires. If you plan to use the lamp, it is best to use new reproduction cloth wrapped electrical cord. Reproduction cords are high quality, safe, and look as good as the old stuff, but there is no hard rubber or exposed copper wires. Now, if the restored lamp is just for display, then an old clean, intact, but hard vintage cord can be used for looks. But this can be somewhat of a fire hazard. Sometimes you find old appliances as new old stock (NOS) in the box unused and the cord looks new-but still too brittle for regular use. Such a cord is perfect for replacement parts on the "just for show" lamp and the cord is best kept rolled up as found to avoid cracking the wires. 1920 lamps did not have the brass harp with bottom two ended attachments for a cloth shade like you see on todays lamps. I have not found an auction photo of an original Victory first patent issue lamp with the helmet where the socket and cord remain intact. Most have different sockets and no longer have the brass rod extension, nor the correct lamp finial that actually held the helmet onto the stem. Later the reader will see two original helmets with the white painted enamel interior and a clip-on bulb attachment that is fastened to the top of the helmet. No harp is utilized. There seems to be two manners of attachment: 1) the screw-on harp attached to the top of the Uno electrical socket, and 2) a clip-on attachment that slides over the bulb, this is attached to the inside top of the helmet and hooks over the glass light bulb. Most Victory lamps encountered have harps attached at the base of the new socket like you see on post 1950s lamps utilizing cloth shades. The Harp is the component of a lamp to which the lamp shade is attached. “It typically comes in two separate parts, a saddle which is fastened under the lamp socket, and the harp itself which consist of a lightweight frame attached to the saddle at its lower end and extending upwards to a point above the bulb. At the top of the harp is a threaded rod. The shade's internal frame (known as a spider) mounts on this rod and is secured in place by a lamp finial.” Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lamp_harp The Bryant lamp socket. The Bryant push button red/black is slightly harder to find. Most vintage lamps have the pull chain or turn key socket. Because a correct socket is a difficult find, some try other brands of push button vintage sockets. These are better than a new reproduction. Most use a harp to mount a helmet. That photo I posted shows a brass rod and two pull chain sockets on a cluster with an original cord, most likely a first early patent VICTORY lamp? But I just have not found any documented good photos of an early version with intact mounting hardware for the helmet. Most recent photos show a newer harp set up under the socket with new replacement sockets and plastic cords indicating they were messed with. Tailsx3’s photo shows a 1950s harp that is position below the socket. This is incorrect, but provides a nice view of a contemporary restored harp from an underside view: Credit for excellent photos shown below = Tailsx3 4 nextechclassifieds, original source is invalid, remove due to age SOURCE OF PHOTOS 4 and 5 Wayback Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20160620021446/http://www.nextechclassifieds.com/listings/880933/ Post by 72 usmc Wed Jun 07 2017 12:37 pm There seems to be a few different versions of the "Victory Lamp". There are single and double socket lamps with doughboy helmet shades. There is a single socket version with the artist parchment shade. Then there are two variations of writing found on these lamps. In addition, there are also Victory lamp versions called the "Uncle Ed Lamp" and "The Seventy Five Lamp". There is a Victory lamp with 2 sockets, but examples are found with different wording on the shell. I wonder if small shops in different areas of New Jersey made these lamps rather than a single large factory? Each family owned shop may have had different supply sources? added (additional research indicates this is not the case. The Snead factory had many patents.) There is indeed much variation in the lamps. Most of the modifications are due to the owner’s adjustments to the lamps as repairs were needed with little concern for correct historical restoration. Like putting baby moons on a Model T Ford. photo of script There are two versions of the stampings on the side panel of the shell, the more common is:" VICTORY, Nov. 11, 1918, 75 mm shell" stamped in 3 lines that is shown above and this second style that is shown below: VICTORY LAMP WORLD WAR ENDED Nov 11 1918 ------------ 75 mm The second version is shown below. Note this specimen has different stampings present on the shells side. Lamp color & Tag The original color is black. It is a tough black enamel paint like found on old Model Ts, it is also similar to Singer sewing machine black, or locomotive shiny black. This paint is on my lamp, but on my example the color is really worn off from use. Some lamps are missing the white rubber ring to protect the table from scratches. In the lower photo it remains intact and this lamp base has a well preserved factory tag. It is a very nice example of an intact lamp base. Here is a photo of the tag and rubber ring on the bottom to protect the table. These white rings are found on intact original lamp bases, but are generally rock hard due to age and rubber deterioration. Rarely is the paper tag in such nice condition. Post by 72 usmc Wed Jun 07, 2017 12:43 pm Some history from the paper documents: I just found two different versions of the Victory lamps from this source, The National Electric Contractor ,Vol18, No.12, Oct 1919, pp. 73-74. Both of these pages provide evidence of the two different versions of the Victory lamp. One is the Victory lamp with parchment shade, and the “75” (later referred to in period literature as the “Seventy-Five”) lamp with a helmet shade. See photos of pages in the source: The National Electrical Contractor, Volume 18. source: https://books.google.com/books?id=0qs0AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA73&lpg=RA1-PA73&dq=the+seventy-five+Victory++lamp&source=bl&ots=HIccRMmurx&sig=uNVC11bV7rZFn85lL_S3CYwRMS0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibssiLpK3UAhUq9YMKHeA3BNYQ6AEIXDAN#v=onepage&q=the seventy-five Victory lamp&f=false The Seventy-Five Lamp advertisement in color Also note it does not show a double cluster socket? The advertisement shows a Bryant shuttle switch. The brass base is also different in the picture. There is no mention if it is marked with the bible inscription. But the Victory advertisement mentions that the "75" lamps are made from shells from the Morgan explosion. The lower pictures in the "75" lamp advertisement ( page 21) show lamps at different heights. The shell is cut in each lower photo? I have not seen any photos of a stubby Victory lamp. (Added, later research found that that this is an Uncle Ed version.) Also notice that the cut offs may have been planned as useful objects. In those three photos are an ashtray, a pencil holder and a cigarette or tobacco storage container. Interesting if these were actual production items? I have seen photos of the ashtray. It is very odd that there is so much variation in these lamps. I just wonder if the two socket lamp was made to provide more light. The helmet cover allows the base of the bulb to show and produce a fair amount of light by 1920 standards. Real Edison bulbs are dim in comparison to normal contemporary tungsten bulbs. I have a few marbleized slag lamps that have original Edison bulbs for show. I rarely plug these in, but the light produced is better than two candles and less smelly than an oil lamp set on high. The original Edison bulb produces a hair more light than the oil lamp with the wick turned up. So with two bulbs the lamp would be fairly bright by turn of the century standards. Especially for a desk lamp positioned near a typewriter. The reproduction bulbs are generally 1/3 the brightness of a normal bulb. Even though I put 60w bulbs in my lamp, they are dim and have a nice warm orange glow. Most of the retro bulbs are 40w and glow like a 15-25 watt contemporary bulb, maybe less. And if my better half is any indication, she hates that old junk shell lamp; I bet not many of the helmet versions were used or they went out into the trash wagon to go to the farm dump. These were real pricy lamps in the day, you could get two floor lamps for the same price of a single Victory WW I souvenir lamp. I wonder how many were produced? I have a good number of original vintage hardware, electrical, and general store catalogs in my archaeological library-none list a Victory lamp. These lamps must have been made in 1919 into the 1920s and then stopped production fairly rapidly--maybe by 1923/1924. They are not even in the 1920 Sears catalog! I tend to think the shade version was more popular to the female of the house. It is interesting that very few, if any, of the original shades survived. They must have dried out, got brittle, and got holes in them due to the heat from the bulb. I have not found any photos of an actual lamp with its original shade, unless it's the helmet. More research has turned up pictures of the shade, but no actual photographs. I want a Victory ashtray to go along with my Victory lamp and my Akro marbleized ashtrays-and I never smoked. I just like the Akro glass marbles and ashtrays. A Victory ash tray would be a great find. Added (Since this posting in 2017, I have obtained four.) Snead production Victory ashtray Uncle Ed lamp The UNCLE ED lamps were still offered in 1922. See the lower photo of small advertisement from The THE AMERICAN LEGION WEEKLY dated 6 Oct 1922. A Special "UNCLE ED" version. Also see page 15 from an advertisement in THE AMERICAN LEGION WEEKLY, Vol. 4 No. 12 , 24 March 1922 lower photo. Quote: “There are just 1,769 shells left from which "Uncle Ed" can be made. After that, no more. When we bought up all that were left of the famous 75 M/M shells for The Victory Lamp we found these 1,769 shells already sectionalized and pre- pared with parts for these special "Uncle Ed" lamps.” END OF QUOTE WAR TO PEACE ADVERTISEMENT Post by 72 usmc Wed Jun 07 2017 12:52 pm There is more information in the advertising found in the June 1919, ELECTRICAL MERCHANDISING , Vol. 21, No.6, pp. 19-24. This is the largest and most in depth advertisement I have found and is dated 1919. SOURCE: https://books.google.com/books?id=70w8AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA20&lpg=RA1-PA20&dq=lamps+made+from+shells+at+the+morgan+explosion&source=bl&ots=GDptyVyx0r&sig=TB5QzSRjJRtSdZMiPpt-roHvZaA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjr3KaKidnQAhVF94MKHbZSDbMQ6AEITzAO#v=onepage&q=lamps made from shells at the morgan explosion&f=false THE VICTORY LAMP Post by 72 usmc Wed Jun 07 2017 12:56 pm Most ads seem to be in jobber catalogs and I cannot find any in Look, Life, Saturday Evening Post, or the Sears catalog from 1919 to 1921. I have yet to find an actual photo of the "Uncle Ed" also called the "75" lamp that was made in sections from any auctions or ebay sales. The “75” lamp color advertisement is shown on two pages in The National Electrical Contractor, Volume 18, No. 12, Oct 1919. Source see: https://books.google.com/books?id=0qs0AQAAMAAJ&pg=RA1-PA73&lpg=RA1-PA73&dq=the+seventy-five+Victory++lamp&source=bl&ots=HIccRMmurx&sig=uNVC11bV7rZFn85lL_S3CYwRMS0&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwibssiLpK3UAhUq9YMKHeA3BNYQ6AEIXDAN#v=onepage&q=the seventy-five Victory lamp&f=false It appears most auction information is on the one piece Victory Lamp. There are many pictures of the single shell Snead Company Victory Lamp. However, over time (Now 100 years old) most have been modified with different sockets and cords since their introduction in 1919. The Seventy-Five lamp was another version of the Victory Lamp. . The Seventy-Five Lamp was another version of the Victory Lamp made with cut-up/interlocking sections that could be separated into a smoker set with a cigar holder and ash try. It came with the WW I doughboy helmet, but was also offered with the extra parchment shade for an additional $18. The “Seventy-Five Lamp” and the “Uncle Ed” lamp may be the same lamp, just given two different names. I have not found much information about this sectioned style of Victory lamp. ---------------------------------------------- Here is just the shell that turned up at a Canadian museum: SOURCE: http://www.canadianflight.org/content/75mm-artillery-shell Incident Newspaper Reports Below are some sources of information in the news papers about the 4 October 1918 Morgan explosion. By doing a goggle search the reader can locate old newspapers about specific topics-the internal site link allows use only if the reader is a member. See myheritage.com SOURCE: https://www.myheritage.com/research?action=query&formId=master&formMode=1&qname=Name+fn.Morgan+fnmo.1+fnmsvos.1+fnmsmi.1+ln.Explosion+lnmo.3+lnmsdm.1+lnmsmf3.1+lnmsrs.1 The New York Times New York, NY, United States, Sunday, October 6, 1918 DAY OF EXPLOSIONS AND FIRE FINISHES SHELL PLANT RUIN This New York Times, October 6 1918 has one of the better articles reporting the Morgan Explosion. I am also including their October 5 1918 article. They maybe difficult to locate, so I have reproduced them here for the reader as a quote: SOURCE: Wayback Machine Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20200912101336/https://reference.insulators.info/publications/view/?id=10212 or https://reference.insulators.info/publications/view/?id=10212 QUOTE: “DAY OF EXPLOSIONS AND FIRE FINISHES SHELL PLANT RUIN [Newspaper] The New York Times New York, NY, United States, Sunday, October 6, 1918 DAY OF EXPLOSIONS AND FIRE FINISHES SHELL PLANT RUIN Metropolitan Area in Fear for Hours as Blast Follows Blast and Buildings Tremble. SHOCK FELT FORTY MILES River Tubes and Bridges Closed in Fear of Shock from 80,000 Pounts of TNT. DEAD NOW ESTIMATED AT 50 Will Be No Halt of Shells for Army—Government Moves to Speed Up Other Plants. Explosions that rattled windows, set buildings a-tremble and broke glass many miles away continued at approximately half hourly intervals at the T.A. Gillespie shell-loading plant near South Amboy, N.J., until well into the afternoon yesterday. Fear that a giant explosion of 80,000 pounds of trinitrotoluol in a storage magazine at the plant might cause East River bridges to collapse and under-river subway structures to crumble prompted New York authorities to close for a time all traffic and throw the city back upon the ferries and surface lines as of forty years ago. Estimates of the casualties at the plant put the number of dead at 50 and the wounded were at 150 or more. Tall buildings downtown were evacuated early, as explosion after explosion rocked them on their foundations, and persons afoot were kept well out from the building line on the sidewalks for fear of a shower of heavy glass from windows high up. Literally the entire population of the metropolitan district was kept in a state of apprehension from the time of the initial explosion on Friday evening till late yesterday. When danger of widespread disaster was declared by the army authorities to be past. No Halt of War Effort While the $18,000,000 plant that was loading more than 30,000 shells a day is badly wrecked, the American Army in France will suffer no lack of ammunition for its drive toward Berlin. Twenty Thousand persons were ordered from their homes in South Amboy and nearby towns, and railroad operation in the vicinity was stopped by army officials as precautions against the new and greater explosion which they feared. Flames sweeping over the wreckage, covered hundreds of acres at the plant, were driven by a southwest wind in the direction of two central malting plants heavily stocked with TNT, whose explosion, it was feared, would cause a shock sufficient to set off the 80,000=pound magazine. The force of such an explosion can be judged by the fact that the earlier explosions which created so much havoc and were felt as much as forty miles away were made by comparatively small quantities of TNT in groups of small containers used in loading shells. The bulk of the TNT in the magazine was probably one hundred times as great as that consumed in any of the terrific single explosions of Friday night and yesterday. The danger of such a great explosion was reported to be practically at an end late yesterday afternoon, after Major H.L. Armstrong, the designer of the plant, and Captain W.W. Watson had made a observation flight over the burning plant in an airplane. All land approaches to the threatened magazine were cut off by the fire, which surrounded it on all sides, but from the air it was reported to be over, as the buildings nearest the buried magazines did not appear to be in peril. The machine circled again and again around the big tract, while the airmen leveled field glasses at the scene of desolation beneath. They kept at their task for fifteen minutes, and then alighted outside the danger zone. The observation showed that five of the thirteen units of the plant had been destroyed, but that the 200 plant guards who began fighting the fire had the situation well in hand, and that unless there was a furious windstorm the fire would not reach either the barges with their dangerous loads or the storehouse more than a mile away in another direction. T.A. Gillespie, President of the company, said yesterday that the plant had been putting out shells at the rate of 32,000 a day. While this is by far the greatest production from a single plant, and its temporary loss may mean a present reduction of as much as 10 per cent, in certain types of shells sent to France, great reserves of heavy ammunition have been accumulated beyond the estimated needs of the American Army by way of preparation for such accidents, which have been the experience of every nation in the war and are looked upon as inevitable incidents in the supplying of armies on a gigantic scale. This is by far the most destructive accident of its kind in this country. The loss of life is at least seven times that attending the Black Tom explosion, where seven persons were killed. The immediate property loss in the Black Tom explosion was nearly as great, but the principal loss there was in shells, while the great loss in this case is in munitions producing capacity. The output of the plant that was destroyed yesterday was more than 1,000,000 shells a month, and probably that capacity has been destroyed for two months or more. The plan under which the great collection of buildings composing the Gillespie plant were built of wood and placed in such relation that the destruction of one building meant the destruction of all was devised by the Ordinance Department. Under this plan it was found possible to break all records in the almost magical creation of a vast plant, while the production achieved at the newly-made plant in three months was considered to be one of the greatest industrial feats of the war. The purpose of the great concentration of explosives in one group of buildings was the superior efficiency expected from so vast an enterprise, and before yesterday the plan had justified the hopes placed in it. Work on the plant was started in March. Production of loaded shells began in July, and speeded up through August and September to the daily output of 32,000 shells, which included three-inch, six-inch, eight-inch, twelve-inch, and sixteen-inch sizes. The plant was not completed, but it was expected late this Fall to achieve a minimum output of 50,000 shells a day, and a possible maximum of 74,000. The destroyed works were really an assembling plant, hundreds of carloads of empty shells arriving daily from Pennsylvania mills, while carloads of TNT came from New Jersey chemical works. At the plant in Morgan the TNT was loaded into shells and taken on barges and by rail to munition ships waiting at anchor. Criticism began to be voiced yesterday of the scheme under which so large a percentage of America's munitions output was concentrated in a plant where, as it proved yesterday, the mistake of one workman, an unavoidable accident, a stroke of lightning, or the work of a German could start o chain of explosions wiping out the entire system of factories and severing an important artery of supply to the American armies. Record Time and Production The Gillespie plant was the greatest of four great plants, designed and built at the direction of the Ordnance Department, for loading shells. The plans called for the loading of 179,000 shells a day at the four plants, each of which is greater than any similar plant of the kind which previously existed in this country. Each was run up in record time, wood being used in the construction. All four of these plants are described as being of the same type of construction, so that the disaster to the Gillespie plant may lead to radical changes in the others in the interest of safety. An investigation to ascertain the cause of the explosion was started yesterday under Colonel Douglas I. McKay, former Police Commissioner of New York City, now attached to the Ordnance Department. All the inspectors of the Ordnance at the Gillespie plant were directed to report last night at the New York District Ordnance Office, 1,107 Broadway, Only eighteen of the seventy men employed in Unit 61, where the explosion started, are known to have survived, and it is feared that all who actually witnessed the cause of the first explosion are now dead, The conditions which made it possible for one explosion to set in motion a long series that leveled practically the entire plant will also be studied. Casualties Hard to Estimate Estimates of the number of dead continued to vary yesterday. All employes who could be rallied were kept at work saving barges and trains of shells near the plant and in attempting rescues in the wrecked buildings. Several hundred men on the night shift at the time of the explosion are missing. Many of these are supposed to be alive, but scattered. To add to the difficulties, it was reported yesterday that the office records had been destroyed, thus increasing the task of making up a roll. Efforts to find bodies could be prosecuted only in the ruins of a few of the buildings where the fires had died out, and this was a work of raking among the ashes and twisted steel supports. Very little could be done because of the frequent bursts of isolated high explosive shells scattered over the entire site, together with occasional terrific eruptions as the fire reached accumulations of shells and TNT containers in buildings, freight cars or motor trucks. Fourteen bodies have been recovered so far and taken to the Perth Amboy Police Station. One of these is the body of a Coast Guardsman. The head and leg were blown off and the identification tag was missing, preventing the establishment of his identity. T.A. Gillespie, President of the company, who was at a conference in Perth Amboy, said: "Probably the disaster was caused by the explosion of a kettle in Unit 6-I. There were seventy men at work in this unit and eighteen of them have been accounted for." The property damage was equally difficult to ascertain. Officials of the Gillespie company estimate the damage to their plant at about $12,000,000, which does not include the loss in shells and TNT. Several millions of dollars immediate damage was caused by the destruction of glass, doors, chimneys, and household furnishings, South Amboy was the heaviest sufferer, but the loss through breakage of glass extended as far as Lower Manhattan and Newark and to Asbury Park, down the coast. The persons injured, aside from those suffering from minor hurts, were numbered at 150. There care has been taken over by the red cross, which, with other war agencies, sent scores of ambulances and automobiles, with doctors, nurses, and relief agents, to look after them, and to find food and shelter for those rendered homeless. Many of the injured, will die. Most of those in hospitals were burned or struck by fragments of bursting shells and other missiles, while a considerable number were suffering from shell shock following the terrific concussions. Day of Terrific Bombardment The individual explosions since Friday evening at 7:40 when the initial blast occurred, numbered hundreds. All last night and yesterday New Jersey and New York for miles about the plant were rocked at intervals. The greatest after the first big series of bursts on Friday night occurred at 4:10 A.M. and at 10:09 A.M. yesterday. The last explosion of great force was reported at 7 o'clock last night. During the afternoon end evening the fire slackened, and the explosions came less frequently and with less violence, furnishing grounds for hope that the danger was over. As long as the fire continued, however, the bursting of occasional superheated shells and containers is expected. Hardly a house within five miles of Morgan was inhabited last night or yesterday, with a large part of the population within a radius of ten miles had left their homes to get surely out of range of the nerve-shaking crashes and showering missiles. Crowds of homeless people who were found wandering aimlessly were shepherded to places of comparative safety by the soldiers and bluejackets who were dispatched to the scene from all military and navel stations, and later were taken care of by the Red Cross, Y.M.C.A., and other relief organizations. By yesterday morning several thousand soldiers were on guard, holding the danger zone for miles on every side of the explosion in a state of siege, guarding all roads and aiding in the work of salvage and rescue at the plant. Efforts to combat the fire would have been as hopeless as an attempt to put out a volcano. In addition to the fire and big explosions shells were bursting at times in quick succession as if a terrific artillery battle were in progress. Sometimes it seemed at a distance that the shelling had the rapidity of machine gun fire. Most of the area of the plant was covered with a thick layer of splintered wood from the smashed frame buildings, which had been hurled into the air and distributed over hundreds of acres. Under the debris were railroad ties, while part of the open space bore dry grass and brushwood. The trees of two orchards were still standing on the site before the blaze began. Over all this the fire burned irresistibly, producing giant upheavals when it reached stores of trinitrotoluol which had survived earlier shocks. A detachment of Coast Guards returned from South Amboy last night after having been relieved by soldiers from Governors Island. They said the soldiers had taken a 3-inch gun with them to blow down buildings in the path of the fire, which menaced the central magazine. Searchlights were thrown upon the buildings, it was said, and the battery put into operation from a safe distance. German Tried to Blow Up Plant It was pointed out yesterday that the explosion might have been caused in any one of a countless number of ways. Since the workers who were near at hand when the initial explosion took place are probably dead, it was thought that the real cause would never be established. Last week an explosion, in which three women and one man were killed, was caused when a partly-loaded shell fell from a table at which a woman was employed, She and two others working nearby were blown to pieces. Luckily there were no shells or TNT containers close enough to be set off by the shock. The dropping of one partly-loaded shell in the vicinity of others, it was pointed out, might have started the chain of explosions. The T.A. Gillespie Loading Company had one experience with a German who sought to destroy the plant. This man, who had no accent, easily obtained employment. He managed to smuggle matches into the works, and one day was caught trying to commit suicide and blow up the plant by touching a match to a loaded shell. The screams of the girl who saw him brought men, who overpowered him. He had a speedy trial, and was sent to jail for twenty years. All employes are carefully searched. And not allowed to bring in matches of any bit of metal which might be used to cause a spark. In spite of this the chances of accident are countless. The danger does not end when the shell is loaded and plugged with wood. After that it receives a coat of shellac to prevent the steel from rusting. The shellac contains a high percentage of alcohol, so that it is extremely combustible, and great precautions are taken in handling it. Before the shellac is applied the shell is cleaned to remove any traces of TNT which adhere to the surface while being loaded. This, too, is dangerous, because friction or a blow on a splash of TNT on the outside of the shell might produce an explosion powerful enough to set off the charge inside. Any explosion, under the conditions prevailing at the plant might have been the first of an endless chain such as that of Friday night and yesterday. A Long Chain of Dangers Another source of danger is in the transportation of the melted TNT from the main magazines and the melting plant to the factory units, where it is placed in the shells. The melted TNT is poured into large metal containers and carried in motor trucks from the melting plant to the loading buildings, danger besetting every stage of the operations. The melting of the TNT is, of course, one of the most dangerous processes of all. When the TNT is introduced into the shell it is carefully molded at the top of the chamber inside of the shell in order to leave a perfectly shaped space for the insertion of the metal cap and fuse, which is not screwed into place until the shell arrives in France. No operation in handling the shell is safe, and the workers were under no delusion as to the danger. A timekeeper who went through the explosion, said yesterday: "It is impressed on all men and women employed at the plant from the first that they are doing work as important as if they were in the trenches, and that their danger is as great as that of soldiers. When a man takes a place there he is required to sign a statement to the effect that he works at his own risk. "The government undertakes, in case a man is killed, to ship the body to any part of the United States and pay the funeral expenses. If a man is maimed, he is pensioned. But no allowance is made to his family, if he is killed, and of course, it is impossible for any man employed to be insured. "The employe is reminded at every turn of his danger. Every building is placarded with warnings. The buildings are nearly all made of wood, run up at the greatest speed. When the plant was built there was nothing in mind except speed production of shells needed by the army, and everything was sacrificed to speed. The building of the plant was begun in March. Deliveries started in July. We had no way of knowing the rate of production, but understood that it was more than 30,000 a day during September. "The hospital facilities were inadequate. A hospital was being built, but was not completed, and small first-aid stations in the different plants were the only immediate provisions for accident. Dangerous As Field of Battle If a man did not realize the danger himself, it was impressed on him every day in talks to the workmen. Officers of American and different allied armies visited the plant nearly every day, telling the workers that the fate of the war depended on them as much as upon soldiers and that no man could do more patriotic service then keep his production at the height of his capacity. These officers said there was little choice, from the point of view of safety, between working in the plant and serving on the battlefield. "The pay was liberal. Illiterate Polacks, Russians, Italians, and others, many of whom could not speak a word of English, were making $8 or $10 a day. They received 47 1⁄2 cents an hour, but when a man had loaded 250 shells, he was credited for a day's work and was paid a cent a shell for each additional one. The girls got 37 1⁄2 cents an hour, with the same privilege of earning extra money. Besides this they received time and a half for overtime. "I ran out of plant 92 when the lights went off after the first explosion, which was not as terrific as the later ones. I am alive because the unit which I worked was near the outer edge of the group of buildings, so that I did not pass near any of the exploding units. Most of those killed were blown to pieces while running from the center of the maze, buildings, freight cars, and motor trucks blowing up and wiping them out, scores at a time. "I believe that the dead will number between 250 and 300. The exact number will probably never be known. Many of the workmen who survived have gone to other places. The payrolls and other records were destroyed when the office buildings were wrecked and burnt. Some of the bodies are blown to bits and others burned to ashes. Barracks in which some of the workingmen were asleep were shattered and burned, probably with some loss of life. Much to Aid a Conflagration "There was a moat or canal around each building, but there with the idea of making it difficult for a fire to spread, but there was nothing to stop a conflagration and many things to help it. The explosions covered the whole area with splintered boards and timbers of which the plant was built. There were fields of dry grass and shrubbery between some of the buildings and two old orchards still stood on the factory site. There were great quantities of loose lumber being used for erecting additional units. There were thousands of ties under the network of railroad tracks which runs through the plant, and hardly a square foot without inflammable material on it. "The great explosions last night and today were not single masses of trinitrotoluol, but the simultaneous explosions of quantities of shells and containers in the buildings, in freight cars, and on motor trucks. The explosion would be hundreds of times as terrific if the great storage and melting plans went off in Units Nos. 92 and 71. All the TNT which is used comes to those two buildings. It would go off there in one explosion, or two, so close to each other as to be practically one, and I believe that little would be left of any town within miles. "most of the girls were working on the day shift, but some were employed at night, and I believe some have been killed." Attempts to save the hundreds of freight cars loaded and partly loaded with explosives and shells were rendered impossible from the first, by smashed locomotives and torn tracks, as well as by the hurricane of steel and flying splinters. One attempt was made by John H. Manderville of 220 Second Street, Union Hill, Superintendent of Transportation at the plant, but it was fruitless. He was in his room in the officials' building at the plant, changing his clothes, when the explosion tore out the side of his room. He made his way through the broken timbers and plaster down the stairs and called for men to aid in getting what they could out of the yards. Some started to help him, but most of them thought better of it, when blinding flashes and explosions, which knocked them off their feet, came one after another. One crew followed until they got to the yards, but here his engineer refused to go with Manderville aboard a locomotive. The firemen, however, volunteered to go with him, and they started the engine. They had got only a few feet when another blast sent a large fragment of shell that tore off the top of the locomotive. They left the half demolished engine and joined other officials and employes in rescue work. Jersey Central Train Under Fire Train service over the Pennsylvania and New Jersey Central lines running near the Gillespie plant was discontinued Friday night, after the tracks had been deluged with debris and were being swept at intervals with fragments of steel. The Owl train on the New Jersey Central and the Pennsylvania fast mail, which is known as the "Bull Beef," were the last to get through. The New Jersey Central newspaper train, which arrived at about 3 A.M. had taken on several baggage cars, with bedding, and it loaded up with refugees and took them back to South Amboy. Nearly all of those picked up were women and children, and some hysterical because of the fear that their men folk had been killed. When it started on its trip again the newspaper train was held on the trestle over Raritan Creek because of the danger of approaching nearer. When it came to a stop a dazzling flash of light revealed soldiers and employes of the plant at work moving valuable property as far as possible from the danger zone. One crash came after another, each temporarily putting out the lights on the train, deafening those inside, and causing splashes from the showering debris as if fell into the Raritan. The train remained on the trestle from 4:30 to 8:30, when General Supt. L.W. Berry arrived on a wildcat engine, examined and cleared the track, and ordered the train to proceed with windows open. When the train reached Morgan, those on board cheered for two companies of American soldiers, drawn up as if on parade, on the very edge of the inferno. All along the tracks were families resting under trees, others plodding on foot with a few blankets, and some with household belongings in automobiles and vehicles. Explosions, first breaking windows, then shaking down the plaster, smashing chimneys, and turning over furniture, had driven every family in the vicinity from home. Their faces reflected their terrifying experiences. A short distance out of Morgan a party of bluejackets landed from a scout patrol boat and waved at the train before starting for their dangerous work at the Gillespie plant. Towns along the railroad track were deserted. The inhabitants shunned buildings and were asleep or talking in groups under trees. Every town and cross-road bristled with bayonets. Carrying out the suggestion of a terrific battle, which was the scenes of devastation along the road. The first series of explosions, which destroyed much of the plant and caused nearly all of the loss of life on Friday night, was followed by a comparative lull. At 2 o'clock yesterday morning the fire reached new supplies of the high explosive and there were further tremendous blasts. Many at South Amboy and other places, who had gone back into their homes late on Friday night thinking the worst was over, were thrown from their beds and covered with plaster and broken glass. In one house in Perth Amboy a kerosene lamp was overturned, setting the building on fire. Hastily dressed women carrying children began to run into the streets. As the explosions increased vehicles jammed the streets—automobiles crowded with women and children, and delivery wagons filled with refugees, while others cling on the sides. With each shock more windows fell, and families ran from their homes into the middle of the streets for safety. Stores were lighted while the owners removed the wares from windows. After 4 o'clock the explosions became so rapid and so violent that Perth Amboy seemed to be under bombardment. There was a constant thunder as of great guns. To prevent live wires from falling upon persons in the streets, the lights were cut off and the town was lighted only by the red flares from the explosions. The sidewalks were literally paved with shattered glass. The side streets were filled with silent people, who stared at the fire and put their hands to their ears when a bright flash gave warning of the roar to follow. A headquarters for refugees was the Packer House. Every room was filled, and mattresses were spread on the floors of the public rooms. The city underwent all the nervous tension of a bombarded town except for the actual destruction wrought by shells. The boom of shells, the blaze of destruction, the silent weeping refugees, all were there. It was estimated last night that the damage on Staten Island would amount to $150,000. In the towns of Tottenville. Richmond Valley, Pleasant Plains, Huguenot, Great Kills, and Princes Bay windows in practically all the houses were blown out and many smaller buildings were wrecked. Chimneys were thrown down and the earth was rocked as if by an earthquake as far as Stapleton and Tompkinsville, twenty miles from the shell plant. The shock from the explosions was so great in Richmond Valley, Huguenot, Pleasant Plains, Great Kills, and Princes Bay that the inhabitants were advised to leave their homes by the police at noon yesterday. Many of them went by automobiles to Stapleton and Tompkinsville and others to Manhattan. Red Cross at Work The Atlantic Division of the Red Cross established headquarters at Perth Amboy yesterday afternoon. Fifty ambulances from New York and Newark, with a corps of doctors and nurses, arrived with them. Eight central depots were opened in churches, schools, and other public buildings for taking card of the homeless and injured. Commandeered automobiles and cars driven by members of the Women's Motor Corps, under Captain Helen Bastedo, went along the roads leasing away from Morgan picking up refugees and taking them to Perth Amboy. The Red Cross sent from New York five motor trucks loaded with six tons of supplies. Governor Walter Edge and detachments of the New Jersey State Guard arrived and acted in co-operation with the army authorities and the Red Cross reported last night that there were fewer than 500 of a population of 10,000 left in South Amboy. One of the saddest phases was the distress of women and children whose husbands and fathers were missing, and who went from hospital to hospital seeking information. Fear of explosion is not shared by the women who were employed in the loading plants, numbering in all 1,000. These women held a meeting in Perth Amboy in the afternoon and unanimously voted to return to work in the plant as soon as the call comes for them. "Most of us have boys over there," said one of the women, "and we are all very anxious to do our part to aid in bringing the war to a speedy close. All of us know the danger to which we are constantly exposed, but it is nothing in comparison with that of our boys in the front. We want them to know there will be no delay as far as we are concerned.” END OF QUOTE ——————————————————————————————— The New York Times New York, NY, United States, Saturday, October 5, 1918 GREAT MUNITION PLANT BLOWN UP; 100 MAY BE DEAD QUOTE: “Great Munition Plant Blown Up [Newspaper] The New York Times New York, NY, United States, Saturday, October 5, 1918 GREAT MUNITION PLANT BLOWN UP; 100 MAY BE DEAD Series of Explosions Wrecks the Gillespie Shell-Loading Works at South Amboy. LARGEST IN THE WORLD Survivors Say That of 2,000 Men on Night Shift Hundreds are Dead or Wounded MANY TONS OF TNT SET OFF Plant Cost $18,000,000—Hoped That Wrecked Buildings May Soon Be Replaced. The shell-loading plant of T.A. Gillespie & Co. at Morgan, N.J., near South Amboy, said to be the largest shell-loading plant in the world, was partially destroyed with, it is feared, a large loss of life by a series of explosions beginning at 7:40 o'clock last night. More than 2,000 men, composing the night shift of the plant were at work when a comparatively light explosion occurred, which put out all of the lights in the buildings. The men dropped work and ran in every direction from the maze of long one-story building units. While they were seeking to get away buildings blew up on all sides, one after another, and those who escaped reported last night that many of the force had been killed or wounded. After talking with survivors, who were hurried in ambulances to South Amboy, the police there estimated the dead at 100. Some employes who escaped said that in their opinion a large percentage of the night shift were killed or hurt. Only vague estimates of the damage could be obtained, because the search in the wreckage, where explosions continued long after the great detonations, had not progressed far last night and no roll could be made of the survivors, who had fled from various exits, some men climbing the barbed wire barricade and scattering in all directions. Hundreds of tons of trinitrotoluol is handled in the plant, which loads thousands of shells of various sizes each day, including nine-inch and three-inch. Its daily output of loaded shells is said to exceed that of any other plant in the world. With terrific noise and with a violence that rocked the ground in the vicinity of the plant and broke windows for miles around another unit of the plant blew up early this morning. The explosion was accomplished by a burst of flame. This explosion was followed by a series of smaller ones at intervals. The guard before the last came had moved the crowds back for a great distance, and so far as could be learned no one was hurt. Last night and this morning half the population of South Amboy fled from that place, and they are now quartered in Perth Amboy, where the hotels and boarding houses are so crowded that mattresses have been placed in the halls, and the police station has had to take in refugees. It is estimated that 2,000 persons have left South Amboy. The plant consists of scores of buildings, many of them hundreds of yards in length, but narrow. In these are trinitrotoluol melting vats, where the molten explosive is run into pipes and poured by workmen from nozzles in the liquid state into shells. Although each plant is set at a distance of 200 feet from its nearest neighbor, the explosions were so powerful that when one building went up the shells and fragments of concrete which it threw in all directions or the terrific heat which it generated caused the explosion of the TNT in other buildings. There were about twenty distinct explosions, and a large number of smaller ones. The extend of the property loss, and of the consequent loss to the American and allied armies, was difficult to ascertain last night as reliable estimates on the loss of life. The value of the entire plant, however, was put at $18,000,000. All Employes who could be rounded up, besides doctors, nurses, policemen, soldiers, and volunteer helpers from Perth Amboy, Sough Amboy, and other nearby cities and towns were soon busy searching the wreckage and the open spaces for the dead and wounded. Survivors who arrived in this city last night paid a tribute to the intrepidity with which doctors and nurses and others entered the danger area in spite of overpowering fumes and the chance that unexploded shells of containers of TNT might burst while they worked. A young woman who was at the switchboard at the office of the plant stuck to her post through the entire series of explosions, which smashed every window in her building and kept debris hammering the roof. Some of the explosions shook her from her chair. She put through calls for help to Sough Amboy, Perth Amboy, and other places in the vicinity. Four units were reported at South Amboy last night as bring completely obliterated while others were wrecked. While the value of the plant, based on the cost of erection, was placed at $18,000,000, it value, based on its military usefulness, was incalculable. The greater part of the plant is uninjured, according to reports at Perth Amboy last night and it was asserted that the demolished buildings could be rebuilt within two months. An Employe who was at work in unit No. 92 gave this account of his experience last night: "The explosion started in Unit No. 61, which adjoins the building where I was working. One explanation was that the heating apparatus used in melting the TNT exploded. Another was that a chisel used in cleaning a shell caused a spark which set off some TNT. These are theories, and it is probable that all those who know the true cause are dead. " The first explosion was light, just a thud, but as it occurred the lights went out. Every one thought that that meant danger and we all ran. I was hardly outside with about twenty other men when there was a terrific blast, which threw us all flat on the ground. We picked ourselves up and started to run, when another explosion bowled us over. The second one was in part of the plant in which I had been working. Blast Follows Blast. "We kept on running for the open space between the collection of buildings and the high barbed wire fence which inclosed the whole plant. There was one great blast after another as we ran, accompanied by flashes of yellow light brighter than the day, and as the big flashes disappeared the sky would be full of smaller explosions, as loaded and half loaded shells, which were thrown into the air, exploded. Glass came down light rain, and pieces of steel from the shells and chunks of concrete would come down in a shower after each explosion. "We were too busy getting away to stop to see what might happen to others, but it was plain that many of them, who were forced to run from the center of the zone of buildings to the outside, must have been killed as buildings blew up across their path of escape. "When we got to the barbed wire fence we hunted for exits and could not find any. This fence is more than six feet high, built to keep out spies or curious people, but with one explosion coming after another, and danger that we would be hit at any minute, we all managed to climb over it. "When we dropped on the other side we found ourselves in a swamp, which is another barrier to prevent outsiders from approaching the plant. The explosions were still going on, and we were about to plunge into the water when someone found some planks, and we got across on them to dry land. When I reached Morgan there ware only 100 employes of the plant there. Some escaped in other directions, but we all figured that the loss of life must have been heavy. "The place is wonderfully guarded, and there is nothing in the theory that the explosion might have been caused by spies. Everyone is searched before he goes to work. No one is allowed to take in matches, and everyone is compelled to put on special clothes before he goes in, to make sure that he is wearing no metal buttons, which might strike something and cause a spark. "Each plant had a moat filled with water around it, to prevent fire from making its way along the ground to another, and it was supposed that the buildings were far enough apart to keep an explosion in one place from blowing up another. As fast as the shells are loaded they are carried out to cars running alongside of each unit and taken away, so that there is never a large accumulation of shells. The TNT is in melting machines, in half loaded shells, in shells loaded and plugged with wood, and magazines. These going off at different times caused the series of small and large explosions. Plant in Furious Blaze. At midnight the plant was still burning, the flames shooting high and lighting up the whole region. About the plant the soldiers, who had been summoned from nearby posts, and this armed guard kept the crowd back half a mile from the scene of the accident. About the entrance to the barbed wire enclosure was an excited crowd, some almost resisting the guard in eagerness to get news of relatives who had worked at the plant, and had not returned to their homes. At intervals the crowd fell back as an ambulance came clanging through the gates and disappeared into the darkness. There came to the sounds of minor explosions and above it all the shouts of the men who were assisting in the effort to stay the progress of the flames. The explosion first destroyed Unit 61, one of the group of frame and corrugated iron buildings, 200 X 75 feet, in which was kept 25,000 pounds of anatol, a material equal in force to trinitrotoluol. At intervals of about ten minutes up to 10 o'clock there were mighty explosions. It was reported late last night that Units 63, 64 and 71 had been destroyed. These buildings were within a radius of 200 feet from the original explosion. Each unit was a building similar to 61, and their magazines were said to contain about the same amount of explosives as 61. There were about 150 men on the night shift in each unit. Women work in the plant but there are none on the night shift, and so none was on duty when the first explosion occurred at 7:50 o'clock. Besides the workmen there were Government Inspectors in each of the units. Soldiers and marines soon arrived and reinforced the 450 regular guards at the plant. The town of South Amboy, two miles distant, was put under martial law and the saloons ordered closed. The call for help brought ambulances, doctors, nurses and fire-fighting apparatus from towns within a distance of twenty-five miles. The shock and flash of light with each of the great explosions were distinct for many miles. From Tottenville, S.I., six miles from the explosion, the brightness equaled that of daylight. The ground shook so that it was felt in all parts of Staten Island, in Manhattan, and in Brooklyn, and as far down the New Jersey coast as Asbury Park. From Camp Vail, near Long Branch, and other military encampments in different parts of New Jersey squads of soldiers and military doctors were hurried to Morgan. In South Amboy, where many of the workers at the plant lived, crying women and children filled the streets begging to be told who had been killed and who had escaped. Great throngs surrounded the hospitals. The population of Morgan, the nearest town to the munitions works, was thrown into panic as explosion followed explosion and debris rained upon the town. Hundreds of men, women, and children ran away from the place and crossed the bridge over the Raritan Creek to get further away from the volcanic bursts. Shortly before midnight eight bodies taken from the wreckage were removed to the Morgue at South Amboy, and others were reported to be on the way. Among those reported killed was Arthur H. Stanton of Perth Amboy, Superintendent of the unit in which the first explosion occurred. This report was not confirmed. One of the night officials of the Gillespie Company said late last night that the explosion had been caused by a fire in the 155-millimeter shell-loading plant. He said the cause of the fire had not been ascertained.” END OF QUOTE --------------------------------------- Post by 72 usmc Wed Jun 07 2017 3:52 pm Here is a view of a shell with the Snead brochure found inside the shell from an ebay 2017 auction. I am not sure what type of shell casing this is. The top opening looks larger than the one seen on my lamp. My Specimen a VICTORY LAMP with Double Socket Post by 72 usmc Wed Jun 07 2017 4:30 pm I have photo documented my lamp below. This section provides twenty-two photos of the lamp parts as well as views of my complete lamp (a photo heavy repost from SRF photos). This is an intact Victory double socket lamp that was missing its shade when purchased. All parts where present, but filthy. I am unsure if the top adaptation is original or a slightly later modification for a cloth shade. My lamp has a black wood piece and vintage finial like an adaption for the parchment shade or a cloth shade. While I own a few original WW I helmets, in no way was I going to destroy one by drilling a hole into the top of an original helmet. I have kept the top of the lamp as found. I decided to fabricate an adaptor plate so an original WW I helmet can sit on the top of the lamp without a drill modification to a relic helmet. In this manner I have not altered a helmet or a lamp. The lamp is basically made into a hat stand. Later pages show how this was accomplished and what I have found out during my research about single bulb Victory lamps. The original helmets are painted white on the interior and have a clip-on-the-bulb adaptor riveted to the inside top of the helmet. There apparently was not a solid brass finial cap to hold the helmet on like seen on so many of today’s modified examples. Note that a finial is not shown in the period literature that offers these lamps for sale. My two socket Victory lamp came with a vintage brass finial and wood spacer for use with a cloth shade that has its mounting ring in the upper center of the fabric shade. (Spider shade) I have not seen or encountered any intact shades on double bulb Victory lamps. I am unsure if they are production items or later 1930s modifications to allow for more light. Most Victory lamps appear to have had a single bulb, with a white interior painted, surplus WW I US helmet with the clip-on-the-bulb wire helmet holder that grabs the bulb and allows the helmet to tilt in any direction in order to provide more directed light for the user. As a hat stand, my lamp allows for movement of the helmet. I have no idea what an original two socket Victory lamp utilized for a shade. I have yet to locate any written or photographic documentation indicating the correct shade on a two bulb/socket Victory lamp. I like the helmet as a shade, hence I made a modification that allowed an intact WW I helmet to sit on the lamp. MY Victory Lamp In this above photo showing my lamp on the table noticed the top wood spacer and brass finial at the top, the lamp arrived in this manner. This is most likely for a cloth shade. Post by Rapidrob Wed Jun 07 2017 7:33 pm I still have not finished my lamp but still plan to do so. After I read the book about the explosions being almost as bad as a small nuke going off and the civilians killed by raining 25 pound shells, Folks having no home to go to anymore. And it happened just before the end of WWI. These "shell lamps" are a real piece of history. Post by 72 usmc Wed Jun 07 2017 9:48 pm This is a nice close up of the Victory lamp tag from Bugme in WI. In a post on the US Militaria forum he shows his intact paper tag. The factory simply glued the tag onto the bottom of the brass base. Due to the curved surfaces that did not allow the glue to stick and make contact with the paper label, and the fact that this paper label is printed on a thin paper that yellowed and got brittle with age; not many tags have survived the past 100 years. Source is :US Militaria forum. Link lost. Snead-Label Bugme states: QUOTE: “There should be a scripture from Isaiah 2:4 written around the band near the bottom that says: 'They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.' There were two types of lamp shades offered. The first lamp shade was a metal M1917 doughboy helmet. The second one had an open top and was a parchment type shade. These were made from salvaged shells that were in the building in which they were manufactured exploded. This was in Morgan, NJ at the T.A. Gillespie Loading Company plant.” END OF QUOTE Post by 72 usmc Wed Jun 07 2017 9:59 pm Here is a somewhat more original lamp with the correct single socket and nice black paint, only the cord is incorrect. This was posted on Worthpoint. A view of a Victory Ashtray Below are two more views of the Victory ashtray. I have never seen one for sale. Here is a 2022 update. (As of this posting in 2017, I have actually found and purchased four examples, all of which are somewhat different in their characteristic attributes.) It seems there are more than a few versions of these ashtrays. The details will be discussed in later pages. Source: Worthpoint, link lost. Post by 72 usmc Mon Jun 12 2017 12:46 pm Here is an interesting lamp sold by Chief. Credit for these pics are Chiefs on ebay. Due to age, the source link is removed. This appears to a similar lamp in the style of a Victory lamp, but it has a wood bottom, and no Victory biblical script markings. Maybe a home made version of a Snead Victory lamp or another company's lamp? This is a very interesting lamp. I'd like to buy it, but the price is beyond my reach. I'd pay $90 in a heart beat. It is made from the same old parts found on some of the double socket Victory lamps. The wood base appears similar to the brass base found on the Snead victory lamp. Notice this lamp consists of all vintage late 1920s lamp parts. This example is most likely a trench art later copy of a Victory lamp fabricated well after the war. The parts date this lamp to the late 1920s or early 1930s. It is not a contemporary fabrication. It is a period piece. wood base Bryant pull chain socket Old Hickory Division Lamp Post by 72 usmc Fri Apr 12 2019 11:16pm Another double socket lamp is shown below. This is one that I failed to obtain. The 16 April 2019 listing source has been removed. All photos are from the seller. This is the only remaining documentation of this lamp. Photos are screen shots taken from my Wayback Machine archive. Post by 72 usmc Tue Apr 16 2019 10:24pm That nice double socket specimen with the painted helmet sold at $240 on 16 April 2019. The Old Hickory helmet, double socket Victory lamp has recently come up for auction( in 2019). Here are five of the photos for reference. The photos are from the owner. Price is like $300 + $40 shipping. But it is a mighty fine example of a VICTORY LAMP. This has a correct double pull chain socket and brass extension stem, I am not sure if the helmet mount is correct or some adaption to hold on the helmet. There never was a finial at the top of the helmet on a single bulb lamp, but the double bulb Victory lamp examples seem to have a small finial. I am not sure how a helmet can be held without a finial on the double socket style. The helmet mounts to the top of the two socket cluster just like a cloth shade would on this early pull chain upper assembly. This round ball finial seems correct for a 1920s period shade. Note that the sockets are fixed to the cluster, they do not rotate. I do not know what brand of upper assembly is on this lamp. I believe most of the parts are original. This is a fairly good restoration that just need a cloth, period correct cord & plug. It has original paint on the shell and a nice patina to the brass parts. The painted helmet with the Old Hickory insignia is an exceptionally nice WW I helmet that is too valuable to drill for a lamp at todays WW I helmet values. This is a 30th Infantry, OLD HICKORY Division insignia painted on the WW I helmet. See the lower quote for just the helmet value, (if it had its liner and chin strap more like $350) however this value has been destroyed by someone drilling a hole into it. QUOTE “Original U.S. WWI M1917 Doughboy Helmet of the 30th Infantry Division with Textured Paint Regular price$235.00” END OF QUOTE To sum it up, this is a real nice lamp, with a killer helmet that just needs a cloth cord-an easy fix. No one in their right mind would drill such a rare helmet today. This must have been redone in the 1940s or 50s. Actually at $250 this would be a fair price for such a fine specimen. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 26, 2022 Author Share Posted October 26, 2022 SRF PAGE 2 #17 Post by 72 usmc Mon Jul 31 2017 8:39 pm Here is a gas version of the Snead Victory lamp. SOURCE: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-ww1-1918-victory-lamp-75mm-1880997475 This is the first one I have seen. Not all houses had electricity around WW I. Electric, oil, and gas versions of the single bulb Victory lamp were offered. These 2017 pictures are from the ebay sale. At the time of sale, this lamp was valued at $150. The source link was removed due to age. I should have bid on this fine unconverted example. A real bad move on my part. I have not seen another gas example for sale since 2017. I failed to realize how rare these are in such intact condition. Unfortunately, most were converted to electrical use. My First Victory Ashtray #18 Post by 72 usmc Mon Nov 20 2017 8:03 pm In 2017 I wrote… So I am delighted. As of this post it has not been delivered yet, but I won an ashtray that came from an estate in Somerset NJ which is approximately 24 miles from the Morgan/South Amboy factory site of the WW I explosion. It is a shell base lacking the hole seen in lamps and is marked "Victory Nov.11, 1918 75 m/m Shell". The base of the shell is marked 149 V S 2. It measures approximately 2 ¼” in height by 3” in diameter-this is the base of a 75mm shell. This cut section weights 2lbs 14oz. I will provide some pictures when it arrives. I have also noticed there are few Victory lamps to be found and most seem to be $100 plus. This is my first ashtray. Actually what I never see for sale are relic, dug, metal detected rusty shell casings from the Morgan-South Amboy area in NJ.I wonder if any are found in antique stores in that portion of New Jersey . Do the local antique stores sell such artifacts? So here are the pictures of the two previous reported ashtrays #19 Post by 72 usmc Fri Nov 24 2017 9:38 pm My ashtray arrived on Friday 24 Nov 2017. So here is a different sort of WW I Victory ashtray. Unlike the lamp base, the ashtray is not drilled all the way through for a cord and the placement of the Victory logo is near the base below the rotating band. Like the lamp it is somewhat centered on the artifact. The Victory logo is found above the rotating band on the lamp at the center point of the shell. On the ashtray the Victory logo is centered below the rotating ring The ashtray has the same size logo as seen on the lamp. Two versions of the Victory logo are observed and this is similar to the logos found on lamps. The ashtray is not painted black. This one does not have a base plate. I have never observed a black painted version of an ashtray. On the top edge, some have two cigarette holding grooves, others do not. The top edge may be smooth or have a roller stamped decoration. Variations exist in the ashtray designs; these were made as containers or ashtrays. The copper rotating band is absent on this one. I am not sure if it was made this way, or it was taken off? There is apparently as much variety in ashtrays as seen in the lamps. In any event, any ashtray or pencil holder is a rare find. There are many more lamps offered for sale, than Victory ashtrays. As I stated above, this came out of an estate in Somerset, New Jersey. My ashtray is marked with 3 lines: "VICTORY" at the top, "Nov.11, 1918" in the middle, and "75 m/m SHELL" at the base. On the bottom/base of the shell, it is marked 149, V, S, 2. The Victory logo on my specimen is the more commonly seen version found on both ashtrays and lamps. The metal has a nice patina, but the inside is rusty and black from smoking use. #20 Post by Rapidrob Sat Nov 25 2017 10:39 am That is really cool. A nice piece of history. A good friend of mine and a member here may have a real WWI "Dough Boy" helmet for my lamp. The original wire for the lamp I have from a project years ago. The lamp shade will be almost impossible to find for less than a new rifle. I may just have to improvise. #21 Post by 72 usmc » Sat Nov 25, 2017 1:20 pm A little history on the VICTORY ashtray can be read at this reference page. See: https://web.archive.org/web/20190115075202/http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-ash-tray/ Or it can be found directly at the Morgan NJ reference web page: https://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-ash-tray/ QUOTE “...the Victory Lamp and lamp shade, the ash tray was awarded a patent. Patent number 53,397 was filed on December 4, 1918 – exactly two months after the explosions which started on October 4th–and awarded on June 3, 1919.” END OF QUOTE #22 Post by 72 usmc Thu Jan 18 2018 4:27 pm Well, I was on eBay and I see another rare Snead Company Ashtray under "trench art" and no one bid. As luck has it, I was the only bidder. I just got another nice well used Morgan Explosion Ashtray. This one has the same inscription as the above one, but has the copper rotating band and a brass liner on the bottom. This one came out of East Windsor, Connecticut and was originally found in a thrift store. This was found by its former owner on 11 Jan 2018; so there are still some to be had. However, they are far less common than the lamps. Due to its patina, this one must have been in a basement or attic for some time. I was elated to find it and actually get it for a steal. I paid $32 for a $100 relic from the explosion. #26 Post by Rapidrob Mon Mar 05, 2018 9:26 am I'm still looking for the lamp holders and other parts. #27 Post by 72 usmc Wed Mar 28 2018 3:31 pm Rapidrob, instead of drilling the helmet so it fits one inch lower and has a lamp final on top. I got a large 3 1/2 inch diameter washer and set this on the lamp screw so it acts like a hat stand. The helmet sits one inch higher, but the helmet is not drilled and is not damaged. The intact doughboy helmet can be changed out if I find a better helmet. Those $20 WW I doughboy M1917 helmets now go around $150 for one with the liner intact & chin strap. So here is the finished lamp with an intact helmet sitting on the lamp washer like a hat stand. Such a conversion works perfect. This is complete with Edison reproduction bulbs. Note this works easy with a two bulb cluster lamp. On a single bulb lamp you will need a harp attached correctly positioned on the socket or incorrectly under the socket. In a perfect world, a correct brass helmet with a clip-on adaptor for the bulb is period correct. added (more discussion about how the helmet is attached is discussed on later pages) My two ashtrays on dresser Historical Photograph with Shell Lamp #28 Post by 72 usmc Wed Apr 11 2018 11:58 am Here is a very interesting historical photo. It shows a similar Snead-like lamp, but with an odd shade. The base of this lamp appears different, and I do not think this is a Snead Victory Lamp. This is an actual picture of a trench art lamp used in a 1920s house. Notice that the cord is plugged into a ceiling socket. It appears that the base is another example of one made from wood, the light socket I cannot clearly see. This must be a case of early electrification in the house because the house lacks wall sockets. The source of electrical power is the light fixture’s ceiling socket-notice the lamp in the photo has a cloth wrapped cord that is plugged into the light fixtures’ socket. I am not sure what type of shade that is--glass or metal? The family is in their Sunday best, not dressed in their common work attire-although they do not appear as wealthy city folk. The lady is setting at a player piano. The photo must be post WW I, but it has no date? I would say it dates to the mid 1920s? SOURCE: This photograph is mine, I just purchased it. After I receive it, I hope to see better details on this 8 x 11 photo. My photo arrived and it is an original photograph, but fuzzy. So here are some close up shots of the lamp and cord. The cloth twisted cord is plugged into a fixture’s socket on a 3 socket ceiling fixture common in the 1920s. In the 1920s it was common to have screw in adaptors that converted the light bulb socket into an electrical receptacle allowing two prong plugs to be plugged into a light bulb socket. One of the globes has been removed and the lamp cord/plug is plugged into the fixture's socket. Notice the lamp has an old plug like you see on WW I period lamps. The lamp base shows a different contour and stands higher than the metal base on a true WW I, Snead Victory lamp; it does appear to be metal and not wood. The shell has a different form than a Morgan explosion 75 mm shell casing; it seem shorter, has a slightly larger diameter, and may still retain the shell fuse that screws into the top of the shell. This may be the later M1907 WW1 Scoville 75MM artillery shell and not the 1897 French-American artillery shell seen on Snead lamps. For comparison, here is a photo example of a 1907 WW I Scoville artillery shell SOURCE http://www.ponyexpressfirearms.com/products/american-wwi-75mm-poison-gas-round/ https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-ww1-scoville-model-1907m-523034857 The rotating ring appears missing on the lamp and does not show rifling grab marks to the copper rotating ring. Actually, there is no evidence of the band with the biblical quote. Maybe the shell was cut short at the rotating ring? Also notice the lamp in the photo has a single pull chain light socket; one can see the chain with a round brass ball at its end. The lamp's shade appears to be some sort of tiffany style, dome shaped, iridescent finish, art glass. This might be an iridescent mushroom 10" or 12 " dome shade used in an inverted manner. Take notice that there is no shade finial; it is attached by a lower wire hanger assembly of some sorts. I believe this lamp in the photo originates from some sort of trench art manufacture. Here are some macro close up views taken from the 1920 photo of the cord and lamp shown in my photo: Six Examples #29 Post by 72 usmc Wed Apr 11 2018 5:41 pm I am providing six pictures of recent shell lamps offered in April 2018 auctions in the United States. Their source is 2018 on line photo images and arms list auction house listings for Victory lamps. Most source links are too old and have been removed. Hence, they are no longer listed here. The six lamps are presented in order to show the degree of variation found in both the lamp’s condition, electrical socket, and the lamp’s helmet. Note the variation in helmets and the one with a French helmet. Also see the variation in patina of the shell body from the black, to rusty, to like new steel. Most of these non Snead Company lamps have different bases and the shell lacks the copper rotating ring with the biblical script: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” The reader can tell if a fired shell has been used to build a trench art lamp when the rotating band shows grooves indicating rifling grab marks from the barrel. A fired shell exhibits a curved notched groove pattern on the copper rotating band near the base of the shell. This is evidence of the shell grabbing the barrel’s rifling as it travels out the artillery tube. Only the first photo has a lamp that retains the original red/black, push button shuttle switch. None are the double socket, pull chain specimens. On these lamps, most of the sockets seem to have been changed out as well as their vintage cord. In the 1920s the pull chain socket is the more common type in use on ceiling fixtures and floor lamps. Few people restore these lamps with an original, cloth wrapped cord or an original Uno socket with a screw top for a harp. Also notice, few retain the original two prong, bakelite plug. Only a few examples of original double socket Victory lamps have been observed. There is a good deal of variation in these six examples. The most commonly seen attributes on dirty, “as found,” original Victory lamps are the old patina, the brass base, a single Bryant socket with a red/black, push button shuttle switch, the black locomotive like paint, and the inscribed ring on the shell. Most no longer have their shade. Few retain their original cord. For views of original parts, study the two lamps found in the Welovegarbage photo and my original double socket lamp. Also on the first page, look at the more original lamps, they do not show a large modern harp attached at the base of the socket. Such a harp position below the socket is a later style, the tall harp size is incorrect for an original condition Victory lamp. As seen in most of these six examples shown below, there are modern, larger harps set below the replacement socket. I believe that on the original single socket Victory lamp, the 1920s style harp screwed onto the top portion of the brass socket. This was a short harp design to fit the smaller Edison light bulbs. I love the first lamp picture. This lamp shows original patina in the arms list auction photo. Looking closely at this first photo, it also exhibits horizontal lines on the shell body where the shell casing has been cut to sectionalize the lamp. This is an Uncle Ed or a Seventy-Five relic lamp that has a slightly different base. The surrounding inner central portion of the brass base is sunken to form a trough like depression that may have acted as an ashtray. For a non smoker it may have functioned as a paper clip or thumb tack holder. This detail will be seen more clearly on later pages where I photo document my shorty Uncle Ed lamp I acquired in May 2019 (see page 9). Over the years many more lamp examples have been posted on this former SRF post. All of these have been preserved and shown on later pages. #30 Post by 72 usmc Thu Apr 12 2018 12:25 am Note, the second photo is not an original condition Snead Lamp. The upper portion of the lamp has been altered. The second photo shows a drilled helmet and a modern finial holding the helmet shade. This is a restored lamp, but not redone to original specifications. Take a look at the vintage socket with the screw threads near the upper edge of the socket. The large harp is positioned at the base of the socket. While this is an improvement that holds the helmet more securely, it is a much later 1940s post WW II improvement that should not be utilized on this lamp. This is incorrect for a 1920s Victory lamp. Take a look at the third example, the same incorrect attributes are seen with the harp and helmet. It also appears the black finish has been stripped from the shell body. This is like taking an original Indian head penny and cleaning it to remove the original patina. While hard to see in the photo, this lamp appears to have been rewired with a contemporary plastic cord. The forth specimen is a post war trench art fabrication made to look like the Victory lamp. While this lamp with three red strips is made from an unfired 75mm shell, all parts are incorrect. It has a bakelite base, incorrect socket, and incorrect harp. Any turn key switch with the old vintage flat knob or the modern round knob is not correct. One must pay attention to the patina and newness of the parts on the lamp as an indicator of incorrect replacement parts. Most lamps have incorrect cords and plugs. The fifth lamp exhibits a vintage pull chain socket. Obviously, over time the original Bryant shuttle socket failed and in the later 1940s a pull chain socket was utilized to replace the broken original. In addition, a later period replacement cord was added. The shell body appears brownish rather than a black color. Its surface may have been redone and painted a different color. The auction photo is too poor to see the details. The shell body color is odd. The sixth lamp has similar incorrect modifications to the upper portion of the lamp with the addition of an incorrect light socket having incorrect color and no aged finish. This lamp lacks vintage patina. Modern parts are utilized to make this lamp functional without concern for historical integrity. To complete this monstrosity, a French helmet is added. As I read the many period advertisements, I observe that no double socket lamps and no turn key single socket lamps are shown. I have not found period information showing pictures of double socket Victory lamps. The lamp I own and the few other double socket Snead lamps all have slight variations. Also the single socket lamps do show drilled helmets with modern brass finials. Notice my finial--its original with patina. However, I believe this to be a possible later adaptation for a cloth shade. The three documented double socket Snead lamps all have Bryant pull chain sockets. I am unsure what an original shade on a double socket Victory lamp may have been-a helmet or cloth shade? I am not sure if these are period conversions or actually factory production items. And to close out the examples, shown above is a spit shined version of a vintage Victory lamp redone to look brand new. This is crazy. This lamp is way too newly restored. The replacement parts are modern, the brass all shinned and buffed, and the shell repainted, the Victory Logo infilled with white paint for ease in readability. A true historical travesty, a perversion of a Victory Lamp. Some may love this type of renewal. But such work is not a true restoration in my eyes. Source, see https://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/202910-1918-75mm-victory-lamp/ Photos are also gone from the Wayback Machine archive due to photo bucket’s pay to play. https://web.archive.org/web/20170706144837/http://www.usmilitariaforum.com/forums/index.php?/topic/202910-1918-75mm-victory-lamp/ In conclusion, given 100 years time, most Victory lamps in use have suffered from loss of their original shade, failure of the light bulb socket, and hardening of the rubber coated thin copper wires that were silk wrapped. The desk protector rubber ring turns hard as rock. With age the rubber hardened, the original cord cracks and exposes bare wires and the cord becomes a fire hazard. Likewise, the bakelite plug became brittle and cracked with age. It is rather rare to find intact lamps with their original cord, light bulb socket, shade, and Edison bulb still in place. Most of these are best kept intact for display only. Never unwrap a coiled up hardened cloth cord. Leave it as found for display. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 26, 2022 Author Share Posted October 26, 2022 SRF Page 3 WW I Hunter Collection #31 Post by 72 usmc Thu Apr 12 2018 1:05 am This appears to be an intact lamp except for the cord and some replacement parts. Notice the harp is screwed on around the socket and the short finial similar to the one found on my lamp. However, it has a silver socket and maybe this is a turn button replacement socket, but it still maintains the short harp/and Uno type socket with threads at its top for the harp. The lamp light socket should be brass-it was replaced. SOURCE https://www.pritzkermilitary.org/explore/museum/digital-collection/view/oclc/985705284 Here is the description of the Hunter lamp: QUOTE "75 mm Victory lamp Lamp has a metal base. Attached to the base is a 75mm bullet. Inscribed on the projectile is "VICTORY Nov 11 1918 75 M/M SHELL." Inscribed on the driving band near the bottom of the projectile is a verse from Isaiah 2:4 in the Old Testament of the Bible, "THEY SHALL BEAT THEIR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES AND THEIR SPEARS INTO PRUNING HOOKS: NATION SHALL NOT LIFT UP SWORD AGAINST NATION, NEITHER SHALL THEY LEARN WAR ANYMORE." Affixed to the top of the projectile is an American light bulb socket, which would hold the light bulb. The socket has the inscription, "LEVINTON PATENTED 250 W 250V." The lamp cover is a WWI American doughboy helmet and has the measurements 12 cm high x 31 cm wide. Show Fewer Details OCLC #: 985705284 Physical Location: Special Collections — Hunter — REALIA 03574 Personal Collection: WWI Hunter Collection Production, Publication, Distribution, Manufacture, and Copyright Notice: [Jersey City, NJ?] : [Snead and Company?], [after 1918] Physical Description: 1 lamp : metal ; 63 cm high x 8 cm wide x 17 cm in diameter" END OF QUOTE My lamp finial The correct brass socket (a Bryant, red/black shuttle push button switch with screw top) as seen on the Queen’s garbage company finds shown on the first page. This photo is an example of the short harp on a socket. #32 Post by 72 usmc Thu Apr 12 2018 3:01 pm Here is a double socket Snead lamp. This looks very much the same as my lamp, but even this one has had some socket replacement. Notice the two different pull chains and the different socket colors of the brass patina. Both light bulb sockets look like Bryant sockets that have been observed on most double socket versions of the Victory lamp. The mount head is also similar to my lamp. The socket on the left side of the photo with the shorter chain is identical to what is on my lamp. Also important to mention is the fact that the Bryant pull chain sockets that are original to the double socket Snead lamps do not have screw threads for a harp. It appears only the single bulb Victory version has a Bryant socket (with a red black shuttle switch) that has the upper edge threads for a screw on harp. This is some speculation on my part. A double bulb version of the Victory lamp must have been one of the many different patents for these Snead lamps. I find it is rather odd most parts are similar on these double socket versions, like they were produced at one location, rather than all of them consisting of individual conversions by a variety of people that decided they needed two bulbs for more light. These double socket versions must be factory made using the same upper socket assembly. The double socket assembly is always a Bryant product. Likewise, the single socket factory made Snead Victory lamp also has a Bryant red/black shuttle switch socket that has the screw threads for the small harp. One final observation. The Bryant two socket lamp head seems to consist of two types: a stem cluster with fixed sockets or rotating sockets. This lower example shown in the picture has each individual socket screwed onto a mount stud extending from the head. In contrast, my lamp has two sockets that extend from a pivot on the lamp head-they can rotate slightly. I am not sure if different small factories made different lamps as per their supply of parts, or if the many different patents covered the single socket and the two different versions of double socket lamps? Some lamps had helmet shades, some had the parchment shades. I have not researched what each patent number covered and how many patent numbers were obtained by the Snead Company to make these lamps. There appear to be less examples of the double socket Snead lamp. I have never seen an original parchment shade version. The double socket lamps seem as hard to find as the Victory ashtrays. Source: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/world-war-era-75mm-artillery-shell-523866983 WORLD WAR I ERA 75MM ARTILLERY SHELL VICTORY LAMP SNEAD MORGAN EXPLOSION SALVAGE Here is the auction description for the sale of this double socket lamp. QUOTE “DESCRIPTION A vintage 1919 World War I era 75mm artillery shell Victory Lamp made by the Snead Company . Made from material salvaged from the Morgan Depot Explosion in Sayreville, New Jersey. Overall height is 20-1/2 inches. Shell casing is iron and is approximately 11 inches by 3 inches diameter. Base measures approximately 6-1/2 inches in diameter, and has original manufacturer's paper label. Has "Victory" and "November 11, 1918" stamped in center. Also has brass ring with Bible verse inscribed. CONDITION Shows normal signs of age and tarnish, a few scuffs and scratches to paint. Appears to have had one of the original sockets replaced, lacks original lamp shade. Still remains in good to very good condition. Please Note: This is a vintage used item, show signs of age and usage. Not a new or reproduction item. Sold AS IS.” END OF QUOTE . #33 Post by 72 usmc Thu Apr 12 2018 4:15 pm I have still have not encountered an oil lamp version of the Snead lamp. There are many examples of the more common electrified versions, a gas version how in this post on page 2. Does anyone have a picture of Snead WW I Victory shell oil lamp? Want to be Snead Lamps #34 Post by 72 usmc Thu Apr 12 2018 7:30 pm Below are seven photographs of "Want to be" Snead lamps that do not make the grade. Close, but no cookie. These are examples of some homemade trench art copies. Two of these examples, the gold one (photo 3) and other painted red, tan, & black lamp (photo 4) could possibly be horrendous modifications of actual Snead Victory lamps. The lamps in both photos (3 & 4) actually have an Uncle Ed base. I can see no evidence of the markings on their band. But the brass base and top cap on the shells look correct on these two examples. But, it could be any 75 mm shell. We will never know. There should be a five day waiting period on spray paint. In photo five, this last photo shows a contemporary made lamp that the reader can actually purchase. It is new. #35 Post by 72 usmc Fri Apr 13 2018 1:28 pm Here is an interesting trench art done "want to be" lamp. The artist vet has utilized a 1907 Schoville artillery shell to fabricate a fairly nice lamp. The base is rather unique. Original Parts, what is correct? #36 Post by 72 usmc Sat Apr 14 2018 3:37 pm Next, I think we need some photos of original parts. From the original specification sheet for an electric Snead lamp with a single socket. The lamp is equipped with” QUOTE “… six feet of No. 18 bronze colored parallel silk cord and a two piece [push or screw] Bryant No. 700 attachment plug. Outlet for cord through base. Conical, spun brass, stationary bronze finished, shell cap. Bryant push button switch, electric light socket. Spring wire shade holder with cast brass ring screwing to top of socket. Incandescent light bulb is furnished with lamp on account of varying kinds of current and danger of breakage. Use any large standard bulb, preferably 60 watt Tungsten or 75 watt Nitrogen.” END OF QUOTE SOURCE: http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/morgan-momentos-world-war-i-victory-lamp-specifications/ Here are some views of 1920-1935 period lamp parts. There are views of the correct, socket, and plug and harp. Note the socket with the lower hole is for a cord to enter through the side as seen on an Uncle Ed lamp so its lamp sections come apart. The lamp with a socket and the screw on harp has the cord entering up the center of the shell and into the bottom of the socket. Also realize the early shorter harp attaches by screwing onto the top threaded edge of the Bryant socket. On my double socket Victory lamp the sockets are Bryant brand fat-boys with pull chains. On a single bulb Victory lamp the socket is generally a Bryant fat boy with a red/black shuttle switch. It is always a Uno socket. On my Uncle Ed lamp the socket is a Bryant non fat boy medium-size red/black shuttle switch. It is also a Uno socket. Vintage fat-boy sockets have over-sized bases compared to later WW I medium-size lamp sockets. Both lamp/light sockets accept the same medium-size light bulbs. A medium or standard E26 light bulb is what the common normal Edison-type bulb size which is still in use with most lamp sockets in the United States. Fat boys date to around 1920-1930s are often found on early electric lamps and ceiling fixtures. A lot of the old lamps have sockets that have threads on the outside. These threaded sockets are called Uno sockets for shade adaptors. Here are views of a fat boy and non fat boy medium-size socket. The examples shown are not Bryant brand, the fat boy is a vintage Monowatt, and the medium size socket is a vintage Leviton. I have provided these examples to give the reader an idea of the size and shape differences.s This lower photo shows a high quality reproduction cloth cord that is period correct for gauge, size, and cord color. The plug is original. In this lower photo the reader can view the inside of the Bryant socket and should notice the dark red and black two color coded shuttle switch. Push the red in and the lamp is turned ON, push the black in and its OFF. This is an Uno Bryant fat-boy shuttle socket correct for a Victory lamp. This next photo shows a 1920s-1940s turn switch found on small table lamps of the times. Like early pull chain sockets found on floor lamps, these turn switches are never seen on original Victory lamps. Later period lamps parts #37 Post by 72 usmc Sat Apr 14 2018 3:40 pm Below are views of later period lamps parts commonly used to rebuild/rewire an early Snead lamp. All of the below parts are so incorrect. What is wrong? A large harp instead of the small one, a modern finial, and a harp placed under the socket are all incorrect. While it's a correct looking push button socket; this one has a lower hole for slightly different applications (Uncle ED or Seventy-Five Lamp only). Wrong cords with plastic, post WW II wire and contemporary post 1960s polarized plugs are incorrect. Old pre 1960s house receptacles for 120v had two prongs the same size. They used a non polarized plug. Those plugs and wall receptacles are replaced any time they are worked on by electricians because they do not have ground wire connections. Polarized plugs have a small "hot" straight prong and a slightly larger (taller) neutral prong so they can only be inserted one way. Polarized receptacles ensure that the electrical currents flow along the appropriate wires in the circuit for modern appliances. Modern replacement plugs are polarized with two different size prongs each with a different color. Vintage plugs are non polarized and have two similar size prongs. This is a historically accurate plug for a vintage lamp. Here are a variety of horrible looking incorrect light bulb sockets, non brass, chrome, aluminum, or early pull chains and late turn switches. The reader should note the Black on both sides of the contemporary push button shuttle switch is a dead give away for an incorrect modern shuttle switch made of non brass that just screams wrong-historically incorrect parts. A new part with the wrong style or a bright finish sticks out like a sore thumb when used to repair a vintage lamp. If you actually are going to the effort and expense to restore an original WW I Snead Victory Lamp please seek out the correct vintage parts and Bryant switches with a correct patina. Do not alter the historical finish or part integrity of the lamp. Never apply a pimp shine to the brass and apply new paint. As my Southern friend puts it: "It just ain't right.” Vintage broken lamps that are sold at rummage sales, flee markets, or flee bay can be a resources for finding correct vintage parts. They serve as part lamps. If you are lucky, your lamp will only need a reproduction cloth wrapped, twisted cord and original plug. Maybe the original plug will still be on the plastic cord. If by some odd chance you have an original parchment shade on a Victory Lamp please document that rare jewel here. It is free to join this nice forum then add to this data base. Did the readers notice that none of the 1918-1919 advertisements show a tall finial on the helmet? Is it a tiny brass rounded nut? Or did the helmet sit on a large washer or the bulb? Was the helmet actually "drilled" in order to fit on the original lamps? In later posts, we will find that a few specimens surfaced where the helmet has a white thick lacquer paint as a reflector on the inside of the helmet and it has a clip-on-the-bub adaptor to hold the helmet onto the bulb. No harp was used (see page 7). From the vintage advertisement, I see what appears to be the helmet's liner rivet at the top-no brass finial. The helmet sits rather low. Most original lamps found today have the shell body, but they are rarely found with a helmet, especially a white reflector style clip-on helmet, and never with a parchment original special order shade. I also do not see late 1940s-1960s finials. The addition of a drilled helmet, a larger harp that is positioned under the lamp socket, and a finial to hold the helmet on the harp’s mount stem is a later modification. This is not how a Victory lamp was originally sold. This may take some research. There is no evidence of a helmet liner, chin strap, or finial shown in the period advertisements. ARTILLERY AMMUNITION IN 1914-1918: 75mm Ammunition #38 Post by 72 usmc Sun Apr 15 2018 2:33 pm For those that need some background information on 75mm artillery ammunition it is best to review, MAIN TYPES OF ARTILLERY AMMUNITION IN 1914-1918 : SOURCE: http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/decouvertes/english_fusees_munitions.html Wayback Machine Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20190321135218/http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/decouvertes/english_fusees_munitions.html The next best reference with way too much information is the Cartridge Collectors Society: AN INTRODUCTION TO COLLECTING ARTILLERY SHELLS AND SHELL CASINGS SOURCE: https://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=introduction-to-artillery-shells-and-shell-casings Wayback Machine Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20190218205708/http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=introduction-to-artillery-shells-and-shell-casings http://cartridgecollectors.org/?page=in ... ll-casings The Snead lamp shells (projectile) were never fired in an artillery piece. The rotating band/belt remains intact and shows no signs of artillery cannon rifling grooves on the rotating band/belt. On an actual patented Snead Lamp, this band is actually inscribed with the scripture quote from Isaiah 2:4 written around the band near the bottom that says: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” The Snead patented Victory ashtray does not have this quote written on the rotating band/belt on the ashtray. The patented ashtray also never has rifling marks from a shell that was fired. No lines are imprinted on the rotating band/belt. Some ashtrays are missing the rotating band. The Snead ashtray will have the" Victory Nov. 11 1918" Inscription on its side and there are two versions. See page 2 for ashtray descriptions and photos. A trench art made lamp utilizing a fired projectile shell will exhibit rifling marks (evenly spaced grooves set/imprinted from the cannon rifling) vertically on the rotating band. Some trench art made ashtrays will also exhibit these marks. However, if these marks are present on an ashtray, they are not the Snead ashtrays. They will not have the "Victory" inscription. The basic nomenclature of the 75mm ammunition's two main sections are: the brass cartridge case also called a shell casing and the projectile also called the shell-the tip that is shot out of the barrel. The brass cartridge case is removed or ejected from the back of the artillery breech. On the iron shell (projectile) there is the fuse that screws into the top-this is missing on a Snead Lamp and replaced with a brass cap. You also have the copper rotating belt/band near the bottom of the shell. This has the scripture quote inscribed on it and lacks any rifling grooves because the shell was never fired in an artillery piece. See the above two references for a much more detailed review. A Snead Lamp, non fired shell with intact rotating band with its inscription. Shown below are 75 mm Scoville shells fired with rifling imprints on the rotating band. These are commonly seen on trench art made souvenir lamps. Two shells are shown below. scoville photo Oil lamp and Relic Shell, German Trench Art #39 Post by 72 usmc Sun Apr 15 2018 2:57 pm Here is an interesting WW I German made trench art oil lamp. The source is flee bay photos. This must be somewhat similar in construction to an actual Snead patented OIL LAMP version. I have never seen a picture of an oil lamp version of the Snead lamp nor its shade type. Surely, it did not have the helmet or paper parchment shade? I assume it had a clear glass oil light chimney rather than a shade? Like the gas version show in the post on page 1, the oil version most likely had a brass base like the other Snead lamps. But that is pure speculation! This German made trench art shell oil lamp is made from a fired shell body. It has no brass or wood base. This could be a possible 77mm shell mounted with a Kosmos-Brenner oil burner with the empty shell body acting as an oil reservoir for the lamp. Photo source is Robin Antiques in England. The source link is inactive and was removed due to age. I assume this is a German shell. It could just as well be a French 75mm picked within the German lines. I show this odd oil lamp because you do not see these too often and the Snead lamp must have had similar parts. I have no idea why it was painted red? It would be interesting to see how the brass top is attached to the shell. Just screwed into the fuse threads, or is it soldered into place and modified some way since the base mount of the oil lamp stays put in the shell. The burner with the wick screws out of the brass fixture that is mounted to the iron shell. Shipping and import fees on this heavy item is a price killer. I'd love to have this example. #40 Post by 72 usmc Sun Apr 15 2018 3:20 pm Here is an exploded 75mm shell. This was found metal detecting by member Frank. Source: https://www.ebay.com/itm/WWI-artillery- ... 7675.l2557 old inactive link due to age-removed. Frank’s metal detector find. Frank states: QUOTE “This relic was “Recovered on private land with owner’s permission, this exploded 1907 Scovill Shell from WWI dated 1918 manufactured date on shell. It was found on the outer edges of Camp Pike Artillery Range, North Little Rock, AR. Used for training Arkansas National Guard Troops going to Europe during WWI.” END OF QUOTE Too battered for trench art use. But it is a nice military relic for display! Hat stand #41 Post by 72 usmc Sat Apr 21 2018 10:10 am Rapidrod, I am providing a view of my lamp top. You can see, I did not drill my helmet. The WW I helmet values have gone sky high, especially if the liner and chin strap remains intact on an original WW I helmet. Even a reenactment reproduction WW I helmet is $85. If you look at the original advertisements from 1918-1919, it appears that no finial was used to attach the helmet and maybe the helmet just sat on something. There are no pictures from an original lamp that shows just how the helmet was attached or sat. What is shown is the lack of a post 1930s harp attached under the socket and the finial. 3 The above pictures seem to show a low profile small nut? There is no photographic evidence of how the helmet was actually attached. Most lamps that remain intact are found with the all brass Bryant, push button red/black switch that has screw threads on the top of the socket. While the socket remains in place, most Victory lamps are found missing the screw-on, short, lamp harp and the helmet. There may or could be two possible manners to attach the helmet.These include a screw-on harp or a clip-on-the-bulb device. Below are pictures of correct parts except for the lower socket with hole. I decided to keep my original helmet intact. I constructed a sort of hat stand on the top of the lamp harp. This adaptation is similar to a hat stand like you would see a hat sitting on at a hat store. I was too cheep to pay almost $6 for a large three inch brass washer that I could age and give it a nice used patina. My make do alteration worked great. I had the 1920s style short harp that screwed onto the top threads of the Uno Bryant push button socket. I found an old antique cookie cutter and utilized it instead of a washer. Like a washer, the cookie cutter acts as a flat base at the top of the harp to act as a hat stand to set my helmet on. The original WW I helmet maintains its historical integrity. A thin piece of wood would also have worked. Remember, my lamp is a two bulb double socket Victory lamp that was set up for a Spider cloth shade which I did not want to use. It came lacking the shade or helmet. Please see the lower four photos in post #42: #42 Post by 72 usmc Sat Apr 21 2018 2:14 pm Here is my hat-stand-like modification to my original Snead lamp. I am still looking for a photo of an intact lamp with the single socket that was never modified so we know how the helmet was actually attached. Below-My lamp with helmet: #43 Post by 72 usmc Sat Apr 21 2018 11:39 pm I cannot find a reproduction of a vintage 1920s screw-on harp. What they have as a replacement is what parts suppliers call a "harp saddle adapter" that fits onto the socket. But you then have to also buy a harp loop, and hold down nut. To make the lamp more period correct, your best bet is to attempt to find a vintage original screw on harp. Unfortunately they are very difficult to find unless you are in an antique shop that has parts or a lamp store (a lighting store that deals with vintage lamps). The price is generally $15-25 bucks since so few have survived. I guess that is why most use a modern harp set below the socket when they rebuild a lamp. It also provides a more sturdy solution for heavy shades since the weight is no longer centered on the socket. Hence, most just take this easy way out when updating their lamp by utilizing an odd looking modern harp. The contemporary replacement adaptor called (a harp saddle adaptor), comes in different sizes to screw onto the top of the socket-(not period correct), but this is the best fit/use for a reproduction part that will screw onto the upper socket. Then the rebuilder must also buy the correct size harp loop (height & width) and nut. Look up "Harp saddle adaptor". Of course it is always best to use period correct vintage parts, if you can find them, and if you are willing to pay their high cost. Contemporary harp saddle adaptor Here is a later 1940s more correct screw on, short harp for a Snead lamp upper attachment that is not exactly a correct period 1920s harp , but it will do. This style is later, say approximately 1940s, but closer than the reproduction alternative; however the finial shown in the photo is too modern. It is better to search an early acorn or brass ball finial. You can find these sometimes on eBay, but generally with groups of parts, so 1 out of 10 is what you end up with. I will try to post photos of a correct 1920s screw-on-harp later. Some of these originals that screw on allow the restorer to switch out the harp loop to different sizes, others like this one shown above are fixed to a specific size. This type of harp was utilized on short bedroom night stand lamps. By the early 1940s, living or parlor room table lamps generally had the more sturdy and common larger harp that attached under the socket that allowed for use of heavy cloth spider style shades. (Shades are discussed in more detail on page 4) The antique store in a local town had a box full of these more common larger types of harps, but only two of the screw on harps-and both were on an older lamp. You may have to buy an entire lamp to get the parts you need. In a perfect case one would have a Bryant, push button shuttle socket (red/black button), the correct, short, screw-on-harp, and a nice older 1920s cloth cord and bakelite plug. If all of these vintage parts are discovered on another old lamp, it a well worth the $25-$50 to utilize it as a parts source. In WI we have huge rummage/antique fairs in the summer where people sell all sorts of items. There are hundreds of tables set up by dealers or people selling their goodies. I am going to start looking in the boxes of parts for these old correct lamp parts. At the same time, I am always on the look out for vintage 1920 lamps that might have working parts. What I have never seen at these fairs is an actual WW I Snead Victory lamp in any condition? #44 Post by 72 usmc Sun Apr 22 2018 10:57 am Here is a vintage 1920s screw on lamp harp. I had to buy a beat lamp just for this part. A wee bit too much patina, but the lamp was found in a barn. Notice the low, round, brass finial and the shade washer. Also notice the upper screw top piece for the finial is welded and does not turn like the 1930s-1940s examples-the one shown in the above post. I got this as a spare just in case I find a single socket Victory Lamp on the cheep. I got this yesterday after a forum member informed me how had these are to find. Like I said, the antique store had about 70 harps, but only two screw on ones. It just so happened that both were found on lamps. And guess what, you had to buy the lamp to get the part. To my knowledge no reproductions are made of this part. #45 Post by 72 usmc Mon Apr 23 2018 12:53 pm If you are going to the trouble to rewire your antique lamp, use a cord and plug that is correct for the lamp's time period. For a Victory lamp this is a cloth wrapped twisted cord and/or a cloth wrapped parallel cord with a non polarized plug. Shown below are correct half moon, hard rubber or bakelite plugs. For reproduction cloth cords and plugs or other vintage reproduction high quality lamp parts see these possible sources: SOURCE: Antiquelampsupply.com https://www.antiquelampsupply.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8I349qf--QIV0uDICh2_JgtMEAAYAiAAEgJtPvD_BwE SOURCE: Mylampparts.com https://www.mylampparts.com/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI8I349qf--QIV0uDICh2_JgtMEAAYASAAEgLaZvD_BwE Twisted cotton woven cord by spool or by the foot is sold at both of the above sources. High quality reproduction cloth wrapped lamp cord is available from many sources and really adds to the look of the lamp. Such reproduction electrical cord is safe if you plan on using a restored lamp. It comes in different gauges, colors, and styles. insert two photos 56 57 Also note that new vintage reproduction plugs have different size/color prongs and are not the same as an old vintage plug where both prongs are the same size. A Polarized Reproduction is not really vintage, and a vintage plug is really best from a collector’s point of view. While safe, these stick out and actually they scream "reproduction parts.” A vintage plug will look similar, be made of bakelite plastic, but have a non polarized plug consisting of two prongs of the same color and width. So the restorer has to order the correct reproduction plug if you do not have an original. For a more historic look, obtain a non polarized reproduction plug such as this example shown below. It is always best to have aged original parts on an antique lamp. A non polarized plug (reproduction). An original aged plug-non polarized 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 26, 2022 Author Share Posted October 26, 2022 SRF Page 4 #46 Post by 72 usmc Mon Apr 23, 2018 4:06 pm Here is a photo of an original as found lamp. I post this here again so the reader notices the original cord. It is a cloth wrapped, parallel cord, not the twisted cord that was found on my double socket lamp with the bakelite plug. Specifications on a single socket lamp are " 6 feet of No. 18 bronze colored parallel silk cord" that is what you see on this found in the trash original condition Snead single socket Victory lamp shown in this lower photo. This original lamp has a twisted cord in the vintage picture. When my lamp arrived it had its frayed and cracked original cord. This style of twisted cloth wrapped cord was on my Snead Victory, double socket lamp. Here is a close up photo of my original cord. My lamp with the replacement twisted cord (new useable reproduction cord), with its original plug. Lamp Shade Types #50 post by 72 usmc Wed Apr 25 2018 1:57 am The Lamp Shades. QUOTE "The Lamp Shade It appears that there were ultimately two types of lamp shades offered. The first lamp shade type featured a metal doughboy helmet. Quite likely this was the shade provided with the first lamps made available. The second one had an open top and was composed of Strathmore Vellum Parchment. The art work on the open top lamp shade was designed by Franklin Booth, a noted period artist best known for his stylized ink line drawings which captured the “feel” of wood engravings (see the to-be-reposted Victory Lamp Lamp Shade page). It was open on the top to allow for the venting of the burned oil or burned gas and, as the brochure states, “to allow light to be reflected from ceiling”. The helmet version was more suitable to the electric version it would seem. Franklin designed the lamp shade to have a different mood depending on whether the lamp was lit or unlit. Without light, the shade portrayed a war scene. With light, the lamp transformed to a scene of peace. This was done by having artwork both on the outside of the lamp shade as well as the inside. Franklin utilized design and color to create this transformation. The antique tan and brown shaded drawings on the outside of the lamp and the rose colored tinted drawing on the inside of the lamp, while different, were designed to overlap when lit.” END OF QUOTE from the web page SOURCE of this above quote : http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-lamp/ My comments are added to the above information as an update to the quote. As stated, it appears that there were ultimately two types of lamp shades offered. The first electric lamp shade type featured is a metal WW I surplus doughboy helmet. My comment, please see the (discussion of correct helmets on page 7 & 9). These helmet shades were modified WW I helmets which appear as examples of clip-on-the-bulb modified helmets, Their interior is painted white to act as a reflector and an adaptor clip is added to the inside of the top of the helmet. All the internal components (suspension liner and chin straps) were removed. The helmets were not drilled and then held on with a harp and finial. For some background information, a review of WW I M1917 helmet is here: please see (if the link fails the reference is reproduced as a QUOTE below): SOURCE: http://www.worldwar1.com/dbc/helmet17.htm By Mark A. Reynosa: Excerpted from his book: U.S. Combat Helmets of the 20th Century: Mass Production 1997 ; reprinted with permission. QUOTE The Model 1917 U.S. Helmet The United States entered into World War I in April 1917, at this time the United States Army did not have a helmet for its troops. The adoption of a helmet by the French, British and German armies convinced the United States Army that a helmet was needed as a standard piece of equipment. In June 1917, the United States Army selected the standard British helmet design for its use. This was the British Mk. I steel helmet. There were three main reasons for the selection of the British Mk. I helmet design: "the immediate availability of 400,000 ready-made helmets from England, the simplicity of manufacture from hard metal, and the superior ballistic properties." When the British Mk. I was selected by the United States Army, its United States production version was designated and standardized as the Helmet, M-1917. Until United States production of the M-1917 could begin, the United States Army purchased the 400,000 available British Mk. I helmets in England and issued them to the American Expeditionary Forces already in Europe. Production was begun on the M-1917 helmets in the fall of 1917. By the end of November 1917, large quantities of M-1917 helmets became available for the United States Army. The M-1917 helmet was very similar to the British Mk. I helmet. The helmet was basically an inverted bowl stamped out of a single piece of manganese alloy, which was made up of 13 percent manganese and was .036" thick. This differed from the British helmet, as the Mk. I helmet was made up of 12 percent manganese. Thus ballistically, the M-1917 helmet increased protection for the wearer by 10 percent over the British Mk. I helmet, and could withstand a .45 caliber pistol bullet traveling at 600 feet per second fired at a distance of 10 feet. A rim was spot welded to the edge of the steel bowl, with the ends butted, as opposed to lapped, which was done on the British Mk. I helmet. Riveted to the steel bowl were two flexible guiding loops for the chin strap. Here again, the U.S. M-1917 helmet differed from the British Mk. I helmet. On the U.S. helmet the loops were secured by solid machined rivets, whereas the British Mk. I helmet used split rivets. An adjustable leather chin strap was riveted to the steel bowl and consisted of two halves, each joined together by metal loops which were secured to the ends of the leather halves by steel split rivets. Also riveted to the steel bowl was the helmet lining. The lining was also similar to that of the British Mk. I helmet and consisted of a number of items described below: The lining was woven of cotton twine in meshes three-eighths of an inch square. This web, fitting tightly upon the wearer's head, evenly distributed the weight of the two-pound helmet, and in the same way distributed the force of any blow upon the helmet. The netting, together with the small pieces of rubber around the edge of the lining, kept the helmet away from the head, so that even a relatively large dent could not reach the wearer's skull. The linings of the U.S. M-1917 helmet were produced by 10 shoe manufacturing companies. The lining, as mentioned above, consisted of cotton twine mesh surrounded by a circular piece of leather that held tubular pieces of rubber, and the mesh was covered by a piece of black oil cloth. Sandwiched between the lining and the steel bowl was also piece of felt. The steel for the M-1917 helmet was rolled by the American Sheet and Tin Plate Company. The steel was then pressed and stamped into its bowl shape by seven companies, which were: Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; Sparks, Withington Company, Jackson, Michigan; Crosby Company, Buffalo, New York; Bossett Corporation, Utica, New York; Columbian Enameling & Stamping Company, Terre Haute, Indiana; Worchester Pressed Steel Company, Worchester, Massachusetts; and Benjamin Electric Company, Des Plaines, Illinois. The steel was stamped with an austenite heat number and shipment number, which were used to identify the quality of steel and shipment lots. The metal helmets and woven linings were delivered to the plant of the Ford Motor Company, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, were they were painted and assembled. To make the outside surface of the helmet anti-glare, the helmets were first painted, then fine sawdust was blown on the wet paint, and finally the helmet was painted again. To increase protective properties the helmets were painted in an olive drab shade. Helmet Clad Doughboys Receiving Decorations see source for photo M-1917 HELMET PROCUREMENT AND TOTALS During the fall of 1917 production was begun on the M-1917 helmets. By the end of November 1917, the first deliveries of large quantities of M-1917 helmets were being made to the United States Army. On 17 February 1918, approximately 700,000 M-1917 helmets had been produced. As United States involvement in World War I increased, the U.S. Army placed additional orders for the M-1917 helmet. By July 1918 orders for the M-1917 helmet reached 3,000,000, in August 6,000,000, and in September 7,000,000. In November 1918, when hostilities ended and American production was ordered to cease, U.S. Manufacturers had produced a total of 2,707,237 M-1917 helmets. Production figures for the pressed and stamped steel helmets during World War I, were as follows: Edward G. Budd Manufacturing Co. 1,150,775 Sparks, Withington Co. 473,469 Crosby Co. 469,968 Bossett Corporation 116,735 Columbian Enameling & Stamping Co. 268,850 Worchester Pressed Steel Co 193,840 Benjamin Electric Co. 33,600 Sources and thanks: Crowell, Benedict, "America's Munitions", 1917 -1918, Report of United States Army War Office, Washington D.C. 1919 Lewis, Frederick J., Commander, MSC, USN, et al, Military Helmet Design, Naval Medical Field Research Laboratory, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, June 1958 Mark A. Reynosa's site on U.S. Combat Helmets http://www.helmets.mar-prod.com/ contains information on his other Helmet Historical works, as well as ordering information for his books. Thanks to Ray Mentzer, Mike Iavarone and Herb Stickel for the various photos. MH" END OF QUOTE Photos are seen in the original link. M1917 U. S. Helmet References 1) A great book as a reference is U.S. Combat Helmets of the 20th Century: Mass Production, 1997. This is a hard cover Schiffer publication. Also review thisreference: The British Mark I Brodie & the U.S. P17, know the difference. Jj June 2014 web link: 2) The British Mark I Brodie & the U.S. P17, know the difference, June 23, 2014 https://alexanderandsonsrestorations.com/british-mark-brodie-u-s-p17-know-difference/ 3) US WW1 and WW2 Brodie Helmets and Maker Stamps-Treasure Bunker forum https://www.treasurebunker.com/forums/index.php?/topic/3412-us-ww1-and-ww2-brodie-helmets-and-maker-stamps/ #54 Post by 72 usmc Thu Apr 26 2018 2:41 pm I just noticed this, but this helmet appears to have a double loop, clip-on holder as seen on this Snead lamp? Is that a clip adaptor that I see on this "Uncle Ed " Snead lamp under the helmet? See the advertisement on page 1 of this post. Look closely under the helmet. I see one socket. I also see white paint on the interior of the helmet. A photo taken from the ad is shown below. This lamp is a rare Uncle Ed version. It appears likely that a modified surplus M1917 helmet was the shade provided with the first lamps that were made available. I am uncertain why some vintage lamps seem intact and complete with all correct, original parts, but have the short 1920 harp and tiny brass ball finial. Others have a clip-on brass or steel helmet. It is possible there are two original versions of helmets found on Snead Victory lamps. The weight of the helmet as a clip-on-the-bulb set up must have been somewhat heavy to sit on the bulb and possibly the harp on the socket was a later improvement. While this statement is my speculation, both forms exist. What is certain, the larger harp attached at the base of the socket is a much later modification by the owner of the lamp. Such a harp set up is not a Snead production item. The second shade was special order at an extra cost. This is a shade with an open top and was made with Strathmore Vellum Parchment. There are no recent photographs of this parchment shade, no examples appear to have survived the test of time. The art work on the open top lamp shade was designed by Franklin Booth, a noted period artist best known for his stylized ink line drawings which captured the “feel” of wood engravings. Since this post I have obtained an original advertising brochure that is shown on page seven. This shade is seen in the flyer. It was open on the top to allow for the venting of the burned oil or burned gas and, as the brochure states, “…to allow light to be reflected from ceiling.” It would seem, the helmet version was more suitable to the electric version. The oil version is shown with a white glass shade typically found on oil lamps at the turn of the 20th century. The soot from an oil or gas lamp would be trapped under the steel helmet. See page six for the discussion of the oil version. Franklin designed the lamp shade to have a different mood depending on whether the lamp was lit or unlit. Without light, the shade portrayed a war scene. With light, the lamp transformed to a scene of peace. This was done by having artwork both on the outside of the lamp shade as well as the inside. Franklin utilized design and color to create this transformation. The antique tan and brown shaded drawing is on the outside of the lamp and the rose colored tinted drawing is on the inside of the lamp, while different, they were designed to overlap when lit. Each shade was hand sewed and hand colored. These must have been some fragile shades. It is possible with the heat of the bulb or flame, they deteriorated with use due to heat drying the paper making it brittle. SOURCE: http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-lamp/ Wayback Machine Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20190115081949/http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-lamp/ Snead Lamps are patented as follows: April 22, 1919, May 13, 1919, and June 3, 1919. Other patents were pending. The lamp in its entirety was patented by Angus S. MacDonald, Assignor to Snead and Company, in order “to prevent unscrupulous imitation” and so “… none but GENUINE “75’s” saved from the Morgan explosion will be used or can be used.” There were actually two patents for the lamp, one had the open top lampshade, and the other had a doughboy helmet as a lampshade. Filed for on March 6 and 14, 1919, respectively, patent numbers 53,224 and 53,225 were issued on April 22, 1919. To view the Specifications sheet see: SOURCE: http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/morgan-momentos-world-war-i-victory-lamp-specifications/ Wayback Machine Archive: https://web.archive.org/web/20190115083506/http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/morgan-momentos-world-war-i-victory-lamp-specifications/ close up views of specifications sheet SHADE FITTER IDENTIFICATION CHART #51 Post by 72 usmc Wed Apr 25 2018 7:23 pm shade type name diagrams SOURCE: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/414542340673389025/ No one has actually seen a parchment Snead shade or even a damaged wire frame from such a shade. It is unknown if the shade's frame had a center hole with supporting spokes radiating outward to the upper shade support loop (a spider fitter). Or, was the parchment shade made with a central mount hole? Such a shade would fit over the harp loop threaded spinal on the top of the short harp and be held in place with a lamp final on the electric version of lamp, or the Snead shade may have had a two wire loop clamp holder that fit onto the bulb (Clip-on fitter). The Clip-on fitter shade may have slipped over the bulb on an electric version or a glass chimney on the oil version. Adaptors such as these could have been attached to the shade or helmet. In the period photos, the Snead parchment shade sits rather high on the lamp almost like a Clip-on fitter was utilized? As per specifications, if the lamp with the shade sit approximately 19 inches (measuring 19 inches on my lamp it is approximately 13 inches to the brass cone threads or brass cap) that only allows of 6 to 7 inches for the shade height. My original 1920 harp shown in this post measures from bottom to the base of the threads is exactly 6 inches. Therefore, a shade set on the harp, if the shade is 6 inches in height, would sit at or slightly lower than the bulb base. A clip-on fitter would lower a 6 inch shade to about what is show in the above picture. This is all speculation, since I do not own a single socket Snead lamp or the original painted parchment shade to actually measure from. No one knows how the parchment shade was attached to the three different versions of Victory lamps. Did a paper shade fit on an oil or gas Victory lamp? Would the heat and flame soot destroy a paper shade; hence they were only fitted for an electric Victory lamp? WHAT NOT TO DO TO A SNEAD LAMP #56 Post by 72 usmc Wed May 02 2018 9:36 am A sad example of a former gas lamp, so modified it's garbage; especially at the $100 price. At 40 bucks I would save the shell body if I saw this at a flea market, but shipping is $25. This lamp is rewired so poorly, it is just nuts. Such work is just beyond dumb. Talk about a fire hazard. Notice this was done a long time ago. I can see the old cloth wires consisting of two types. There is old cloth electrical tape by the switch splice with newer plastic electrical tape at the plastic cord splice. So we have a 1930s vintage save on an original oil lamp and a second later 1960s rewire job on the main cord that left the push button switch in place. So maybe all the gas and oil lamps were thrown out or converted to electrical—hence, they are so hard to find. In the above photo, I wonder if that cord hole was for the gas tube? Maybe this was/is a new hole drilled for a cord? I do not think so. It may have been originally for a gas line up to the burner. On the bottom, the nut is incorrect. The large washer seems to be original with some patina? There is a push button light switch added onto the lamp base. Maybe this switch covers a gas pipe hole? Why are two holes present? Both seem to be positioned to high on the brass base of the lamp. Take a look at the position of the cord hole on my electric Victory lamp. See this lower photo. The original cord should come from a hole at the bottom lip of the brass base. This is the first view of an actually bottom of a gas lamp. The rubber desk protector ring is intact. Too bad the base has undergone modification for an added light switch. It is odd that an incorrect common square nut is used instead of the round lock nut generally found these old switches. Please see the three views of vintage early 1930s switches found on some of my floor lamps. They all have a refined finish nut. Some lamps have a push button, others have a tiny knurled turn switch. Three examples are shown in the lower photo. In the lower photos, notice, one of the bottom holes in the shell base is utilized for a cord ? (not sure, but this the hole may have originally carried the gas line up to the Welsbach burner) Also notice the base is drilled for a cord and a switch placed into the brass base. There are two holes in the base instead of one. The Gas Line hole is plugged with the electric switch. I am not sure which of the two holes in the base was the original hole for the gas line. To make matters worse a bulb socket is fitted into the oil head. This lamp was electrified! The brass shell cap is also missing on this specimen. It must have been removed during the first modification to electric. Lots of luck trying to find that part. This is not the best conversion; it is poorly done. A word of caution when searching out a Victory lamp. Be sure to check the brass cone cap under the socket. Some are crushed down and distorted, others crushed and cracked. This is one difficult part to replace. During shipping both the cone cap and the brass base can get bent and distorted by moving around within the shipping box. Finally, the lower two photos shows the added electrical socket. Problem in Restorations #57 Post by Rapidrob Wed May 02 2018 1:14 pm The WWI helmet showed up. With the placement of the light bulb, the lamp shade holing bail/harp is too long and looks all wrong. I will cut down and forge the bail ends for a new lamp shade bail that will look better. With the weight of the helmet, I'd be leery using the clamp onto the light bulb type lamp shade holder. #58 Post REPLY by 72 usmc Wed May 02 2018 3:33 pm Rapidrob, an interesting problem; is the harp 6 inches high from the screw on base to the top flat where the helmet would sit? My U. S. WW I helmet sits 5 inches tall from the rim to the top of the helmet; the harp measures 6 inches, so the helmet will sit 1 inch above the base of the screw on harp. I would attach mine, but it is not drilled. I could not let myself destroy an intact 100 year old relic. Might I suggest the use of a reproduction M1917 re-enactor helmet if you plan to drill a hole in the top. How tall is your harp (4 or 6 inches)? The bottom edge of the helmet should be approximately 1 inch above the socket top depending how much the harp is screwed down onto the socket; generally there are only 3 or 5 threads on the harp’s threaded shaft. A six inch harp is for a cloth shade or higher sitting helmet, a four inch harp is for a helmet if you want it to sit lower like seen in the original Victory ad show above. A four inch harp will bring it down to the position seen in the original lamp advertisement brochure. Remember those original screw harps are hard to find. If you modify an original that is not the best plan of action. Now if it's a fixed 1920 screw harp its got to be spot welded to be altered or soldered if brass. If it is a later 6 inch harp (shown above) that is adjustable, the loop ends can be cut, bent, and the bottom ends hammered so they fit into the tabs. Those later ones are for different harp sizes. Just squeeze the harp together and it pops out of the lower adjustable mount. I am not sure which one you have? You can always get a new harp loop and fit the hoop size need for the bottom section. I would not alter an original 1920s screw harp. Got any pics of the situation?? Shown above is a view of a six inch 1920s screw-on harp attached to a correct socket. Here are views of the position of the helmet. The helmet appears just above the shuttle. switch. Here is a view of the six inch harp that shows where the bottom edge of the helmet should position itself (RED LINE) when the helmet is set onto the top of a 6 inch harp that is mounted onto the socket. Here is a view of a lamp repaired utilizing a contemporary harp that is positioned below the socket for maximum support for the heavy helmet. This is a non period, incorrect repair, but it does allow for ease in repair and makes for a stronger lamp. Most restorers rebuild their lamps in this later 1950s style. Notice the socket has patina and it would have been nice if a 1920s style finial was utilized. Below is a photo of two early style finials that would be period correct. The bottom link does not offer the old fashion screw on base, but if you have the later adjustable post 1940 screw on adjustable harp you can get a loop the size you need to fit the 1940s part. The metal loop comes in sizes from 4-7 inches, generally in 1/2inch increments. Remember, they no longer make reproduction screw-on the socket harps. This source also sells new made adjustable harps with a variety of sizes to fit what ever shade position you desire. See this for ideas: SOURCE: https://www.antiquelampsupply.com/miniature-harps-for-small-lamps-brass-plated.html?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqJOXvurn2gIVBdbACh19lwwPEAQYAiABEgJeK_D_BwE #59 Post by 72 usmc Wed May 02 2018 4:20 pm My lamp has a double socket, and I did not drill my original helmet. See pictures of how the helmet sits in this review; pictures are shown in earlier posts and I added it again below. I can also sort of tilt and angle my helmet since it sits loose on top of the hat stand like platform. I also wanted the helmet to sit high and utilized the black wood spacer that was on the original lamp so the nut screws on just a wee bit and sits at the top of the threaded harp mount. I wanted to show off the Edison small bulbs with there Edison tip as well as the low warm glow of both bulbs. I did not use the taller Edison reproduction bulbs in this application. I wanted two Edison small rounded bulbs. They are perfect for the look. My bulbs also pivot at an angle and do not extend directly downward on this Bryant head. As discussed prior to this post, I used a cookie cutter to fabricate a hat stand platform so the helmet sits securely on the lamp. I can remove the helmet, tilt it, and I left the helmet original with the chin strap and head liner suspension webbing in place. Not period correct, but a better approach to avoid the harp under the socket look. While avoiding drilling an actual WW I relic, my modification is designed to show off the expensive original Edison reproduction bulbs and their period glow. With such bulbs the lamp does not provide strong light like a modern lamp, but that was not the goal. I desired the warm dim glow of an Edison bulb. #60 Post Reply by 72 usmc Wed May 02 2018 7:45 pm Rapidrob did your lamp end up looking like this lamp in the lower photo? Notice this example has a wrong harp mounted at the bottom of the socket. There is an incorrect turn button switch, with an older brass 1930s socket on this lamp. The patina of the older socket is a nice touch. Also notice that a small rounded contemporary bulb is used for adequate light instead of a tall Edison type. The helmet is sitting about right for a tall, pear shaped, original Edison bulb. It also has a modern plastic cord rather than a reproduction cloth wrapped cord. It has a correct shaped plug . I think to get the helmet on this lamp to sit lower, as shown in the period WW I brochure, you need a four inch, screw on, harp. Unfortunately, just about any size of the original 1920s harps are a hard find. Most would want the helmet positioned about an inch above the bulb. Remember, those old Edison bulbs were larger (Taller) than our modern bulbs. With Edison bulbs, there are small and tall types. Here is one lamp with a correct harp, but no helmet is shown in the lower photo, its top is cut off from view. I know of no intact, single socket lamp that shows the helmet attachment other than the period WW I magazines and jobber catalog drawings. The third example is a true trench art compiled lamp that is similar in appearance to a Victory lamp. The socket has a turn switch with a harp positioned below the socket. The shell appears to be a 75mm example, but the base is different. The shell body is painted, and has a different sort of cone. The base may be wood or bakelite. Notice this helmet sits slightly higher showing the lower portion of the bulb. It is difficult to tell from the photo, but the helmet sits level with the top of the socket or possibly one inch above the top of the light bulb socket on this trench art specimen. The Edison, Westinghouse, or GEM tall, pear shaped bulbs in their reproduction form would look nice in a single socket lamp. The harp size sort of dictates the bulb shape/size. See this link for some views of original bulbs. SOURCE Wayback machine Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20180929010551/http://bulbs.2yr.net/edison-gem-bulb.php The primary reference for original bulb shapes is here: SOURCE: https://bulbs.2yr.net/edison-gem-bulb.php The characteristics of the bulb: its shape, size, filament arrangement, and the bulb’s glow when turned on all add to the glamor of the lamp. The type of reproduction bulb used is important. Original intact working vintage bulbs are too rare and expensive for every day use. They are only for display, collecting, or to turn on only to show its quality of glow and light output to someone who has never seen an Edison bulb lighted. If you need more pictures I have different kinds of original bulbs (not reproductions) on my short Akro Agate and Houzex slag glass display only lamps. Provided below is an original tall, pear shaped, Edison bulb. SOURCE: Wayback machine Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20180929010551/http://bulbs.2yr.net/edison-gem-bulb.php http://bulbs.2yr.net/edison-gem-bulb.php edison-gem-bulb I guess we need a review of light bulbs. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 26, 2022 Author Share Posted October 26, 2022 SRF page 5 The History of the light bulb. #61 post by 72 usmc Thu May 03 2018 1:44 am The History of the light bulb. This is a great reference by the Edison Tech center: Incandescent Lamps: The most profound invention since man-made fire. History of the Incandescent Light (1802 - Today) Your lamp will glow a golden glow with a reproduction Edison bulb. This reference has some great photographs of bulbs and videos showing the light glow and output of vintage light bulbs. This is a source the reader will want to view. SOURCE: http://edisontechcenter.org/incandescent.html The Wayback Machine Archive link is: https://web.archive.org/web/20190216130216/http://edisontechcenter.org/incandescent.html Sources of Reproduction light bulbs Here is some information about reproduction light bulbs that are sold on the low price side. Remember, you get what you pay for. Do you desire a $2-$3 reproduction or a $20-30 nice correct reproduction? This first source is listed for reference, but I do not like these (nostalgicbulbs.com): Nostalgicbulbs SOURCE: https://www.nostalgicbulbs.com/collections/nostalgic-edison Better is (1000bulbs.com). 1000bulbs.com has some low end and middle of the road priced reproduction Victorian light bulbs. SOURCE: https://www.1000bulbs.com/fil/categories/vintage-light-bulbs PLT is Precision Lighting and Transformers Company (PLT) which is a British made product. These are very nice reproduction bulbs with a correct look and glow. They are sold by 1000bulbs and others. I added PLT for Rapidrob and others. These are RECOMMENDED. Here are some inexpensive bulbs that actually look fair: Great look. BEST. https://www.1000bulbs.com/product/171952/PLT-40007.html see photo 1 best PLT example. 2) This form is only ok, it has an odd ball rounded top. https://www.1000bulbs.com/fil/categories/edison-bulbs 3) This type is only ok, it has an odd ball rounded top. https://www.1000bulbs.com/fil/categories/edison-bulbs There are many other types offered, 1000bulbs is a nice company that ships fast. The bulb shown in example 1 above is pretty good quality and it is very reasonably priced. The vintage light store uses them in their display lamps because they are inexpensive. In the lower photo, I use PLT bulbs in my lamp. I used the small round Edison types, not the 5/1/4 inch tall Edisons that use a six inch harp. If you use a four inch harp you need the smaller bulbs. I believe a six inch harp is somewhat standard on a small vintage night stand lamp. A taller living room lamp generally has a tall ten or twelve inch harp that is attached at the base of the socket (not a screw-on) to hold/support a large heavy wire and cloth shade. With a cloth shade to hide the shape and glow of an expensive reproduction bulb, what is the point? It is better just to use a normal light bulb that provides a higher light output. View some WW II period table lamps. I generally use vintage collector bulbs on display only lamps or reproduction bulbs where the bulb is visible on light fixture. However for reading or working light, I use the 1920s-30s floor lamps with their 300 watt Mogul bulbs. PLT small Edison bulbs in my lamp Top of the Line: FerroWatt Reproduction Light bulbs. The Rejuvenation Company has many vintage, reproduction, high quality bulbs with a correct Edison, tear drop top and proper looking filaments. These Ferro bulbs glow like originals. They are very original looking in appearance and the type of glow the bulb produces. Always avoid energy saving LED garbage! On a vintage lamp this is like fixing a repair with bubble gum. It is always best to obtain HIGH QUALITY REPRODUCTIONS. Rejuvenation offers both cheep light bulbs and excellent, expensive light bulbs, so use some caution when selecting bulbs. Their better grades are nice and are not found in local hardware stores. However, Rejuvenation also offerers the Chinese made junk that is found in most local stores. These the reader wants to avoid or purchase at the local store. Why pay shipping on some bulb you can obtain at the local store. I have not ordered a bulb from them in the last 5 years. The ones I list are the better reproductions and most are Ferro Watt brand bulbs. These will not glow as strong as a modern bulb, a 40watt vintage Edison bulb is like 15watts in a normal bulb. It has a totally different mood, glow, and feel. They are fantastic for a walk into the past. You can see the filaments glow like candles. And the filament pattern is correct for a vintage bulb. The best is the Ferro bulb reproduction, it is a museum quality reproduction. I have added some European sources for the Ferrowatt bulbs. In USA best place is REJUVENTION for reproduction quality light bulbs. It is a trusted company with a long standing. Below I am providing some links to some nice light bulbs that rejuvenation offers. https://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/categories/lighting/light-bulbs?cm_type=gnav https://www.rejuvenation.com/search?from=pip&q=40w-1890-bulb For each listing the photo is shown below the description and cost source. https://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/products/40w-standard-base-vintage-quad-loop-filament-bulb https://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/products/40w-quad-loop-bulb https://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/products/40w-squirrel-cage-bulb https://www.rejuvenation.com/catalog/products/40w-standard-base-vintage-spiral-filament-bulb These bulbs show above are the Best of the Best, Museum and historical National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) quality. QUOTE: “The most well-known antique light bulb company in the world is Ferrowatt. Ferrowatt began in Vienna, Austria in the late 19th century; its name was originally “Watt AG.” The company was successful from its beginning through the 1930’s, and it rivaled large manufacturers like OSRAM and Philips.” END OF QUOTE SOURCE: https://www.aamsco.com/ferrowatt/ Ferrowatt’s historic lamps are just the right finishing touch of authenticity to Victorian and Art Nouveau fixtures. Ideal for museums, historic preservation projects, traditional hotels, period homes and theaters. Below are some more sources where the reader can select by filament pattern or shape. These are long lasting bulbs. Mine have been in use for ten years. Updated SOURCEs: https://www.aamsco.com/light-bulbs/antique-light-bulbs/ https://www.lightbulbs.com/brand/ferrowatt-antique-light-bulbs/?main_cat_num=64 https://www.lampco.co.uk/collections/ferrowatt source & catalog 2018 outdated catalog styles Kept for reference only https://www.ferrowatt.com/light-bulbs/ no longer valid AVOID THE LEDs. Do you want history, or energy saving? If energy saving is the answer, get the nasty LEDs at Menards or Walmart. It is like having a 1963 Chevy with 12,000 original miles and original paint and then you decide to brush paint it---“some things just ain't right.” #62 Post by Rapidrob Thu May 03 2018 10:13 am Rapidrob went with a less expensive alternative. He states, “Ebay has Carbon Filament Bulbs with free shipping for much less. There all made in the same place these days.” Reply #63 Post by 72 usmc Thu May 03 2018 12:34 pm There are two general kinds of recent vintage reproduction bulbs: almost real, identical hand made reproductions and the somewhat fake Chinese machine made ones. Some bulbs are more decorative and have a total different filament pattern, bulb shape, and light tone & output: they are very unlike any old vintage bulb. But some look nice for those that do not want a historic bulb with its low light output. So, if the correct color/glow, filament pattern, and bulb shape are important, then you are a lighting nut. It just depends on how original a look you need or want. Does the lamp owner want a historically accurate look, or a more mood/modern decorative look? There are a variety of different grades of reproduction bulbs, most do not have a true Edison tip and they have a slightly different light source/glow. If you have an original bulb in your collection and actually see how they glow; not all reproductions are made the same. Few actually mimic the low, golden glow of a real Edison vintage bulb. The LED version is the worst. Shown below are less expensive examples commonly found at stores and eBay. The top shape to the bulb gives them away as less expensive alternatives. These are tungsten bulbs not LED garbage. The high quality bulb is made with thicker glass and a better base, They look like the older bulbs that were made in the U. S. prior to all the Chinese and Mexican produced junk. Here is a middle priced example that would fit most peoples needs ($4-6 bucks). Now, see the lower example. This light bulb is close to an original and not bad. It avoids the silly dimple top. Also see my recommended 1000bulbs company items that I have added in the above post. Rejuvenation is known for their quality stuff, especially lights and light fixtures, but they cost $200-600 or more per light. However, I have a few of their reproduction fixtures mixed in with our originals in the 1926 house--both are quality. Rejuvenation reproduces the old turn of the century quality. A great light company for those willing to pay for high end stuff. Of late they are going toward New Century Modern 1950s stuff and less with gas and 1920s early electric items. Rejuvenation as well as others that I have not discussed are interesting companies if you cannot find original lighting for restoration needs. I have used their bulbs for 16 years in two rooms for the original ceiling lights and table lamps. They still work, but like originals, they do not give off a good light like a modern bulb. They provide a vintage glow that one just has to experience to know what I am talking about. It's a different light. Below is another example of a more expensive bulb. These have thicker glass and the true Edison tip with a better base and solder job. Some are made in U. S. others are not. The Victorian Bulb #64 Post by 72 usmc Thu May 03 2018 1:12 pm Here are “Made in USA” reproduction Edison bulbs with correct dim light and glow, just a tad better than candles. These have lasted in my ceiling fixtures for 16 years. See the photo of my original ceramic ceiling fixture found in our 1926 Craftsman house. My wife hates the bare bulb look, but back in the 20s it was a status symbol to have electric lights. You showed off your bulbs-hence fixtures had open bulbs that were not hid by shades. From a functional stand point with these old 1920s bulbs, a shade just decreased the amount of light. So shades were not used in order to provide more light; but it was also a show of economic status. The old bulbs certainly provide a nice low glow, but not much functional light for old eyes in comparison to modern 100w bulbs. But, they must have been a great improvement over candles or sooty oil or gas lamps. The house has the 1920s push button on/off switches. However, notice my ceiling fixtures have pull chains if a house did not have wall switches. Ours was built 1926, so by then it was common in the United States to have electrification built into the house when it was built. It had wall switches and a few plug in outlets for floor lamps. These bulbs are Old Rejuvenation stock. See pictures of the box and the bulb shown below. I got a case full (20 bulbs) at 10 bucks a bulb back in the day when we were restoring our house. I had no idea they would last so long. This brand was quality. Inside they have thicker wires and solder, thicker glass, and the bottom, brass screw-on portion is a heavier brass with a nice large contact spot for the socket. See the close up photo at the bottom. This brand of reproduction bulb is no longer offered by Rejuvenation. See PLT as second choice. Over the years the inside of the reproduction bulb has darkened due to the burn of the bulb-they do get hot like old bulbs. You are not going to gab onto one unless you favor burning your fingers. If you do have original Edison bulbs that still function; never light them with normal house current, use a rheostat, a variable resistor, so the power is not so high that it burns out an original bulb. This is also needed if you burn the old 1920s Christmas bulbs on a vintage looking tree where the old pointed lights are used. Prior to WW II in the early 1920s dad’s farm house had a Christmas tree where these lights were hooked up to a battery. The house did not have electricity. t SOURCE: https://goldenglow.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Early-Propp-Light-Set.jpg Never use such rare, intact, Edison bulbs for everyday lighting use. Such rare, intact bulbs are just to show people what they look like when lite. An on/off thing for display. Some collectors never actually light any of their original collectable bulbs. Use a reproduction bulb for normal use. They can handle modern current and last a long time without the use of a rheostat. Our neighbor actually has two original Edison bulbs in his closets that still work. They are rarely turned on. It is a 1931 house. I get those two bulbs when the kids decide to sell the house. They have lived in the house since WW II. My Victorian Bulbs. #65 post by 72 usmc Fri May 04 2018 1:27 am Bulbrite bulbs are in USA, but I have never used these and do not know if they are imported or made in the U. S. I do not know their type of glow or quality. These are sold on lightbulbs.com. Example photos show a rather nice bulb, but the filament pattern is wrong. I cannot judge its quality. SOURCE: https://www.lightbulbs.com/category/edison-style-antique-light-bulbs/?filter_manufacturer=Bulbrite And another Bulbrite Reproduction is here; https://www.bulbs.com/product/NOS60-VICTOR?RefId=24 What to Consider So the attributes to consider when purchasing a reproduction bulb are: the glass shape and glass thickness, proper Edison tip, thick wires and filaments with heavy solder on the inside, proper filament pattern for a vintage bulb, a nice heavy brass base with a thick contact point at the bottom, and the correct size, shape, and base. Then the correct glow and light output. So ends the discussion on BULBS, unless someone else wants to enlighten me. Next will be two sections some readers may not be interested in reading. I will review the Gas and the Oil lamp versions of the Victory Lamp. These are rarely seen. No complete intact, non modified versions have been documented on the web. The few that I have seen are incomplete missing most of the upper parts or are conversions to electric use. A discussion of the gas and then the oil version will be presented on page 5 and 6. If the reader’s interest is primarily the electric Victory lamp please go to page 7. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Snead VICTORY Gas Lamp #52 Post by 72 usmc Wed Apr 25, 2018 8:36 pm Next I provide a general background information about 20th century early lighting and gas lamps that was written in 1902. I found this a fantastic book. The Art of Illumination by Louis Bell PH.D , 1902, McGraw Publishing Company, NY ----source for the Welsbach Burner, pp. 85-89. https://archive.org/details/artillumination01bellgoog https://books.google.com/books?id=T3Y1AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA204&source=gbs_selected_pages&cad=2#v=onepage&q&f=false A lamp first reported on page 2. Here is a Snead Gas Lamp with a tall harp on the outside of the glass chimney, this must have held the shade if it did not utilize a glass shade like seen in the many examples. This harp appears to slide over the burner assembly. It may have been inside the glass chimney, but I do not think so? I would sure like to see a complete Snead gas & oil version intact. No pictures have been located. As dirty as gas and kerosene lamps get with soot, and how dirty the walls got from soot in the 1900 houses, it is no wonder the parchment shades did not last long from the heat and dirty flames. If the fire/wick is not adjusted to a correct height to avoid too much smoke in such a lamp, they really can smoke and put out streams of soot. Gas lamp photos from page 2 shown above The Snead gas lamp specifications listed on their referenced specifications page are as follows: QUOTE: “...6 free feet of fabric covered rubber gas tubing and brass gooseneck to fit on standard gas outlet. No. 71 Welsbach Burner and No. 196 Cap Mantle. No. 013 Air-O-Matic Chimney and No. 109 Micalite shade protector.” END OF QUOTE SOURCE: specification chart, http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/morgan-momentos-world-war-i-victory-lamp-specifications/ Seen in the lower pictures is the Welsbach Burner used on a Snead Lamp. This is the brass burner head. This bottom picture shows the entire Welsbach assembly. It shows the No. 196 Cap Mantle sacks assembly and the No. 013 glass Air-O-Matic chimney attached to the brass lower burner head. Terrance Marsh Lantern Gallery #53 Post by 72 usmc » Wed Apr 25, 2018 9:35 pm Here is a 1915-1920s generalized example of the gas lamp technology and how the gas lamp looked. By the 1920s rural city electrification was on the start. By the 1930s most U. S. cities had electricity. At that time most small towns, rural farms, and forested areas did not. In some parts of northern Wisconsin, farms and cabins did not get electrical power till the mid 1950s. Even today wind from heavy rain storms still knock out the power in many forested counties. Many then rely on a lantern for temporary light. Here are some views of random examples of gas lamps. The source of gas can be from a copper gas line, liquid white gas, or propane. Gas Lamps were used in larger cities that had underground gas utilities. Gas lamps were generally replaced as soon as a residence was converted to electrical power. But the gas lantern was a common sight in most rural areas (town and villages) that did not have electricity well into the 1950s. Many residences and farms used candles, oil/kerosene lamps, or a white gas pumped pressure lamps due to the lack of underground natural gas lines. As I write this, most rural homes still have emergency Coleman gas lanterns in the basement or outbuildings for hunting or camping trips and when the power fails. The Terrance Marsh Lantern Gallery provides extensive references on American gas pressure lanterns, lamps, stoves and heaters. This provides a massive on-line data base, more than you will want to print out. SOURCE: https://terry-marsh.com The complete index is found here: https://terry-marsh.com/index/ Here are some additional brief references about history of lighting: 1)A Brief History of Lighting by David DiLaura. in Optics and Photonics News, volume 19, Issue 9, pp. 22-28 (2008). SOURCE: https://www.optica-opn.org/home/articles/volume_19/issue_9/features/a_brief_history_of_lighting/ The Wayback Machine Archive of the magazine article; A Brief History of Lighting by David DiLaura. https://web.archive.org/web/20170504062223/http://www.osa-opn.org/home/articles/volume_19/issue_9/features/a_brief_history_of_lighting/ 2) Lighting in the Victorian Home by Jonathan Taylor. This article is reproduced from The Building Conservation Directory, 2000. SOURCE: https://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/lighting/lighting.htm The Wayback Machine Archive of the article, Lighting in the Victorian Home by Jonathan Taylor SOURCE: https://web.archive.org/web/20190202024703/http://www.buildingconservation.com/articles/lighting/lighting.htm 3) Rural Life Before Electricity, Living Without Electricity Gas lamps and lanterns were used in rural areas of Wisconsin. While safer than candle lanterns of the American Civil War era, gas or oil lamps did provided a brighter flame, but fire was always a hazard with a kerosene or gas lamp. This is an interesting perspective of personal accounts from the Marathon County, Wisconsin Historical Society. Most do not remember that the Rural Electrification Bill was signed as late as September 1944 in America. SOURCE: https://www.marathoncountyhistory.org/rural-electrification/BeforeElectricity 4) Power from the people: Rural Electrification brought more than lights. By Harold D. Wallace Jr., February 12, 2016 https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/rural-electrification 5) And I save the best for the last. For those that love to read. This Master’s thesis has value in its list of academic references, and chapters two and three which are brief, but very good overviews of lighting technology. They are a delight to read. See Chapter II, A HISTORY OF LIGHTING FUELS AND LIGHTING TECHNOLOGIES, pp. 8-41 and Chapter III, LIGHT FIXTURES IN THE HOME: 1610 to 1930, pp. 42-158. The appendices are also a strong point for background information. The main concern of proper museum lighting and its challenges to minimize photochemical damage while still creating an authentic period setting in a museum will bore most to death unless you are a historical archaeologist. For a general reader, the MA’s value is found in Chapters II and III. Below is the source and an abstract follows. 5) ILLUMINATING THE PAST: ARTIFICIAL LIGHTING IN AMERICA (1610-1930) AND A GUIDE TO LIGHTING HISTORIC HOUSE MUSEUMS, MA Thesis by DEEPANNITA GHOSH 2004 SOURCE: https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/ghosh_deepannita_200405_mhp.pdf (Under the Direction of MARK E. REINBERGER) Here is the ABSTRACT with my underlining. QUOTE “Today, with a wide array of resources available, we are able to manipulate artificial light to suit our physical and psychological needs. This belies the lighting conditions of the past when houses were lit only by a few candles or oil lamps. This thesis attempts to provide an understanding of artificial lighting in domestic interiors in America from 1610-1930 in terms of the fuels used, the evolving technologies and spatial relations between the users, fixtures and architectural elements, and the various aesthetic movements that influenced the style of lighting. It also discusses and analyzes the challenges of lighting historic house museums, where light has to satisfy the conflicting criteria of aiding the viewing of the historic interiors and art objects, minimizing photochemical damage and creating an authentic period setting. Based on these issues, a set of guidelines has been provided as an aid to lighting historic house museums.” END OF QUOTE SOURCE AGAIN: https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/ghosh_deepannita_200405_mhp.pdf The Welsbach Burner #67 Post by 72 usmc Mon May 07 2018 1:27 am So if you are lucky enough to find a gas Snead original Victory lamp that was not totally destroyed and altered beyond restoration, then you will need a Welsbach burner. Due to their common usage on many different gas lights, both inverted ceiling lights and upright lamps, these burners are actually not that hard to find. If you are lucky you may find a NOS (new old stock) assembly in its original box and packaging on eBay, at antique stores, or at flee markets. Generally, used ones are what you find available and most likely these will be missing the upright mantle and glass chimney and require some cleaning and restoration. The correct upright Welsbach burner assembly looks like this: The next set of photos show a complete set of an inverted Welsbach burner. Unfortunately, the example shown below is for a gas ceiling light and not a Snead upright lamp. But it provides a picture of a new Welsbach Burner. The NOS source is eBay and the pictures are so fantastic from a teaching perspective that I am reproducing them here so they remain as historical record on the forum. It is somewhat rare to find a new old stock example. It will cost you more than a $100. The link to the source is now long gone (originally posted in 2018), but all photos are from the seller "machine age” and originate from the original listing. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Patent-1912-We ... SwKGpa33oD (dead link due to age). The NOS set. The original box. #68 Post by 72 usmc Mon May 07, 2018 1:31 am Here is the Gas Mantle and the original box for an inverted set. An Inverted glass chimney. Note this is different from the Air-O-Matic No. 013 glass chimney on a Snead gas Lamp shown below. #69 Post by 72 usmc Mon May 07, 2018 1:40 am The Welsbach burner close up photos note its inverted position; this is a ceiling kit shown below: #70 Post by 72 usmc » Mon May 07, 2018 1:58 am Generally the restorer will find a used example and they are fine for a restoration. These are vintage brass, "Welsbach" gas burners with harp and mica shade. I believe these to be No. 109 mica shade protectors. Marked " Patented March 15, 1897 - Welsbach System Light Co". The source of these fine photos is grandmailean. Here is a link, but photos will be gone soon, hence they are posted below to document this example for people to see. SOURCE: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Vtg-Br ... SwdjdaJrPT #71 Post by 72 usmc Mon May 07 2018 2:07 am Here are some examples of NOS factory boxed Welsbach upright gas mantles used on a Snead Victory gas Lamp. Photos grabbed from on line examples. #72 Post by 72 usmc » Mon May 07, 2018 2:29 am I have not had much luck on finding information about the glass chimney for Walsbach gas lamp burner. There are lots of types for oil lamps, but little information on the No. 1013 Air-O Matic glass chimney as seen in this photo: I am going to see if there existed both glass and mica shades. Is the mica shade and glass chimney actually the same part? The only photos of a Snead gas version Lamp is shown on page 6 (here are two examples: one missing parts & one that was electrified). The first more complete example is shown above and has the upright, brass Welsback burner, but it is missing the other parts, the mantle, chimney, and shade. I found only two photos of this lamp and none showed the details close up. I am going to look in some of my original hardware store catalogs to see if these Welsback kits are shown. Oddly, I did not find any in my 1930s catalogs. I guess by the 1930s most of the oil and gas lamps were tossed in the junk pile or farm dump. #74 Post by 72 usmc Mon May 07 2018 9:29 am Here is a neat reference by Pressure Lamps International: A Brief History of the Incandescent Mantle Pressure Lamp by AW Moore, 1998 The source is the Wayback Machine Archive so it is reproduced as a quote here so it stays on the forum as a reference. SOURCE : https://web.archive.org/web/20050703081357/http://homepage.ntlworld.com/munwai/history.htm QUOTE “Pressure Lamps International A Brief History of the Incandescent Mantle Pressure Lamp ©AWMoore 1998 The history of the pressure lamp is a fascinating story of the will to experiment through trial, error, and intuitive design in a struggle to win over the darkness of night to the convenience of light. When our hominid ancestors began to walk upright some three and a half million years ago, their evolutionary advantage over other species was limited to the daylight hours, and without the benefit of keen night vision, they must have been just as much at risk in the dark of night, when prey became predator. Once fire was mastered, the night began to lose its terrors, and when today we share with friends the comfort of a campfire on some remote outback vacation, or even on the resort beach or in the backyard, it isn't hard to visualise a similar scene all those thousands of years ago. For centuries, the light of an open flame was the best we could do, and it wasn't until the eighteenth century industrial revolution in Europe and its imperative need for better lighting in order to extend the length of the working day that engineers and scientists began to seriously look at the technology of light . Many styles of oil lamps were in use, and it was known that small adjustments to the shape and length of a glass tube placed around the flame could alter the degree and quality of light emitted. Another was of producing a superior flame was to force oil to the burner, rather than to rely on capilliary action. One of the earliest pressure lamps preceded the mantle by almost a century, and there is a vague similarity in the fount section for George Alcock's specification of 1806, patent number 2903, to some 20th Century lamps. Alcock's improvement is shown in the patent drawing fueling an Argand Lamp, supplying fuel oil under pressure produced by "air condensed into the upper part of its cavity by means of the syringe." The syringe, or pump, is entirely similar to the pumps on modern pressure lamps. Ami Argand, born in Switzerland in 1755 but later to live in London, took out a patent for a circular-wick lamp in 1784. In this type of lamp, air is passed up the inside of the annular flame as well as around the outside, so giving a more complete oxidation of the burning oil. As lamps became more efficient, so it was apparent that the fuel oil available was not really of adequate quality. From the early nineteenth century, scientists and innovators had been experimenting with shapes of burners, fuels, wick materials and every other parameter of the flame. It was soon realised that coal gas was the best and cleanest fuel, but because of it's nature, gas was more suited to use in large towns, or in wealthy homes, and on fixed equipment. Some sources state that the very first portable lamp to use a mechanism to develop pressure to force fuel oil into the burner was invented by Houghton in 1836. There is other evidence that the UK patent was granted to "some foreigner abroad", who was Franchot from Paris. (UK Patent 7265, 1836) The lamp had a circular wick, and used a piston driven by a spring to force fuel upwards. This was the "Moderator lamp". A forerunner of the Moderator was the clockwork driven lamp of B.G. Carcel, invented in 1798. This also had a circular wick, and was portable. In a completely different discipline, in 1828 the Swedish chemist Johan Berzelius was able to separate the oxide of thorium from one of the element's salts, although he had no idea of the ultimate widespread use to which his discovery would be put. Several years later, In 1835, William Fox Talbot recorded another crucial discovery, when he found that blotting paper impregnated with calcium chloride left a white ash with a peculiar bright after-glow when burnt. The first real mantle was still fifty years away, and many steps were still to be made before either of these discoveries was applied successfully. Not least, there was a need for a clean and economical fuel oil. In the search for better fuels, it was discovered that the sticky oils associated with coal seams could be altered, and separated into different fractions, some of which made excellent lamp fuel. Paraffin (kerosene) was discovered in 1830 by Reichenback and Christison, working independently of one another. The first plant to produce paraffin fuel oil for lamps was started in 1848 in Derbyshire, England, and the process was patented by Dr James Young two years later. By 1858 Bissell and Drake were searching for oil in North America, and in August 1859, Drake's 69 feet deep well filled up with oil, starting a rush to buy land in the Oil Creek area. Young's oil came from shale, whereas Drake's was naturally occurring oil. Although Lewes had previously made a platinum iridium mantle, it's high cost and variable reliability meant that it was not a commercial success, and Clamond was probably the first man to design a working mantle, in 1881. He failed, though, to overcome the technical and chemical problems associated with high temperature, and he still could not achieve clean combustion. However, Clamond demonstrated his mantle at London's Crystal Palace exhibition in 1883, and gained a good response. Robert Bunsen was among the first to fully understand the process of efficient combustion, and in order to get the most energy out of the fuel, he had already created a variable air limiter so that a burner could be properly adjusted to burn a variety of gaseous fuels. He won lasting fame for the simple laboratory device, the Bunsen Burner, which has been made in countless numbers since its invention. One of Bunsen's students, Carl Auer von Welsbach, was aware that certain chemical substances would emit an incandescent light when heated, and he understood that the light given by an open flame wick lamp could be greatly enhanced by allowing it to play upon a specially prepared silk mantle. His invention of the first durable working mantle in 1885 was to revolutionise the industrial and domestic lighting scene. By 1893 the mantle was established as a viable device in its own right. Like many pioneers, von Welsbach was a little ahead of his time, and it was several years before the first successful commercial mantle was available in any quantity. Without efficient combustion, the carbon particles which lessened the effectiveness of open flame lamps would soon clog up and spoil the mantle. Von Welsbach's estimate of Thoria and Ceria in a 99 to 1 ratio was remarkably accurate, and those proportions remained standard for many years for all kinds of mantles. The two main uses for Thoria are in stark contrast to each other, they are lamp mantles and nuclear breeder reactors! All important as the mantle was, it would not perform without an efficient fuel, Europe and North America were both fertile grounds for new ideas and techniques. Among those working on lighting in America were Isaiah Jennings and John Summerfield Hull. Between them, they have extensive patents on file for distilled lamp fluids and volatile fluid lamp improvements, and one of their lamps is still on display in the Henry Ford museum. It is not often we hear from decendants of the lighting pioneers, but Michael Hull has supplied information about his great grandfather that is given in Appendix 1. Quality fuel, efficient combustion, and the mantle at last came together to produce the worlds brightest portable oil lamp. In 1895, Mueller or (Moeller) took out a patent on the ERA lamp, forerunner of the Famos, Veritas, and Aladdin family of lamps. All that remained was to add pressure to the system to further improve efficiency of combustion. In the same year, 1895, a pressurised mantle lamp was designed, using a rubber bulb to provide air to a pressurised container containing Benzoline, which then burned below an upright mantle. This lamp is described by Ramsey (1968) but no details of it's inventor are given. However, it is known that Meyenberg took out a patent in the same year for a pressure lamp using a mantle. Others were experimenting with mantles burning a fuel and air mixture under pressure, but Meyenberg is probably the name we should associate with the first true pressure lamp incorporating a mantle. UK Patent 23836 dated 12th December 1895, granted for Meyenberg, Wendorf and Henlein, on the subject of vapourlamps, describes a casing containing a ball with compressd air, and a lamp with two chambers, one containing paraffin, the other benzoline. A non-return valve was fitted for inflating the ball within the casing. It seems likely that Meyenberg was working from Germany. The Swedish company, Aktiebolaget Aladin produced a pressurised mantle lamp in 1907, which used a preheating device to start up the lamp, then relied upon the heat of the mantle to evaporate fuel oil in the riser tube. This principle has been with us ever since, and in Europe, even today, Swedish names such as Primus and Optimus are synonymous with good quality pressure lamps and stoves. In Berlin, Max Graetz was working on a design of kerosene lantern which was to be marketed very successfully in Europe by his company, Ehrich and Graetz, under the Petromax trade name. All this was happening in Europe, but at the same time, other pioneers were developing their own ideas in North America. Arthur Kitson designed and built a pressure driven vapour burning lamp in the mid 1890s, but did not take out his US patent until 1898. The Kitson lamp, probably the best known from that period in Europe and the USA also incorporated features which can be traced onwards to the modern kerosene and petrol lamps in use today. Amongst the other lighting pioneers who patented their ideas were A.J. English (1899) V.H. Slinack (1899) F.M. Blackman (1899) and W.H. Irby (1900), whose lamp remained in production for about 20 years, made by the company Irby and Gilliland in Tennessee. Right on the turn of the century, 30 year old William Coleman was selling typewriters in Alabama, when he came across the Irby and Gilliland's "Efficient Lamp". Coleman was completely fascinated by this product, and gave up the typwriter business in favour of selling the lamp. He went on to form his own company, the Hydro-Carbon Light Company, later to become the Coleman Lamp Company. Design and development proceeded, from Quick-Lite to Instant-Lite lamps and lanterns burning petroleum, then to paraffin or kerosene versions. Glass and fabric were used for fancy shades, and mica for the hardworking outdoor lanterns. A year or two ahead of William Coleman, Hans Hanson was making light generating appliances in Minnesota as early as 1896. Within ten years Hanson's American Gas Light Co. was producing high quality lamps for home and farm use. While North American development concentrated on petroleum as a fuel, Europe was moving away from the more volatile oils to kerosene, or paraffin, probably a reflection on the far greater population density, and its greater consequential risk in the event of fire. Liquid paraffin is not flammable, and a lighted match dropped into a bowl of paraffin will be extinguished. Serious accidents with paraffin were rare, so it became the preferred fuel. By the 1920s the standard design for a table lamp was a bowl shaped fount, pressurised by air from either a built-in or a separate pump. a fuel riser, valve, generator to vaporise the fuel, and a burner above one or two inverted mantles. All the major manufacturers produced something along these lines, Tilley, Coleman, AGM, Evening Star, Petromax, and Primus among them, and there really is not much to choose between any of their models. One obvious application where bright light was need was in lighthouses, and in the 1920s pressurised oil burning mantle lamps were in use in lighthouses everywhere. Improvements in technology meant that by now every manufacturer had incorporated a fine needle inside the vaporiser to clean the injector tip, and either a spirit holder or "roarer" to start paraffin lamps, and either a small spirit cup or an "instant light facility" to start petroleum lamps. The circular spiral vaporiser surrounding an inverted mantle was designed in 1931 by W.B. Engh, and became the standard design for manufacturers such as Primus, Optimus and Petromax, and later by Coleman. Initially, Coleman's method of achieving good evaporation of fuel oil was to use twin mantles either side of a vertical generator, virtually doubling the heat input into the oil and eliminating the shadow of the generator. Tilley's method of getting good heat transfer was to use a generator passing right through the mantle, this also gave shadow free light. This method has now been in use for over 70 years, and is still unchanged in the modern Vapalux lantern and Tilley stormlight. Interestingly, the largest and most prolific supplier of wick lamps in the UK was Falk Stadelmann & Co, a company which entered the Pressure lamp market using the established Veritas brand name, but which never really managed to compete successfully with the pressure specialists such as Tilley and Coleman. These last two companies, from humble beginnings at the turn of the century, have made countless thousands of lamps and lanterns which have been used all over the world. They still make lanterns, and will probably continue to do so well into the next millennium. Is it any wonder that collectors all over the world love the sound and smell of the pressure lamp? There is a wealth of history in the yellow glow, and the vision and foresight of the early lighting pioneers lives on in the light given out by the descendants of their first inventions. References Anon (1980) A Brief History of the Origin and use of Coleman Lamps and Lanterns. The Coleman Company Inc. Wichita USA Claypole J. (1996) The Incandescent Mantle: Hesitant and Complex Beginnings The Midnight Oil Issue 23, Spring 1996 Courter J.W. (1997) Aladdin, The magic Name in Lamps J. W. Courter, Kevil, Kentucky USA Derry and Williams (1960) A short history of technology. Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK Ebendorf H. (1982) Gas from Gasoline. The Coleman Company Inc. Wichita USA Hobson A. (1997) Lanterns That Lit Our World: Book 2 Golden Hill Press. New York Hull, Michael (2000) Personal communication Meadows C.A. (1995) Discovering Oil Lamps Shire Publications Ltd. Princes Risborough, UK Ramsey A.R.J. (1968) The Origin and Development of the Incandescent Pressure Lamp. The Newcomen Society Transactions 1968-69 XLI The Coleman Company (1983) A Brief History of the American Gas Machine Co. The Coleman Lite, No 6 August 1983 Tucker C.R and Ebendorf H. (1996) Coleman Collectors Guide. Coleman Museum, Wichita,USA Valor International (1976) Oil Lamps and Fittings. Reprint of Catalogue No 685, September 1933 Quest Publications, Oxford, UK I am also grateful for information provided by personal communication from Herb Ebendorf, Coleman Historian in Wichita, USA, Anton Kaim in Rotterdam, Netherlands, and Ara Kebapcioglu in Paris. Essential Books for Collectors: Tony Hobson's "Lanterns That Lit Our World" - book two. Golden Hill Press, Spencertown, New York 12165. Published in 1997, this book contains a section on the most productive Pressue Lamp manufacturers in North America, including Coleman, AGM, Akron, Best, Acorn and others. Tony Hobson: Lanterns that lit our world 2 Carl Tucker and Herb Ebendorf - "Coleman Collectors Guide 1903-1954" This book, published in 1996, describes the development of the Coleman Company, and lists virtually all of the lamps and lanterns manufactured up to 1954. Carl Tucker and Herb Ebendorf - Coleman Collector's Guid Jim Dick's "A History of Tilley Lamps." This very comprehensive guide chronicles the ever widening range of lamps and lanterns made by the Tilley Lamp Company. This is a brand new Australian publication which is being overseen in the UK by Tilley, so visit their web site at http://www.tilleylamp.co.uk Over a hundred pages of text, photographs and illustrations detailing lamps and lanterns designed and manufactured between 1920 and 2000.” END OF QUOTE #75 Post by 72 usmc » Mon May 07 2018 9:35 am Below are three more short historical references with two reproduced here as quotes so they stay as references just in case they disappear from the web. 1) Competition to Edison's Lamp SOURCE: https://americanhistory.si.edu/lighting/19thcent/comp19.htm QUOTE: “Competition to Edison's Lamp "If you want to succeed, get some enemies." (Edison, as quoted in the Ladies Home Journal, April 1898). Successful inventions spawn competition which, in turn, often stimulates new inventions. Edison's lighting system was no exception and competitors very quickly introduced similar products. Some copied what he had done; others used their own inventive talent to create new ideas and new devices. The competition provoked controversy and a great deal of activity. By 1891 there were over 1,300 incandescent lighting central stations in the United States with a capacity of approximately three million lamps. Towns and cities across the country competed with each other for the privilege of being the first in their area to gain access to the new technology. Gas Light "The Dream of a Gas Manufacturer," 1883 S.I. image #48,285C Developed in England in the 1790s, gas light technology spread quickly. In 1816 gas streetlights went into service in Baltimore, and by the time of Edison's 1879 lamp invention, gas lighting was a mature, well-established industry. The gas infrastructure was in place, franchises had been granted, and manufacturing facilities for both gas and equipment were in profitable operation. Perhaps as important, people had grown accustomed to the idea of lighting with gas. Edison consciously modeled his plans for an electric lighting system on the gas light technology. Instead of gas-making plants, he designed generators. Where pipes ran under the streets distributing gas to end users, he planned to place electrical "mains" (conductors) to carry current. Since people were able to have gas lamps in many rooms and control them individually, Edison intended his lamps to be capable of independent operation. Even before Edison demonstrated a working lamp, gas stocks began to fall in price. In late 1879 he and his men began making detailed cost studies of gas light in order to determine price goals that the electric light would have to meet. After the lamp invention, promotions for the Edison system duly reported deaths and injuries due to gas. Despite nightmares like the one depicted above, gas manufacturers responded to the challenge with two major advances. The first was better quality gas. The second was an incandescent mantle invented by Carl Auer von Welsbach of Austria (who later invented the first commercial metal filament light bulb). Both innovations resulted in more brighter, more efficient light. Gas proved a tough competitor since infrastructure already existed, whereas electric light could not be used until generating plants were built and wires were strung. Also, gas could be used for heating and cooking as well as light. In 1910, GE's William Coolidge invented a tungsten-filament lamp capable of giving 10 lumens per watt. That invention, combined with the growing level of electrification in the country effectively eliminated competition from gas lighting. Electric Light Swan experimental lamp S.I. neg. #2002-29339 Edison was neither the first nor the only person trying to invent an incandescent electric lamp. In the U.S., Moses Farmer, William Sawyer and Albon Man, and Hiram Maxim were all pursuing the goal, as were St. George Lane-Fox and Joseph Swan in England. Swan demonstrated a working lamp of the design seen to the left in several early 1879 lectures. But his lamp (like those of the other contenders) used a carbon rod of relatively low electrical resistance. It was practical only if used in series (where the current flowed successively through several lamps that would turn and off together) or if it was close to the power supply (so that the lead wires would be short). Swan had experimented with carbonized paper filaments for some years, however. Once he learned that a high resistance filament was needed, he quickly adapted it to his own lamps and established the Swan Electric Light Company. It should be noted that Swan had been granted several patents for various lamp features before Edison's breakthrough. Indeed Swan's patent position in England was strong enough that in mid-1882 a merger was arranged and the Edison & Swan United Company ("Ediswan") was formed. Hiram Maxim also quickly produced a lamp containing a high-resistance filament in 1880. One of the reasons Maxim was able to introduce a product so fast was that he had hired Ludwig Boehm (Edison's glassblower) away from Menlo Park earlier that year. Maxim soon moved on to other inventions (such as machine guns), but the United States Electric Lighting Company installed systems that used the Maxim lamp for several years. The company was purchased by George Westinghouse in 1888. The company Elihu Thomson and Edwin Houston established in 1880 to sell arc lamp systems became quite successful and diversified into other electrical markets. In 1886 they purchased the Sawyer & Man Electric Co. and began making incandescent lamps under the Sawyer-Man patents. By 1890, Edison, Thomson-Houston, and Westinghouse were the "Big 3" of the American lighting industry. In 1892, J. Pierpont Morgan engineered a merger between the Edison interests and Thomson-Houston. The resulting company was named General Electric. George Westinghouse's initial fame stemmed from his invention of an air-brake that vastly improved railroad safety. In the 1880s he too diversified into electrical equipment and then into electric lamps. At the time he bought U.S. Electric Lighting Co. and began making lamps, the company was being sued by Edison for patent infringement. In 1892 the courts decided in Edison's favor and forced Westinghouse to stop production. However, Westinghouse had obtained rights to the Sawyer-Man patents and quickly retooled to make non-infringing lamps based on those patents. He produced these "Stopper lamps" until Edison's patents expired in 1897. Meters Thomson voltmeter S.I. Image #79-9469.13 Critical to any electrical system is the ability to measure at any moment the flow of electricity (the current) and the force on it (voltage). These techniques were well known, and it was a relatively simple matter to design instruments that could deal with the relatively high flow in lighting circuits (like the Elihu Thomson voltmeter shown here). For a commercial enterprise, it was also important to know how much energy the customer was using. Edison designed a chemical meter in which a portion of the current being supplied caused metal to be deposited on an electrode. The electrode could then be weighed to give a measure of the energy consumed. Later electromagnetic meters registered watt-hours directly by measuring the product of voltage and current over time. AC Versus DC Tesla AC motor S.I. Image #79-94714 Both alternating and direct current had been used for arc lights, and both could be used for incandescent lamps. However, in the early 1880s motors could function effectively only on DC. There was an expectation that electricity could be stored in batteries during off-peak hours, and this was possible only with DC. Finally, there was evidence that at the same voltages AC was more dangerous than DC. All of this led Edison to prefer a DC system. An important advantage for AC became apparent with the invention of the transformer in 1883. This meant that the voltage from an AC generator could be efficiently increased for transmission and then decreased at the other end for use in the home or factory. (Electrical energy is proportional to voltage times current, so that boosting the voltage means that the same amount of energy can be transmitted with less current flow. Since heat produced in the line is a function of the current and the resistance, so with less current the loses are less.) For short lines (of a mile or so) this made little difference. But for long distances it would be critical. The Westinghouse and Thomson-Houston companies preferred AC, and their faith was justified when Nikola Tesla invented a practical AC motor in 1888 (an early example is shown in the picture). Additional Tesla polyphase patents made AC systems more efficient. These patents were used by Westinghouse at Niagara Falls in 1895. During the 1880s a sometimes fierce–and not always logical–battle was waged between proponents of AC and of DC. Edison himself became less involved as he devoted more time to his new laboratory at West Orange, New Jersey, after 1886, and as he became more involved with his iron-ore project. The Edison and Thomson-Houston companies merged in 1892 to form General Electric.” END OF QUOTE 2) Lamp History - Invention of Different Lighting Devices SOURCE: http://www.historyoflamps.com/lamp-history/ QUOTE “History of Gas Lamps - Who Invented Gas Lamp? Because oil lamps were not too effective in lightning of larger areas like streets and houses it was necessary to come up with a more appropriate solution. Many years before William Murdoch illuminated his house with the first gas lamp there were tries to make streets safer and more comfortable at night by using any kind of artificial light. In 1417, Mayor of London gave an order for citizens to put lights on the streets on the winter nights and Paris had a law since 1524 that all the houses that face the streets must have light in windows so people can see. But using coal gas for lightning didn’t came suddenly. Since 1667 it was known that coal gas is flammable. It took 140 years, Industrial Revolution and a man called William Murdoch for things to start. While working at the Soho Foundry, he experimented with different types of gas and found that coal gas (result of distillation of coal) is the most effective. Idea was to transport gas through pipe installations to the place of consumption and there lit in the gas lamps to be used for illumination. In 1792, he lit his house with coal gas which is considered as first commercial use of gas and gas lamps for illumination. After that, in 1798, he used gas to light the main building of the place he worked - Soho Foundry and 1802 lit the outside of the building in a public display of the gas light which was met with great astonishment by the local population. In Paris in 1801, Philip Lebon had used gas to lit his house. 1807 Pall Mall in London was the first street to be illuminated with gas lamps and 1820 Paris starts using gas lamps on the streets. Gas streetlights were placed on the posts and had to be lit every evening and put out every morning. That was a job of Lamp lighters that had to take care not to let too much gas into lamp and then lit it which would result in explosion. After that gas light spread to other countries. Baltimore was the first city in the United States to have gas streetlights. Gas lamps (for house use or of the street kind) were designed in elegant and attractive manner. Global usage of gas lamps on streets, marks the beginning of the big gas companies. Until the early 20th century most of the cities in the Europe and America had gas streetlights and a gas lamps in the houses. Then electric light started to take over and the gaslight faded into history. Now it is used mostly in places where it is desirable to maintain historical authenticity or as a tourist attraction. Gas light is now also used for camping. While a big step in the direction of effective and cheap public lightning, gas light had its flaws. Because there were no regulations, firms that supplied gas maintained poor workmanship which resulted in leaking pipes and low gas pressure. For the same reason there were often cases of fire, explosions and suffocations. Despite of all the flaws it remained popular method of illumination for many years.” END OF QUOTE The science of the lantern, I wonder how problematic the Snead gas version actually was? Here is a review of a modern gas lamp and its parts for students at the village science camping class. See this lower link: 3) Gas Lamps & Gas Stoves SOURCE: http://www.ankn.uaf.edu/publications/vs/gaslamps.html 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 26, 2022 Author Share Posted October 26, 2022 SRF Page 6 Gas Street Lighting #76 Post by 72 usmc Mon May 07 2018 9:52 am Below is some period history, but it is referencing gas street lighting. The source is the American Gas Light Journal, July 1906. The link is still active and the pages enlarge if clicked on so you can read it. If you are interested in gas lighting this is an informative reference. In the photo below the reader sees a cloth shade on a gas light. SOURCE: https://books.google.com/books?id=6uwiAQAAMAAJ&pg=PA810&lpg=PA810&dq=gas+version+of+the+Snead+lamp&source=bl&ots=LUMy5S7cH8&sig=y6aop7Iy7yQHahuL63E0x-7D88A&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiGlYT-3fPaAhUI3IMKHVudACsQ6AEIUTAJ#v=onepage&q=welsback burner&f=false When you think about it, I bet by 1919-1920 gas lighting was falling out of fashion. By the 1930s, large cities and towns had electric lighting while some of the rural farmers and villages are still using the oil/kerosene lamps until rural electrification came to the area. I wonder how many gas lamp versions were actually produced by the Snead company? Their scarcity may be due to low production numbers or conversion to an electric format. Here is a gas swivel, upright wall light with a Welsbach Burner. Picture source is smith 11. This is a fantastic photo of an upright Welsbach burner. Unfortunately most of the auction photos posted in the original 2018 SRF forum have dead links that have long ago been removed. Consequently, most photo references are no longer active. I have removed the links. #77 Post by 72 usmc Mon May 07 2018 1:33 pm Here is a view of a trade card that unfortunately has no date. It shows a metal reflector shade positioned over the glass chimney. Other photos show glass shades utilized on gas lamps. Let me digress, notice the trade card indicates a lighting efficiency of 60 candle power for the Welsbach improved lamp. A single candy power produces approximately 10-12 lumens. A foot Candle power is an old unit of light output. One foot candle power is approximately 10-12 limens. So with 60 candy power, the light output of a Welsbach lamp is about 600 to 720 lumens. A modern 60 watt incandescent bulb produces approximately 800 lumens. So the Welsbach gas lamp produces approximately the light output of a contemporary 50watt incandescent bulb. A vintage Edison incandescent bulb produces far less light (lumens) per watt. This means that a 60 watt vintage Edison large bulb will provide about 300 lumens. In contrast, a modern standard incandescent 60watt bulb provides approximately 800 lumens. With a lamp with two Edison bulbs, the light output is only slightly increased, but the light bulb has the added safety factor of no flame or gas leak in the house. Trade card no date Below is a close up showing a glass chimney on an upright Welsbach burner ( No. 31) and a white "milk glass" shade around the glass chimney (No. 74 shade). Below and advertisement in the Illustrated London News published on 11 Nov. 1899 shows a glass shade. In this 1923 Saturday Evening Post magazine advertisement shown below, they certainly made a variety of lights styles and shades for the Welsbach burner. This was a well known, well functioning burner at a reasonable price.That is why Snead must have selected the Welsbach burner. It must have been a common, cost effective, and a proven, burner that was already in use on a good number of gas lamps just after the turn of the century. 1923 Saturday Evening Post magazine Carl Auer von Welsbach #78 Post by 72 usmc Mon May 07 2018 8:05 pm QUOTE “The modern gas mantle was one of the many inventions of Carl Auer von Welsbach, a chemist who studied rare-earth elements in the 1880s and who had been Robert Bunsen's student. Ignaz Kreidl worked with him on his early experiments to create the Welsbach mantle. His first process used a mixture of 60% magnesium oxide, 20% lanthanum oxide and 20% yttrium oxide, which he called "Actinophor" and patented in 1885. These original mantles gave off a green-tinted light and were not very successful. Carl Auer von Welsbach's first company established a factory in Atzgersdorf in 1887, but it failed in 1889. In 1890 he discovered that thorium was superior to magnesium, and in 1891 he perfected a new mixture of 99% thorium dioxide and 1% cerium dioxide that gave off a much whiter light and produced a stronger mantle. After introducing this new mantle commercially in 1892, it quickly spread throughout Europe. The gas mantle remained an important part of street lighting until the widespread introduction of electric lighting in the early 1900s.” END OF QUOTE SOURCE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_mantle Auer von Welsbach QUOTE "Auer von Welsbach did not work only in the rare earths, though they were a favorite of his. His most widely known invention, the incandescent mantle, was patented in 1885, and called the "Auerlicht." In German, the incandescent mantle is known charmingly as the "Glühstrumpf" or "glow-stocking." A knitted sleeve was soaked in a solution of nitrate salts and dried. To use it, it was first mounted on the lamp burner above the frame, and then lighted with a match. The organic parts burned, leaving fragile network of oxides in the path of the flame. When the lamp flame was lighted, and adjusted to be blue and nonluminous (the Argand burner was ideal for this) the mantle was heated to incandescence, giving a bright white light. The original mantles used Mg, La and Y. Pr, whose oxide is light brown, was used for the label printed on the mantle, which could be seen when the mantle was in use. They were very fragile, and so had a short life, and gave a greenish light. A factory was established in Atzgersdorf in 1887 to make mantles, but it soon closed because of the deficiencies of the product. Auer von Welsbach worked assiduously to improve the mantle, and in 1890 discovered that thorium was better then magnesium, and in 1891 found the combination of 99% Th and 1% Ce that gave a long-lasting mantle with a brilliant white light. The factory reopened, and a new, larger factory was established in Althofen, in Carinthia (Kärnten), where he made his home. The Wesbach Mantle soon spread world-wide, and revolutionized gas lighting. Illuminating gas no longer had to be carburetted to make luminous flames, and mantles worked excellently even with natural gas. Welsbach mantles are still used on camp lanterns and similar illuminating devices, though Y has replaced Th because of ignorant radiophobia. The Welsbach and General Gas Mantle Company made mantles in Camden, NJ from the 1890s until 1941. More than 50 years later, this factory, then converted to other uses, was identified as a radiation hazard by the EPA. It is not possible to determine the facts of the case from published EPA documents, since they never give any survey figures or even say what their standards are, but it is very probable that this was an extremely minor hazard, giving gamma radiation levels scarcely higher than the cosmic-ray background. It is reasonable that some thorium contamination was left in the area, but thorium is extremely feebly radioactive, and thorium contamination would have been equally negligible, easily counteracted by ventilation. The fear of traces of radioactivity has also driven thorium out of a reasonable use as an alloying agent for magnesium in aerospace alloys, where it was an equally small hazard. Fortunately, Y substitutes for Th in mantles, and a mixture of Y, Zr and other lanthanides is a substitute in Mg alloys. However, I have not seen any credible evidence that Th has ever been a health hazard because of its feeble radioactivity. There are far greater hazards in other places, and ignorant campaigns like this interfere with public protection rather than benefiting it by absorbing valuable resources. Gas mantles give a light in every way competitive with electric light, and even cheaper. However, the bother of dealing with gas and mantles has made gas lighting disappear even in street lighting, where mantles lasted until late in the 20th century. Of course, the competition of electricity was realized from the first, since Edison's carbon-filament lamps were already widespread when the mantle was invented. Auer von Welsbach developed metal-filament lamps, patenting the Auer-Oslicht in 1902, which had an osmium filament made with powder metallurgy, in which Auer von Welsbach was a pioneer. This was a very good lamp, more economical than the Edison lamp, and a good deal brighter. It led in a few years to the replacement of the carbon filament with metallic filaments, of osmium, tantalum and finally tungsten.” END OF QUOTE SOURCE: The Wayback Machine Archive is the source of above quote, Auer von Welsbach https://web.archive.org/web/20070629140255/http://www.du.edu/~jcalvert/phys/rare.htm#Auer #79 Post by 72 usmc Tue May 08 2018 1:00 am Glass chimneys and (Mica) Micalite shade protectors) are best seen in the old catalogs. These seem to be the most difficult intact parts to find if doing a period restoration of a hard to find gas version of the Snead Victory Lamp. I still have not found a picture of the Snead gas lamp that remains complete and intact. It must be as rare as the painted parchment shade. I believe most were thrown out or converted to electric versions over time. I speculate that the gas version of the Snead Lamp may have sold the least number of examples. There is an incredible array of glass shades as well as a few parchment and cloth shades for the many varieties of burners and lights that the Walsbach Company produced. These catalogs demonstrate just how large a company this was and most likely why Snead utilized their parts. Both the Snead Iron Works Co., maker of the Snead lamp, and the Walsbach Co. were located in New Jersey. Hence, the Snead Iron Works had a close supply of lighting parts. Welsbach was a major supplier in their own backyard. Welsback also had a factory in Ohio, they were a major supplier of gas lighting parts at the turn of the century till around WW II. I will provide three period references that are fantastic resources for viewing the parts. The Welsbach Catalogues The first will be the Welsbach 1908-1909 Catalog # 11 that contains 47 pages and is found with others on the Internet Archive. This offers lights, lamps, and components sold by the company. Please see this link to three different Welsbach catalogs: SOURCE: https://archive.org/search.php?query=creator%3A"Welsbach+Commercial+Company" The second is an electrical catalog, the Welsbach Electric Catalogue 1912-13, Number 4 offered electrical appliances for the first time. The third will be a Welsbach Price List dating to 1911-1912 with detailed pictures on 173 pages showing all the items offered in 1911. Only the last couple of pages actually have the prices. Most of the pages contain detailed line drawings of the many parts and products for these gas lamps. The Snead Victory Gas Lamp that is made from a shell from the Morgan Explosion utilized these Welsbach parts: No. 71 burner, No. 196 cap mantle, No. 013 Air-O-Mantic glass chimney, and the No. 109 Micalite shade protector. 1) Welsbach Company Manufacturers Of Incandescent Gas Goods Catalog 11, 1908-1909 Specific link direct to Catalog 11: SOURCE: https://archive.org/details/WelsbachCompanyManufacturersOfIncandescentGasGoods1908-09 2) By 1912-1913 Welsback also offered Electric components. There is a library link to the 1912-13 Welsbach Electric catalogue archived at the State Library of Victoria. This web page takes some time to upload and has 63 pages. SOURCE: https://viewer.slv.vic.gov.au/?entity=IE2544807&mode=browse photo of 1912 catalog You can also type in Electric catalogue 1912-13, no. 4/ Welsbach and you will see the bottom information. QUOTE: “Electric catalogue 1912-13, no. 4/ Welsbach. digital.slv.vic.gov.au/dtl_publish/pdf/marc/47/2036212.html Author: Welsbach Light Co. of Australasia. - Pages: 60 p. : ill. ; 30 cm. - Publication: [Sydney : Welsbach, Electric Light Section, 1912?] - Description: Cover title. Electric lamps Catalogs. Electric lighting Catalogs of supplies, etc.” END OF QUOTE The main library’s search link is provided below. http://search.slv.vic.gov.au/primo_libr ... =permalink 3) The Welsbach Price List dating to 1911-1912 provides detailed pictures of all the items offered in 1911. This is similar to a catalogue, but has much more information on parts and products the company offered. It has 177 pages. This one is really slow to appear. Here is the primary source if you want a direct PDF to place on your desk top: https://archive.org/search.php?query=cr ... Company%22 https://archive.org/details/PriceList1911-12WelsbachLight Here is a goggle drive link that may work better. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Izy1U9j0NZIu7RDOr3vKn7HKlaxfwhla/view #82 Post by 72 usmc Wed May 09 2018 12:49 am Here are some photos of an actual Air-O-Matic , Walsbach glass chimney instead of line drawings. They have a maker's mark on them. See the close up view of the maker's mark. This is a difficult part to obtain. These are thin glass and easily broken in use. These photos are obtained from the Laurel Leaf Farm web page and still are posted, but no longer available. There are many more photos shown on the web page. The description is as follows: QUOTE “Pair of early 1900s vintage Welsbach glass chimneys and two different burners (just one mantle), all in very good condition. The glass chimneys both measure 6 3/4" tall, 1 7/8" across the fitters. item #nt414189 unavailable” END OF QUOTE SOURCE: https://laurelleaffarm.com/item-pages/lamps/old-antique-Welsbach-oil-lamp-mantle-burners-glass-cylinder-chimneys-vintage-lamp-parts-Laurel-Leaf-Farm-item-no-nt414189.htm The trade mark shown above. The Air-O-Mica or Air-O-Matic version has air holes at the base of the mica or glass chimney. The normal chimney version does not and is shown in the lower catalog sheet. So ends information on the rare, Snead Gas Lamp version. Next is a discussion about the oil lamp version. Snead Victory Oil/Kerosene Lamp Next I think we need some information on the somewhat easier to find Snead Oil/kerosene lamp. This section has been relocated here so all the oil lamp discussion is in one location. #48 Post by 72 usmc Tue Apr 24 2018 7:19 pm I found one, here is a Snead Victory oil/kerosene lamp variation for sale in 2018 and I have not seen another. SOURCE: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/wwi-kerosene-75mm-victory-lamp-flier-139974185 The descriptions as follows: QUOTE "Rare Kerosene Variation Snead & Co. Victory Lamp With Original Flier and Order Form 75MM Projectile From Morgan Explosion ***************************************************** ***************************************************** "Victory" Nov 11, 1918 Trench Art Shell Lamp Lamp is impressed "Victory Nov 11, 1918 75mm Shell" . Around the copper ring, it is impressed "They Shall Beat Their Swords Into Plowshares And Their Spears Into Prunning Hooks. Nation Shall Not Lift Up Swords Against Nations Neither They Shall Not Learn War Anymore" Manufacturer's label on the bottom reads in part; "75 MM VICTORY LAMP MANUFACTURED BY THE SNEAD & COMPANY" THIS LAMP WAS MADE FROM A GENUINE US GOVERNMENT FRENCH-AMERICAN 75 MM SHELL SAVED FROM THE MORGAN EXPLOSION" The Snead Company made these trench art lamps to raise money for the people injured in the Morgan Ammunition Plant explosion. Most collectors, myself included; are unaware that these lamps were produced as electric, gas and kerosene. The cavity that once held the explosive charge is now the reservoir for the kerosene. I purchased this example approx. 25 years ago with the original paperwork as seen. This paperwork is also the only example I have ever seen. I believe the shade ring and shade are replacements, but they are proportionally correct and are quite pleasing to the eye. The paperwork confirms this as a company manufactured variation of the standard electric variety most often seen. In the past 25 years, I have not encountered or heard of another example of this lamp set for liquid fuel. I have owned around 8 of these Victory lamps in that period of time, all electric. Prior to buying this example, I also had no idea what the original electric version shade looked like. Lamp is in excellent condition, with a scattering of chips in the black projectile finish and a few bent hurricane fins as seen. Burner is complete and wicks appear original. I have never attempted to remove the burner because lamp has not been fired since I have owned it. Brass and copper have not been polished either. ***************************************************** ***************************************************** On October 4, 1918, building # 61 in the T. A. Gillespie Shell Loading Plant in Morgan. The plant exploded causing the evacuation of South Amboy, NJ. To this day the true cause of the explosion remains unclear. Initial reports blamed the explosion on an accidental spark, company negligence and German sabotage. Sixty-four residents and employees died from the explosion. ***************************************************** ***************************************************** This lamp has been one of the anchors of my collection for the 15 or so years I have owned it. It has always sat on my dresser. It's time to pass it on. Lamp is quite heavy at 12.5 lbs. Shipping cost reflects shipment in 2 parcels; one for the base and one for the glass and paperwork…” END OF QUOTE Please note in the lower photo one sees two wick turn knobs on this lamp. This photo indeed shows evidence of a correct Apollo Duplex Burner. According to the Snead specifications sheet these had an Apollo Duplex burner ( 2 wicks). The Snead oil lamp had a QUOTE “…statuary bronze finished brass expander cemented to top of shell with Apollo Duplex Burner[with 2 flat wicks] screwing into same. 4" round Duplex ring and spring wire shade holder. Glass chimney for Apollo Duplex Burner. Interior powder cavity of shell serves as oil reservoir to give 7 hours of mild light.” END OF QUOTE SOURCE: http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/morgan-momentos-world-war-i-victory-lamp-specifications/ These burner assemblies had a clear glass Apollo chimney. See these pictures of an APOLLO burner shown below. #85 Post by 72 usmc Wed May 09 2018 12:48 pm Welsbach offered kerosene burners, but the Snead company did not use their components on the Snead Victory Oil Burning Lamp. The specification sheet indicated a Snead oil burner had the following parts: QUOTE “..statuary bronze finished brass expander cemented to top of shell with Apollo Duplex Burner[with 2 flat wicks] screwing into same. 4" round Duplex ring and spring wire shade holder. Glass chimney for Apollo Duplex Burner. Interior powder cavity of shell serves as oil reservoir to give 7 hours of mild light.” END OF QUOTE SOURCE http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/morgan-momentos-world-war-i-victory-lamp-specifications/ Here is a Welsback oil burner. This was not used by the company for some reason. It is a single wick burner. They preferred the proven Apollo Duplex Burner. insert sheet 26 Here are the instructions The Snead Oil Burning Victory Morgan lamp utilized a double wick, Apollo Duplex Burner like this example shown below: The two brass knobs are marked "E M & CO Apollo Duplex". The burner assembly takes a chimney 2 1/2 inches at the heel. The burner's thread is 1 7/8 inches or a #3 collar size. Burner height is approximately 2 1/2 inches. The Apollo Duplex Burner used on the Snead Victory lamp was produced by the Edward Miller Company. Here is a link to the Edward Miller & Co., Catalog No. 97. No date is shown. This company made and sold the Apollo Duplex Burner. See page 1 in the lower reference link. This is a library direct link that works fast. https://www.cmog.org/sites/default/files/collections/ED/ED5EF8DA-BA3E-42D8-B64A-34CFA6E675CE.pdf The English Duplex Oil Burner VIDEO The English Duplex Oil Burner by Bryan French is an interesting video of an English duplex oil burner and how it functions. A lamp is lite and you can see the glow and how to adjust an actual lamp in the following video. SOURCE: https://player.vimeo.com/video/112518134?h=becfca6ee5 or referenced here: https://vimeo.com/112518134 vino web #86 Post by 72 usmc Wed May 09 2018 10:34 pm There are two Miller Apollo Duplex burners: The English version and the American version. Pictures of each example are provided below. However, for detail information the reader should consult this archive: Edward Miller & Co. design catalogues and historical information, Patents, advertisements, catalogues & more concerning the legacy. SOURCE: https://www.artdesigncafe.com/edward-miller-and-co-catalogues-history E. Miller Company History —————————————————————————————— A short history of the E. Miller Company is reproduced below: SOURCE: http://www.edwardmillerkeroseneoillamps.com/edwardmiller%26co.-abriefhistory QUOTE from the above source: “Edward Miller & Company, U.S.A. - A Brief History Edward Miller commenced business in Meriden, Connecticut in the 1840's making and selling camphene and burning fluid burners. By the 1860's, Edward Miller had become an effective manufacturer and marketer in the kerosene lamp business. In 1845 Edward Miller took over the business of Horatio N. Howard which was then making screws, candle holders, candle stick springs, as well as lamps that burned whale oil and a variety of burning fluids. He faced a number of initial obstacles: poor facilities, lack of raw materials and primitive manufacturing methods. Miller overcame these challenges and eventually moved into better quarters, and introduced steam power into the plant which increased production. Disaster struck in 1857 when fire destroyed the shop, but it was quickly rebuilt and business continued to expand and prosper. When oil was discovered in 1859, kerosene became a safe and affordable lamp fuel. Miller was quick to seize the initiative seeing the need for burners for the new fuel. In 1866, Miller formed a joint stock company and reorganized under the name of Edward Miller & Co (E M & Co). The manufacturing capacity was immediately increased and in 1868, Miller constructed a brass rolling mill to keep up with his company's demand for brass and to ensure a more consistent quality of product than he could count on from his suppliers. It became a major division of the corporation. Starting around 1884 through 1892, Edward Miller & Company manufactured the "ROCHESTER" line of lamps for The Rochester Lamp Company which explains their close similarity with his own ‘Miller’ lamps. Edward Miller produced, according to the catalogue, 2000 designs of kerosene lamps, and in every manner – table lamps, hanging store lamps, hanging library lamps, hall lamps, bracket lamps, night lamps, and more. After 1892 Miller lost the contract to manufacture the lamps for The Rochester Lamp Company, whose lamps were then branded "New Rochester" to distinguish them from the former. Edward Miller then used his knowledge and experience and went into direct competition with the Rochester lamp. Recognising the benefits of the central draught lamp, Miller developed the range of central draught lamps that today are known simply by his name and developed the brand in so many styles that he accommodated all customers both in taste and price. Edward Miller's first lamp was branded 'The Juno Lamp' and has a wick raiser that closely resembles that of the Rochester. Miller first posted patents for his own wick raising devise in June 1892 which he branded 'The Miller Lamp' and constantly improved on the design of both the wick raising device and burner. It seems at the same time he modified his earlier Juno lamp, simplifying the raiser and enabling a universal wick carriage. In 1895 he further improved 'The Juno Lamp' by incorporating a guide wheel. This patent is by far the most common and was marketed under many brands including 'The Empress Lamp', 'The Mill Lamp', 'The Non Explosive Lamp', and 'The Gaskill Lamp' to name a few. This patent was further refined around 1898 with 'The New Juno Lamp’. In 1900 Miller bought the brand name of 'Meteor' from the meriden Brass Company, which had ceased trading and using his 1892 patent re-modeled 'The Meteor Lamp' - the first and only time his 1892 patent was branded differently to 'Miller'. In 1902 he created 'The New Vestal Lamp', where he finally was able to control the circular wick with a wick winder of similar form to that of flat wick burners. One last change was made to the burner and wick raising method around 1916 - 1920, but not the work of Edward himself as he died in 1909 aged of 82; the company however continued to produce its wares to his high standards and still exists today, although no longer has any resemblance, either in management or production to that of the company that produced kerosene oil lamps. Never resting on his laurels Edward Miller was always improving his products. He strove for perfection and insisted upon the highest quality for all his products. As the times changed, so did types of illumination. As gas became a viable fuel source for cooking, heating and illumination, the company entered into the manufacture of gas lighting fixtures and stoves. As the age of electricity beckoned, Miller followed the trend, or more appropriately, blazed new trails. He improved upon Edison's carbon filament lamp by designing a tungsten filament lamp. The Miller Company pioneered mercury vapour and fluorescent lighting systems in the late 1930's as well.1 Miller, at the height of production during the ‘golden age’ of kerosene lighting (1890 – 1900) manufactured for both his own range, and wholesale, selling his brass components to other companies, such as glass manufacturer’s or even production companies who would outsource all of their manufacturing. Miller produced the full range of lamp items, single wick burners, duplex burners, collars etc, the list is endless. Today many of these lamps are mis-identified as ‘Miller’ lamps. Just because a lamp has a ‘Miller’ burner, or ‘Miller’ collar does NOT make it a ‘Miller’ lamp. Only those lamps which bare his brands or name on the fount of the lamp are true ‘Miller’ lamps.” END OF QUOTE Below is the E. Miller Apollo Duplex burner with English collar threads. Fitted with extinguisher and removable bayonet glass fitting gallery. Photo is from catalog ApolloDuplexEnglish collar threads. E. Miller Apollo Duplex burner is the same as the above English burner, but has American threads and fitted with a reducer to #2 threads. Notice the base of the American version of the Apollo Duplex burner is smaller than the English threaded version. That is important in selecting the correct Duplex burner for the Snead oil lamp restoration. American ApolloAmerican collar threads #87 Post by 72 usmc Thu May 10, 2018 12:06 am Here are some close up views of the Apollo Duplex burner. If the reader cannot find an original burner with patina that still functions; they make new reproductions that can be purchased new at Leman’s. These are well built, but lack the aged look. Reproduction shown below. They also sell the quick set cement for the collar. Reproduction Chimneys are easily available, but they do not have the unevenness and air bubble trails in them like observed in vintage glass. For reproduction glass chimneys see Lehmans Company. SOURCE: https://www.lehmans.com/search?w=oil+lamp+chimneys Restoration Parts at the Miles Stairs Wick Shop and the Antique Lamp Supply Company #89 Post by 72 usmc Thu May 10 2018 12:53 am Some lamp restoration tips and general information about maintenance and restoration can be found at the Miles Stairs Wick Shop: QUOTE “Beginning Lamp Restoration Disassembly, Citric Acid Bath, Cleaning wick sleeves & draft tubes, Cleaning flame spreaders, Font repair (For disassembly help, see removed lamp burners & parts here and flame spreaders here. If the burner has bent or damage parts they must be repaired before wick installation is attempted.)” END OF QUOTE SOURCE: http://www.milesstair.com/Beginning_Lamp_Restoration.html I never shine or clean the brass. I like its natural aged patina. It is restoration of a Snead Lamp, not changing its character and charm by making it like new with reproduction parts and new paint. Antique Lamp Supply Company Antique Lamp Supply Company has sold antique style lighting and lamp parts for repair or restoration since 1952. Many more reproduction parts can be found at this source. This is a great place to find replacement parts. Oil Lamp Parts SOURCE: https://www.antiquelampsupply.com/all-oil-lamp-parts Their oil lamps parts guide has some nice info: Antique Lamp Supply - Oil Lamp Parts Explained On Choosing Replacement Kerosene and Oil Lamp Burners, Wicks, Chimneys Kerosene / Oil Lamp Table and Guide SOURCE: https://www.antiquelampsupply.com/oil-lamp-parts-guide Conclusion So ends the Snead oil lamp parts. I’ve been monitoring eBay and other action sites since 2017 and while I see a Victory Lamp or ashtray appear about every six months or so, I have never seen an intact gas or oil version of the Victory lamp. In 2018, I did see a few specimens in bad condition and they have been documented in this post. Furthermore, I have never seen a Franklin Strathmore Vellum Parchment lampshade as described in the original brochure. I have seen a number of lamps with the doughboy helmet where it is incorrectly mounted. I have not seen an oil or gas Victory lamp with a WW I helmet. I am unsure what shade options were available on the non electric Victory lamps. I would say the soot and heat would collect under the helmet and it is possible neither the oil or gas Victory lamp came with a helmet shade. There is a lack of documentation and photographic evidence about these lamp versions. It appears both the gas and oil Victory lamp are rather rare and few have survived, or they have all been converted over time. In the day these were rather expensive lamps, due to their high cost, I find it hard to believe most were tossed out when a house was electrified. The few I have observed have been modified and lack their shades and burner assemblies. It is difficult to find even the shell body of a converted specimen. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 26, 2022 Author Share Posted October 26, 2022 SRF Page 7 ELECTRIC VICTORY LAMPS by 72 usmc Fri Jun 08 2018 12:46 am Here is another electric, Snead Victory lamp that has been modified and is incorrectly restored. The pictures were posted in (2018) on flee bay. Asking price is nuts at $300+. The pull chain, harp, finial, cord, socket and mount for the helmet is all so wrong... It has a nice brass base and nice condition to the shell casing. I wonder if the tag is still present? It has great patina; an example worthy of correct restoration if it was priced at $125. #92 Post by Rapidrob Tue Jul 10 2018 9:11 pm I've got mine done. Using a retro looking LED bulb. Yours are nicer. #102 Post by Rapidrob Mon Oct 29 2018 5:32 pm Here's mine. Gillespie Company Historical Document #94 Post by 72 usmc Fri Sep 07 2018 10:04 pm I just was outbid on this interesting piece of paper from the Gillespie loading factory. The picture source is from eBay. Ha, I beat the dog out with my zapper program at the last second. It is mine at $12. A nice piece of Gillespie Company History! This is the factory at Morgan, NJ that blew up. This prayer is a modification of the old Christian/Catholic children’s prayer we learned as kids: "Now I lay me down to sleep" This is a real nice original document to go with my lamp and ashtrays. Paper documents usually do not survive the test of time; it is 100 years old. A photo of the paper document is shown below. I am also providing a second similar prayer that I found in an old Journal. Their must have been different versions of this prayer. Here is the source to a second version dated 1919. This is from the Journal of Electricity, 15 January 1919, volume 42, number 2, page 96. It is also shown below. SOURCE: https://books.google.com/books?id=vdI5AQAAMAAJ&pg=PA96&lpg=PA96&dq=Now+i+lay+me+down+to+sleep,+i+pray+the+lord+my+soul+to+keep:+Grant+no+other+soldier+take+my+socks+or+shoes+before+I+wake&source=bl&ots=phfit7FkBe&sig=KZ9WbZxaFCoSrtO8GO6nQvMLqEc&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjIhKXqr6rdAhVGKKwKHUBbDJEQ6AEwCHoECAQQAQ#v=onepage&q=Now i lay me down to sleep%2C i pray the lord my soul to keep%3A Grant no other soldier take my socks or shoes before I wake&f=false My Sheet, A Soldier’s Prayer A second version is different from my above yellowed document and is shown below. After reading, it looks like they did not have the full version. This is from the (Journal of Electricity, 15 January 1919, Vol. 42, No. 2 ) Both prayers most likely date to WW I 1919. The complete page and a close up view are shown below. #95 Post by 72 usmc Fri Sep 07 2018 11:02 pm Some requested an Enlarged version that is easy to read. IMA UNCLE ED LAMP ? #96 Post by 72 usmc Sat Sep 22 2018 12:31 pm Here is an Uncle Ed full shell lamp. Originally back in 2018, I incorrectly thought this was a poorly restored Snead Victory lamp with a wrong finish on the shell-no paint, and an incorrect helmet. This lamp was sold by International Military Antiques(IMA) back in September of 2018. Sold listing archive Here is the IMA Description: QUOTE “Original Item: One-of-a-kind. This is a fantastic functional (yes, it really works) table lamp that was constructed from a World War One 75mm Field Cannon shell and a U.S. M1917 British Produced Brodie Helmet. The steel shell is mounted on a brass base. In the center of the shell it is clearly engraved: VICTORY Nov. 11. 1918 75 m/m Shell The copper band that runs around the base of the shell is also engaged as follows: They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. The lamp stands 19 inches tall and the helmet has an 11 inch diameter. Swords to ploughshares (or Swords to plowshares) is a concept in which military weapons or technologies are converted for peaceful civilian applications. The phrase originates from the Old Testament of the Bible in the Book of Isaiah: And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.—Isaiah 2:3–4 The ploughshare is often used to symbolize creative tools that benefit humankind, as opposed to destructive tools of war, symbolized by the sword, a similar sharp metal tool with an arguably opposite use.” END OF QUOTE SOURCE: https://www.ima-usa.com/products/original-u-s-wwi-m1917-helmet-and-75mm-field-gun-shell-swords-to-ploughshares-table-lamp?variant=14309543379013 Clearly, as seen by the description, IMA had no idea what this lamp was because so few are seen. Its price was high at $300. All five posted pictures are from IMA. After a close inspection of their photos, I found the helmet odd and its attachment method interesting. I also realized I see sectionalized cut lines on the shell, something not seen on a Victory lamp. The base plate is also different. At that time, I wondered if the helmet attachment is original? I found the helmet attachment an interesting idea because the original brochures do not show how it was attached from the inside of the helmet. They also do not show a lamp finial. I also found the white interior and the brass look the helmet odd. I always have observed green helmets. This lamp struck me as odd, so odd that I thought it was a poor restoration. The helmet was the first brass or painted brass helmet I have seen. After some more research looking at the original brochures, it became clear this may indeed be a pictorial documentation of an original attachment for a single bulb electric lamp with an original factory helmet. Please read the lower comments about my conjectures. It has an incorrect modern socket, but look at the helmet. Interior is white lacquer and no chin strap mounts. No finial or harp holding up the helmet. Incorrect socket photo is below. #97 Post by 72 usmc Sat Sep 22, 2018 12:44 pm After some thought, this lamp is very intriguing. In 2018, I just did not realize what a find this actually was. This is a very interesting photo of the helmet if it's of an original period attachment shown on the IMA lamp example. And is this helmet brass? Does anyone else have a lamp in original condition where the helmet remains and has such a clip-on attachment? Is this a brass helmet or is it painted brass? I could not tell. The helmet is arousing my curiosity. This is the first time I have seen a published photo of the inside of the helmet. Also of interest is the two split lines shown on the body of the shell. This attribute is seen in the "Uncle Ed" lamp version of the Snead lamp, but not on a "Snead Company" version of the VICTORY lamp. My Snead Company VICTORY lamp has a smooth shell that is painted black. In 2018 I began to wondered if this is an example of an Uncle Ed lamp. Maybe the shell was not painted black like the Victory Lamp. After a close look at the original advertising, I then noticed the split lines in the old brochure showing an Uncle Ed lamp that I had missed. Looking at the IMA photo of the shell body, I can see no evidence of any black paint on the IMA shell. The brass base and the helmet appear to be both made of brass. The finish looks similar on both parts. Are they both brass? I do not think the helmet is painted brass. I wonder if this Seventy-Five lamp shown above separates into sections? There is no cord originating on the outside of the shell. If the cord travels up the center of the lamp, it sections cannot be separated. It is unclear if the Uncle Ed lamp with its cord attachment on the outside that allows the sections to be separated, and this Seventy-Five lamp that has sections that apparently do not separate because the cord goes up the center of the lamp, are two different forms of Victory lamps. Does the IMA lamp separate? I think not. There is no mention of this in the IMA description. Maybe it has rusted over time and they do not even realize the lamp will separate into sections like shown in the period advertisement on page 1 of this post. Then it hit me a day later, maybe this IMA lamp is not so modified as I first thought! Did the "Uncle Ed lamp" have brass colored or actual brass helmets? I do not know. The advertisement states at the bottom, and I quote it: "Shade is adjustable at any angle with reflector." Hence, the white paint observed on the IMA specimen is actually the reflector. Looking at the upper small right hand photo the reader can see a white interior and a possible clip-on attachment. Then it struck me that this IMA photo of the helmet may be documentation of an intact "Uncle Ed" lamp shade with its brass color and the white reflector. It is very similar, if not the same as the helmet shown in the original advertisement. Notice the picture in the upper brochure shows white paint on the inner side of the helmet. Furthermore, I never notice this, but the shell body is not painted black like a Snead Company Victory Lamp. The lamp’s shell body is clearly shiny sliver looking in the old black & white photos. These Uncle Ed lamps and/or Seventy-Five lamps had non painted shell bodies, they had a polished metal finish with a segmented shell body. The cord is a puzzle. If the cord runs up the center of the lamp as shown in the IMA photo, it will not be possible for the sections to be separated. The central cord location would prevent this. If you look at the advertisement photo, on the right side middle photo, it shows a cord attached only to the top section the lamp, and the cord must have run down from the top section along the outside of the shell body. This had to be the case in order for each section of the lamp body to be utilized as an ash tray, or pencil/cigarette holder. This is shown in theUncle Ed brochure. So it appears there may have been two different versions of the Uncle Ed lamp, one that did not separate and one that did. On each, the power cord locations are different. Or did the “Seventy-Five” lamp have sections that were not designed to be separated because the cord ran up the center of the shell similar to the Victory lamp version. But why make a lamp from cut shell pieces that did not break down? I have never seen a so called “Seventy-Five” lamp to this day. However in 2019, I did obtain a short boy Uncle Ed that will be documented later on in this post. The retail price for the three different versions were as follows: Trench Lamp, whole shell base $12 Trench Lamp, sectionalized smoking-set base $16 Victory Lamp with a parchment shade $18 We see one cord location at the top and one at the bottom in the advertisements. Uncle Ed lamps and Seventy-Five lamps were not painted black with the locomotive-like, hard, glossy paint as found on the intact Snead Company Victory lamps. Uncle Ed Lamps had steel polished shells with a socket where the cord entered at a hole to the side of the socket and ran down the outside of the lamp. This example has a metal shell showing some patina, it may be an Uncle Ed lamp or a Seventy-Five lamp that does not separate into sections. The cord enters through the base and up the center of the lamp as seen on the Seventy-Five version. Since the power cord enters from the bottom and travels up the center of the shell to attach at the base of the socket, the cord placement suggests that the IMA lamp may be what is called a Seventy-Five lamp. The socket on the IMA specimen is clearly a contemporary incorrect replacement. I cannot be sure what the original socket looks like. I have never seen or observed a WW I helmet pressed stamped in brass at gun shows or WWII military relic shows. The IMA helmet certainly looks brass, but I cannot tell if it is painted or polished brass. It really looks like a brass metal helmet that was buffed and not a real surplus WW I green helmet. I also noticed in the original advertisements shown here that the helmet is not pictured as dark helmet, like a green WW I helmet would appear. So maybe the Uncle Ed lamps had this brass or bronze colored, non painted, shinny metal helmet. It kind of appears that way for the Uncle Ed. This IMA example is most interesting for its helmet. I now believe that this is likely an intact original Uncle Ed helmet. It is not a WW I Brodie steel helmet. Maybe the company that produced the Uncle Ed lamp and the Seventy-Five lamp had some original WW I helmets brass plated for their lamps? Or is a thin brass stamped helmet special made so it is lighter in weight for use as a clip-on helmet with these lamps? I am not sure if both names: the Uncle Ed and the Seventy-Five refer to the same lamp or if they are two different lamps. So is this example a documentation of an actual, intact, brass helmeted, Uncle Ed, non segmented lamp or a Seventy-Five lamp? It is almost worth buying at $325 to find out. IMA posted this lamp around noon of 22 sept 2018, and if you buy it please post and photo document this lamp. #98 Post by 72 usmc Sat Sep 22, 2018 1:34 pm I decided to repost all of IMA’s excellent photos because after it is sold they may not be available and I wanted documentation of this example. ALL the photos are IMAs from the above IMA source. If I had the cash I would buy this lamp just so I can study it. What I think we have here at IMA is a possible Seventy-Five lamp with just a new replacement socket and cord. All the other attributes may remain intact and original. I cannot tell from the photos if the shell is indeed segmented and was never painted, or if the helmet is brass with a white enamel reflector and original attachment. This IMA specimen is found in almost original condition. #99 Post by 72 usmc Sat Sep 22 2018 3:36 pm It would make a perfect Christmas gift for me. No shipping because its over $150, you could just send it to my house. I have the correct period socket if it is a sectionalized lamp rewired wrong. I had to know about the helmet so I sent an email to IMA prior to purchase. Due to my lack of knowledge, a great find slipped out of my hands. I should have purchased it ASAP. It has the lower hole in the brass tray, the same tray base used on an Uncle Ed lamp. It does not exhibit a Victory lamp base. This IMA lamp can be restored with a proper correct Bryant lamp switch/socket with the correct red/black shuttle switch, and a reproduction cloth wrapped cord. The red arrow shows the hole where the electrical wire came out the side and ran down the out side of the lamp so sections on the lamp shell could be split up. This is a hard to find socket type. Notice, it can be wired in two ways: from the bottom and from the side. I had to buy a $30 junk lamp to get this socket--but try to find an original. One final observation, both the socket and the cord with its plug on the IMA specimen is incorrect. Both are modern garbage utilized on a vintage lamp. With two correct parts this restoration would make a treasure. Many thanks to IMA (International Military Antiques) for posting so many photos of such a nice example. #100 Post by 72 usmc Tue Sep 25, 2018 4:22 pm Going, going, gone in three days at $325. I waited for a reply and lost out on the lamp. And for my question to verify what the helmet is made from, this is the answer from IMA: QUOTE “A new answer to your question has been received. 09/22/18 Q: Is the helmet made of brass or a painted brass color . Or is it a real helmet that has been brass plated. 09/25/18 A: It is a Brass helmet. The inside is painted.” END OF QUOTE Lets hope the lucky buyer posts some close up photos of the bottom and its label. MY UNCLE ED SHORT BOY This next post was originally posted in 2019 on page 9 in the SRF forum, but I moved it here because this is an Uncle Ed that I picked up in 2019 after I saw the IMA lamp. #121 Post by 72 usmc Tue May 21 2019 2:40 pm Next we will see my Uncle Ed Lamp. It came from an estate in Schenectady, New York. The "Uncle Ed Lamp" is another version of a Snead factory WW I lamp. These lamps are very, very, difficult to find. They were sold by the Decorative Arts League at 175 Fifth Avenue New York. (Not at the Snead & Company Iron works Inc., at Pine Street Jersey City, NJ.) This lamp has a different paper tag on its base; it is (not the 75 m/m VICTORY LAMP tag ), but the UNCLE ED tag : Uncle ed tag photos Uncle Ed Brochures Source: American Legion Weekly Magazine, Vol. 4, 1922 Source: Electrical Merchandising, June 1919, page 323. Patents ca. 1919, # 53225 the lamp shown in upper right hand corner in the lower picture. These photo shots enlarge if you click on them. This is the lamp I have and will show: "Shorty" 53225. I cannot find any photo documentation of an Uncle Ed lamp, so this may be the first set of close up views of an actual Uncle Ed shorty lamp. #122 Post by 72 usmc Fri May 24 2019 2:41 pm UNCLE ED LAMP, Patent 22 April 1919, #"Shorty" 53225. Photo documentation. My original Uncle Ed lamp was abused over the last 100 years, it was dropped. This is an example of the Shorty Uncle Ed.(Both a tall & short version exists). Over the years, my specimen got rusted and worn, then repainted with a cheep silver paint on the body and a copper paint on the base and cone. Both secondary coats came off easily with lacquer thiner exposing the original surfaces. It also had a late 1940s replacement cord and harp. The helmet is missing. This is what it looked like when I got it. Fresh out of the box after it arrived. Condition view shown below Restoration of this lamp included putting a NOS replacement, period correct, cloth cord back on the lamp and removing the silver and copper brushed on paint with a wipe of lacquer thinner and a soft rag. I was surprised to find an original olive drab color as the original finish on this lamp, not the bare brass on the brass parts. It is the original finish because on the base of the lamp, the bottom is also painted a drab olive paint and this color is somewhat clean and it has the original paper "UNCLE ED tag pasted down over this finish. This lamp has a drab olive green paint as a finish applied to all the brass parts. This is a spray finish and the lacquer thinner did not remove this hard enamel finish. It is nice even factory sprayed paint on both the base and cone. The body of the lamp was not painted black; rather, it was originally a polished steel shell body that aged and rusted over time. The polished surface is the way an "Uncle Ed" lamp is shown in the black & white advertisement from 1919. The former owner must have wanted a more silver color and just brush painted silver onto the shell body. No silver paint was found inside or on bottom of the shell case. After paint removal, the shells surface remains as an aged dirty looking metal with some light rust. I assume the silver paint came off so easy because no surface sanding or primer was utilized under the silver paint. It was simply brushed over the original dirty surface of the shell. After the silver paint was rubbed off, the original patina was left as found under the paint. I did not want to polish the shell case like new. These lamps have a dual purpose light socket with a shuttle switch. This is the original lamp socket. The socket is the same as show in the period advertisements. The light bulb socket has two possible routes to run the cord: straight down like a normal lamp, or off to the side and down the outside of the lamp. The cord comes off the side so the lamp sections can be separated on the "Uncle Ed" lamp. The socket is beat, but still works fine. The table protection, white rubber ring remains intact on the base, but is rock hard. The 75mm shell was cut into sections, they were each given an assembly number (on this lamp each shell part was stamped with the number 618). After being cut, these sections of the shell were then stamped and machined so each section locks together with a twisting motion. A small vertical line (index mark) is stamped on the outside of the shell to align the shell bodies so the can be put together. The upper section (top of the shell) has stamped notches that fit into grooves that have been machined into the lower section (base of the shell). By aligning the index mark, the notches drop into the groove, and a twist to the right locks the lamp sections together. The presence of an assembly number makes me wonder if each lamp was number due to a need for some hand fitting during production. The shell sections lock together rather snug, the machining produces a nice fit. The tag indicates a Patent date for this lamp as 22 April 1919. This is the first "Uncle Ed" tag and lamp I have seen and own. I have not found any pictures on line of actual "Uncle Ed" lamps with intact tags. The Tag is similar to the Snead "75 M/M VICTORY LAMP" tag. The "UNCLE ED" lamp tag reads as follows with nine lines: "UNCLE ED" Manufactured by Snead & Co., Jersey City, for THE DECORATIVE ARTS LEAGUE 175 Fifth Avenue, New York. This lamp was made from a genuine United States Government French American 75 M/M shell saved from the Morgan Explosion. Patented April 22 1919 other Patents Pending Close up view of cracking, flaking, Uncle Ed tag Here is the lamp. Uncle Ed shorty # 53225 This is a harp I found on another lamp. The screw-on 1920s harp did not come with the original lamp. If the lamp originally had a brass helmet with a white reflector interior, no harp would be needed or be present on the lamp. #123 Post by 72 usmc Fri May 24, 2019 2:46 pm The lamp base brass, factory painted green with wear on an Uncle Ed Shorty. These greens appear as more true colors on the top, under where the shell sits there was discoloration, the bottom was clean and has the manufactures tag glued over the original color that matches the outside color. The base tray has two shades of color due to wear, dirt, and age. See the light color under the shell mount and the darker color around the exposed portion of the tray The base has original non sun faded color with the tag and rubber scratch ring applied over the paint. A close up view of the wear and loss of green on the edges of the base. Notice that the Uncle Ed lamps have a convex base/tray; it curves inward to produce a tray. In contrast, the Snead Victory lamp is generally always seen with a concave base with a rounded outward dome shaped base. I do not know if all Uncle Ed lamps were painted olive drab? Most Snead, Victory Lamps have a black locomotive type glossy paint on the shell while the cone and base remain unpainted brass. #124 Post by 72 usmc Fri May 24, 2019 2:48 pm Here are a number of views of the Uncle Ed shell pieces stamped with an assembly number 618 and a view of Index line and upper index notch. View of Index Line on shell body #125 Post by 72 usmc Fri May 24, 2019 2:52 pm Here are views of the machining required on the Uncle Ed Lamp. Each surface of the shell sections have been altered so they lock together. The Uncle Ed shell locked. The lower section’s machining. The upper section’s machining. i #126 Post by 72 usmc Fri May 24, 2019 2:54 pm Here is a view of the original Uncle Ed Lamp socket and the older NOS cord recovered from another vintage lamp that I utilized in this restoration. Uncle Ed socket with two wire holes Cord original NOS #127 Post by 72 usmc Fri May 24, 2019 2:56 pm Uncle Ed lamp upper cone and attachment parts, all original. The Photos mentioned show the green color as close as possible, the way it actually appears. In other photos the light washes out the true appearance of the green color. top of shell Green cone, factory paint, color accurate top cone and lower base washer shown below Green paint on brass cone, color accurate Underside of cone Original plug Restoration completed of an Uncle Ed lamp. Notice cord and light bulb is on. #130 Post by 72 usmc Fri May 24, 2019 3:37 pm Funny thing, to most, these lamps are garbage. My wife hates them, they will be the first things to go... I believe the IMA brass helmet to be the original style helmet found on the Uncle Ed lamps, even the 1919 advertisement shows a white interior. The IMA lamp that sold 22 Sept 2018 is the best documented lamp I have seen. I am unsure why my lamp's base is green. It appears an original finish. No green finish was removed during restoration. On the IMA lamp they used an incorrect, cheep modern socket and wrong polarized cord and plug. Maybe this lamp also has an incorrect base. It is the same concave tray lamp base as found on my "Uncle Ed" lamp. I have no idea if the IMA lamp comes in sections. Close inspection of the IMA lamp shows the cord through the center of the lamp-consequently it cannot be sectionalized because a cord hole is not present in the different shell sections. On my Uncle Ed the base of the shell is not drilled for cord access. Mine can be separated into two different sections: a short lamp (upper section with socket and shade) and a bottom pencil holder( lower section and base tray). The IMA lamp sections cannot be separated with a cord running through the center of the tall lamp. On "Uncle Ed" lamps the cord runs down the outside of the lamp. This is shown in the 1919 brochures. I guess I should state for the record that the vintage screw on harp is added by me so I can set a WW I helmet on the lamp. I believe the clip-on attachment and helmet shown on the IMA example is most likely correct. Even the 1919 advertisement shows a helmet tilted at different positions, something not possible if the shade is drilled & attached by a finial. Also, please notice, the 1919 advertisement does not show a finial on the top of the helmet? It has to be a clip-on assembly as shown on the IMA specimen. But try to find such an original brass helmet shade. I will make do with a vintage 1920s harp that screws onto the threads of the socket so I can position a WW I helmet on it like I did with my Snead Victory lamp. This is shown in my picture with the lamp lighted. The helmet will sit on a three inch flat washer like a hat stand. I will not alter an original $150, WW I helmet by drilling a hole in the top of it in order to modify a helmet as a shade. The helmet can sit on top of the make-shift hat stand and remain intact. I figure while incorrect, this is the best I can do until I find an original brass helmet shade as shown below. WE NEED MORE UNCLE ED LAMPS photo documented. IMA Lamp Brass shade on the IMA lamp and the second view is IMA brass helmet with white painted reflector and clip-on adaptor IMA confirmed that this helmet is brass and has a white painted enamel interior. It is not an actual WW I helmet painted brass. I wonder if the thin brass stamped helmet is actually lighter than an original WW I steel helmet and that is why they were used with a clip-on device inside the brass stamped helmet? I believe it was especially made for the Snead lamps due to its lighter weight so it can clip-on the bulb without tipping over the lamp. I also wonder how many of these sectional "Uncle Ed" lamps were produced. At least 1,769 I have never seen such a brass helmet with a painted white interior for sale at any military or gun shows. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Finally, a third example of an Uncle Ed lamp showed up for sale on 9 September 2019. This is found in the section of “What not to do to a Victory lamp” and is discussed and photo documented on the bottom of page 9. ------------------------------------------------------------------ Uncle Ed Tall Version On 23 April 2020, a fourth Uncle Ed lamp in its original as found condition was posted for sale on ebay. This was originally found on page 11, but I moved this below into the Uncle Ed section of this page. #153 Post by 72 usmc Sun Apr 26 2020 9:38 pm Here is an UNCLE ED lamp in the tall version with original patina. The tall specimen has Patent Date 6 March 1919, Serial # 281,098. I have been silent on this recent Victory Lamp seen on eBay because I bid $212 and lost my bid to a high roller. It sold with 29 bids on 23 April 2020 and came out of Reston, Virginia. It was original, but in somewhat poor condition. The lamp body was rusty and at that price not worth more for restoration since it would be difficult to maintain the original surface patina, yet remove rust without leaving a pitted surface. The seller’s auction pictures are too poor in quality to get a true idea of the extent and depth of the rust. Electrolysis might have worked to remove the rust, but it can leave a pitted surface? I was going to try this method to neutralize the rust on the shell if I won the bid. While electrolysis is easy and removes the rust, it may also reveal pits if the rust eats at the surface over long exposure to moist air. It was going to be a $200 gamble. See: Is Electrolysis better than Evapo-Rust? Let's find out! SOURCE: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8dtDLQHjHBc Sure someone could buff it like new, but that would destroy the antique value of the lamp. The paper label if present would have added $100 to the going price! The original tag is missing and a big factor as well as the rust in my decision to back off on the price. While time certainly took its toll on this lamp, it is a tall Uncle Ed version of the Victory Lamp. It had a few modifications during its life: the internal switch of the socket was changed to a turn switch, but the brass outer socket is still the original and still maintains its original patina. To find an original replacement, a $15 push/shuttle switch with the red/black ends is easy. Most important the brass cone was not tampered with or crushed. At least no idiot polished the original socket. The original cord is gone and has been replaced. While incorrect, a correct cloth wrapped replacement cord and non polarized plug is also another easy fix for $25. The shell body is in a heavily rusted condition with pits and no paper tag is on the bottom of the lamp. There is no mention of the rubber table protective ring. However, this lamp still had its original patina and its original helmet. Documentation of the helmet is worth this post. The bottom base tray had no dents and I cannot tell from the photos if it is tarnished brass or has olive drab paint? Because this is one of the few true Uncle Ed lamps, I want to post all the auction’s picture in order to photo document this specimen. Here are some pictures from the auction. They are dark and poor quality photos. This fact made it difficult to judge on just how deep the rust covered the shell. The seller never provides photos of the lamp with its sections taken apart. It is possible the owner does not realize the lamp breaks down into sections or they are rusted together. Although a military collector, the owner did realize the lamp's history and significance. The owner/seller considers this lamp as just common WW I tench art. The seller failed to identify it as a poorly preserved specimen of an Uncle Ed lamp and that it unscrewed into different body components. The lamp’s best feature is its “as found” condition. This specimen is well worth $200. Most important, the original helmet is present and similar to the IMA specimen already discussed on page 7. So there are now three documented Uncle Ed original helmets with the clip on inside attachment. Notice the burned, green paint on the top of a steel helmet from the light bulb over time. The open areas exhibit rust indicating a steel helmet, not a brass helmet like seen on the IMA example discussed on page 7. However, both have the heavy white enamel paint on the inside as a reflector and the same short clip on attachment. This example suggests two helmet variations may have been produced for an Uncle Ed lamp. I really regret not biding up to $275 on this lamp. In its original condition this is a jewel just to keep as an example in “AS FOUND” condition. I planed to just make changes to the cord ( replace with an NOS hardened original cord for display only use) and replace the inside guts of the socket to a correct Bryant switch. Unfortunately there are no close-up views of the inside of the helmet and I did not ask for additional photos because it was listed incorrectly as trench art and I was sure my high bid would win. WRONG! Below are photos of this UNCLE ED in all its glory. All photos are from the auction. These have been removed from the listing due to age. Fortunately, they are preserved here. All I can say in summit-up is: “This is one nice specimen.” Notice the cord comes off the side of the socket on this tall version of an Uncle Ed lamp. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 26, 2022 Author Share Posted October 26, 2022 SRF Page 8 A Lamp That Can Never Be Made Again Post by 72 usmc Sat Dec 29, 2018 10:26 pm Talk about luck. I found a lady that had many paper documents that she was selling. Most would have tossed the stuff out as trash. Her dad had a store in California and he saved all his paperwork, manuals, brochures, and instructions on file. In an effort to preserve history and get the papers to people that will treasure them, she is slowly selling off the original sales brochures. Guess what, she had the original Morgan Lamp flyer and I am now its owner. She told me: QUOTE “PS my dad kept a box of memorabilia in his store and my thoughts are, he kept it all for a reason. So I am selling each piece. Some of it sells for a dollar and some for more. But most of it sells and means something to someone. God bless you. Lacy” END OF QUOTE What a fine lady. What a fine Christmas present, how lucky can one person be! Paper documents are so much harder to find since most of them do not survive. I will provide more details when I get it in my hands. This was the only other sheet that I have actually seen. It was tucked inside the shell casing. #105 Post by 72 usmc Sat Jan 12, 2019 4:57 pm The original Snead & Co, Iron Works, Victory Lamp pamphlet came like a folded map measuring 4 inches wide by 9 1/4 inches high. insert photo 5 It was folded onto itself twice. It unfolded to the right and then to the left producing 1/2 of the size (11 7/8" by 9 1/4") of the double sided advertising pamphlet. After unfolding the lower and upper sections its final size measures 11 7/8 inches wide by 18 1/2 inches long. The ink on the front photo is a brownish sepia tone, not a black ink like the lettering and small photos on the back. The description on the back is written in black ink using three columns with the lamp specifications box found in the lower right hand corner measuring 3 1/2" by 4 7/8”. The paper is somewhat thin, like a linen typing paper. The bottom corner talks about a reservation card. This was not with my pamphlet. One could send in the reservation card, with a $3 reservation fee to reserve a Morgan shell for your lamp, or purchase a lamp by installments at $3 per month till it was paid for. The Snead & Co, Iron Works Victory Lamp sold for $18.40. However, other ads found in American Legion magazines of the time mention the "Decorative Arts League" located at the same address, (175 5th avenue NY), as the Snead & Co. Iron Works Company. The "Decorative Arts League" sold the Uncle Ed lamp that came in three versions, each costing $12, $16, or $18.This rare document was entombed in a file cabinet for years, hence it is one of the few pieces to survive. I am posting some photos of my original paper Snead Lamp document that survives in excellent condition. Smaller pictures are show here: The first is of Franklin Booth, the artist that drew and designed the parchment shade. It seems none of the shades have survived intact. Bottom of an American Legion magazine advertisement: #108 Post by 72 usmc Sun Jan 13, 2019 11:07 am Some have asked for a readable copy. Let me see if I can take photos using four per column so the reader can read the document. Here is the lower description found on the first page at the bottom. The front page is sepia brown print so I set the camera on B&W. I will present the lower portion of the front of the document from left to right. Then with the back of the document, I will present the photos utilizing four photos reading from top to bottom for each of the tree columns. As I photo document the rear page I will move from the left column, to the center column, to the right column. The photos will be taken from the top of the page down to the bottom of the page in an effort to provide readable text. First shown is the lower section of the front page utilizing three photos: . Front page, lower left side Front page, lower center Front page, lower right side #109 Post by 72 usmc Mon Jan 14 2019 4:17 pm I am providing the description found on the back page utilizing four photos from top to bottom, moving from the left column to the right column. Back of Document, Column 1, left side of document, top Back of Document, Column 1, left side of document, upper central Back of Document, Column 1, left side of document, lower central Back of Document, Column 1, left side of document, bottom #110 Post by 72 usmc Mon Jan 14, 2019 4:19 pm Here is the Back of the Document, Column 2, with the central column of document photos from top to bottom showing four photos. Back of Document, Column 2, center column of document, top 23 Back of Document, Column 2, center column of document, center upper 24 Back of Document, Column 2, center column of document, center lower 25 Back of Document, Column 2, center column of document, bottom 26 #111 Post by 72 usmc Mon Jan 14 2019 4:22 pm Here is Column 3, the right side of document, from top to bottom showing three photos and the Specification chart at end far right corner of the document. Back of Document, Column 3, right side of document, top 27 Back of Document Column 3, right side of document, center upper 28 Back of Document, Column 3, right side of document, center lower 29 Back of Document, Column 3, right side of document, bottom. 30 The Specification chart is found at end the far right, bottom corner of the document. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 SRF Page 9 The brass base components #112 Post by 72 usmc Sun Jan 20, 2019 1:55 pm Here is the correct wing nut found on a single bulb, Victory, Snead Company lamp base. It is different on double socket lamps. Also shown is a close up of the white rubber table protector ring on the base of the lamp. This is a 1920s rubber that is the kind that hardens with age. Natural early rubber like found in vintage toys, tires, and inner tubes gradually suffers from deterioration with time. Most vintage pre 1960s rubber will dehydrated over time due to common environmental factors like temperature extremes of heat or cold. Exposure to light, air, and water accelerate the chemical degradation process of rubber. Natural degradation will cause hardening or softening, depending on the chemical make up of the rubber. A great example is a rubber band, after ten years of sitting rubber bands get hard and break into brittle pieces or stick to paper. With age, rubber can liquify into a sticky mess, or turn rock hard. The lamp seal turns rock hard and is brittle. The rubber protector ring cannot be removed. It is found rock hard or missing on the lamps. Likewise, the paper tag becomes brittle with age. Most are cracked or missing. The paper tag is glued on over a curved metal surface and not all portions of the tag stuck to the metal. It is always a nice find to locate Victory lamps with intact paper tags and the complete rubber desk protector ring. Double Socket Lamp A lamp with its original vintage cord that is in poor condition is also a nice find. Most found in this vintage time worn condition are removed and replaced with an incorrect, modern, polarized cord. If the lamp is intact, it is best to maintain the original cord for a historical display lamp. However if the buyer plans on using the lamp, as a safety precaution, it is best to remove, but keep the original cord, and use a period correct reproduction replacement cord and plug. THINGS NOT TO DO TO A VICTORY LAMP #131 Post by 72 usmc Fri May 31, 2019 2:32 pm Below are shown two more Snead Victory lamps that took abuse over the last 100 years. One has a cheep replacement socket that is so incorrect it's a joke. A modern harp is positioned under the new socket-also so wrong. Both have incorrect cords and plugs. Then to make matters worse, lets spray paint the lamp so it is really trash. I guess there is a need to ban spray paint. O the horror! At least the socket on the second lamp is original (right side of photo). Compare these two with the recently sold Snead Victory lamp shown on the bottom of page 11. It was donated to and sold by Goodwill. This is the best condition specimen I have observed. It remains in perfect condition even after 100 years. The photos are saved and preserved on page 11. The source was saved on the Wayback Machine Archive, but the photos were removed by photo bucket: https://web.archive.org/web/20210727110026/https://www.shopgoodwill.com/Item/66993766 Original link is invalid. The Goodwill lamp is shown below; more information and photos are found on page 11. What a contrast in condition between the two copper painted lamps and the Goodwill lamp. Goodwill lamp in fantastic condition shown below #132 Post by 72 usmc Sat Jul 13, 2019 12:12 am No spray paint. Need I say any more about spray paint? Spray paint is best kept away from Victory lamps. Why do it? Here is an example of a lamp that is not looking too good. Post by72 usmc Tue Feb 04 2020 2:49pm Another lamp, but again this one is repainted-poorly at that! Lets paint over the original rusty finish! What is with people and spray paint? Do we need a 5 day waiting period on cans of paint? Some of the lamp’s problems: 1) It has the wrong socket, (Pull chain) but at least a vintage one. 2) It has the wrong cord and plug. 3) Unfortunately, the paper label is missing. 4) As found on most lamps, the rubber base ring is rock hard from age. But this example is not bad for parts (base and cone) at the low starting price of $50, however shipping is $25. I assume at that shipping cost the seller is really going to pack it well so it arrives intact. I'd have them dissemble the parts for shipping to preserve the cone & base. This is a complete, but repainted specimen. Take note of the black paint over the stampings filling in the lettering. At least the second coat of paint did not cover the brass rotating ring. The shell body would be nice for a shell collection. The lamp sold for only $91. Such a lamp would be perfect to obtain a spare cone cap and non dented brass base. Due to the lamps weight, all too many get damaged in shipping due to movement within a poorly packaged box. #133 Post by 72 usmc Wed Jul 17, 2019 12:00 pm So some nut thought, "why use spray paint to destroy a historical antique, when we can brass plate the lamp and really screw it up.” Sure do shine! MY QUOTE & COMMENT "The ebay market is filled with compromised pieces. That's what is seen the most often. Consider, this thought. If the essential original character of a historical item is altered, or more than 50 percent of the finish or original parts have been changed to altered the original surface patina or non original, contemporary replacement parts have been utilized in the restoration, the item is no longer considered an antique. Its value is drastically lowered. It's an amateur muddle job, not a restoration. A large portion of the value of an old piece or historical military antique is determined first by scarcity, then second, its patina and original nature. Patina is the aged surface finish caused by the changes that occur in the aging/handling process. If you alter the original aged finish or do not restore with original, period correct parts, you destroy both the charm and value of the historical object. In some instances the remuddle is so bad, the item is worthless even for its parts value. END OF QUOTE 18 September 2022 Even today we have those that do not know what they have and must take some brass cleaner and a buffer to vintage Victory lamp to make it shine like new. ANOTHER UNCLE ED LAMP POSTED 2019 #135 Post by 72 usmc Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:03 pm HERE IS A TRUE TRAGEDY, how to destroy a piece of history. The following is difficult to comprehend. Why would someone do this? Here is another example of the tall, UNCLE ED Lamp. This is the third example I have seen. The source of the photos, long ago removed, is the seller. Unfortunately, it has been restored poorly in an amateurish, muddled manner. Such poor repairs definitely destroy the value of the piece. The incorrect light socket has been utilized and a hole drilled into the shell cap. They could not find, or wait to search out a proper Uncle Ed, dual purpose socket with shuttle switch. Worse, they ruined the shell cap by drilling a hole into it. That is a hard part to find now that it is trashed. All I can say is, what a fool! In its current state, one basically needs another lamp to get an intact part (Shell cap). These pictures are the sellers and I thank them for posting the photos in the auction. I am reposting them here as a documented photographic record of a rather rare lamp. Too bad it could not have been left in "as found,” original condition. I believe the bottom brass plate is no longer green or brass, but painted black? The paint patina and wear does not match the shell bodies patina. I cannot tell the correct color from the photos-the base should be green or brass, as well as the shell cap. In comparison to the helmet color, it does not appear to be a dark green. The green helmet is also incorrect. There is no mention if it has the head band and chin strap intact. (I found pics of helmet and added these) At first glance I thought it appears to be a British helmet? After some research, it is not British. The seller values this lamp at $300 + a heavy shipping cost. Lots of luck selling this lamp. I have no idea if the former owner or the seller, is the person who actually did the "fix it" job. Because the lamp is a rare version, such an attempt to fix this rare lamp should never have been done to an antique. Why do people mess with high end military antiques? It is a shame that a 100 year old lamp had to be subjected to such abuse. It can be fixed with a second Victory lamp as parts and an original Bryant dual purpose socket from some other vintage lamp parts. That lamp socket is also a hard find. The proper restoration cost may be as high as $150-$175 to get two donor lamps as part sources. Then, if the base is not green or brass like the originals, more problems. On the positive side the shell is in original patina finish. And it has a cloth replacement cord and plug. The cord correctly runs down the side of the lamp so the lamp divides into sections. The Uncle Ed has no hole drilled in the base for a wire to extend up the center of the shell. I wonder if the paper tag or rubber ring still remains intact on the base plate? The mid section should unlock as a container: this is shown in the photo. I wonder if the base plate is in original finish? If it is original, it lends evidence that Uncle Ed lamps may have come painted in green and black? I wonder? I do not see the bottom. This is now the third documented UNCLE ED LAMP that I have observed. At $100, I would attempt to buy it in order to restore it back to its former glory. This is an interesting specimen, but priced too high for its faults and needed restoration cost. Here we go with the photo documentation: THIS IS SO WRONG IT MAKES ME WANT TO CRY A harsh comment "Stupid is as stupid does..." ring a bell? It is a tragic shame what occurred to this poor lamp. It would have been worth something if left “as found” for a professional lamp restoration person to correct and restore. The shell cone is a hard part to find without purchasing another lamp. End of lecture. #136 Post by 72 usmc Mon Sep 09, 2019 10:20 pm For the record. The two photos below show the PROPER SOCKET to use as a replacement for the correct socket that is actually found on an Uncle Ed Lamp. The above photo shows two sockets (Bryant). The first is for a Victory Lamp; the second is for an Uncle Ed Lamp. Both are ORIGINAL. Notice the hole off to the side of the base on the original socket. This is a dual purpose shuttle switch (with two paths for the cord attachment) that is used on the Uncle Ed lamp. #137 Post by 72 usmc Tue Sep 10, 2019 12:48 am When I first viewed the auction, I missed the helmet photos. So I added them because of some interesting points that I overlooked. First, the helmet is not British and it lacks the chin strap mounts. Second, this looks very similar to the IMA helmet shown on page 7. Unfortunately, it looks to be freshly sprayed paint. It no longer has an original finish or patina. Is it a brass helmet that was repainted? Or, is it a steel British one with the chin strap mounts removed? Is it a reproduction? I do not think so. While I see no dents and wear to the helmet, its new finish does not match a 100 year old lamp’s patina. The helmet’s present condition does not match the condition of the shell body. The helmet has definitely been recently repainted. Painted helmet IMA lamp with helmet Third, the question I ask myself, was this an original brass helmet like the IMA specimen? Did someone destroy an intact, super rare brass helmet with a white lacquer reflector interior by repainting an original intact Uncle Ed helmet? It should have been left as found with all its glory and patina. I have no idea what the helmet shade looked like prior to the amateur work. It is a true error of great magnitude if that was an original Uncle Ed helmet like seen on the IMA specimen that was then altered by painting it to make the helmet look new or cover a tarnished brass top. I believe the helmet was an original. There is now a problem for restoration. The white interior would be next to impossible to remove in order to reveal the old, white, lead enamel. Will the new white paint come off to expose the old lead finish? Or would both be destroyed in a removal/restoration attempt to expose the original white lead paint? Was the lamp bulb clip painted silver or is a new replacement part ? The IMA helmet is all brass. The freshly painted green seen on this example can be removed from the brass. But I believe the helmet is still damaged beyond restoration. If this is truly an original brass Uncle Ed helmet, to do such changes to the helmet is beyond nuts. One might as well polish or chrome the shell body to complete the lunacy. Post by 72 usmc Wed Dec 04 2019 7:01pm The mongrel dog sold to someone with lots of cash ($280) and the buyer maybe had a spare lamp for parts. This example actually sold at a crazy price $245 with $35 for shipping. Maybe some dreamer wants to make it correct. Someone really wanted an Uncle Ed lamp real, real, bad. I wonder if it will be restored? Looking at the painted helmet shown above, I do not see chin strap anchors. It is not a British helmet. The more I study this photo, the more it looks similar to the IMA original Uncle Ed helmet. If the above pictured helmet is a freshly painted-over, original, Uncle Ed, rarely found brass helmet; then what was done to this lamp is a travesty to history. The clip on adaptor looks rather fresh on the painted example. In contrast, on the IMA example there is a heat induced copper tone to light bulb clip-on adaptor. Remember, I have observed only two examples of this type of all brass helmet, so I am still unsure of the actual attributes found on an intact example. Below is a photo of a reproduction, WW I Brodie helmet which is perfect for an inaccurate restoration of a Victory or Uncle Ed lamp. Never modify an original WW I helmet. If a helmet is to be mounted in a fashion that requires the helmet to be drilled for a finial, it is best to destroy a reproduction. Reproduction Helmet The Uncle Ed helmet is brass, not steel. The reproduction helmet's rolled lip is present on the outer underside of the edge. Both the IMA and the painted helmet lack this attribute. This is strong evidence that the painted helmet could be a possible brass, Uncle Ed helmet that was repainted and really screwed up. Such modification to an original rare piece to make a lamp look new in order to sell is not restoration. Such work is destruction of an “as found” vintage, relic lamp. Such uneducated work just makes me sick! On this Uncle Ed lamp, the original, aged, patina and finish is gone. There are just too many questions, and this lamp has undergone some serious modifications to the point it is no longer considered an intact antique. I guess this a great example of what not to do to one of the 1,769 Uncle Eds lamps produced. Below is a view of the IMA original Uncle Ed helmet with its intact finish. The reader can even see the heat altered lacquer from the light bulb and color change on the clip-on adaptor. Below is a view of an original WW I helmet. The above photo shows the underside edge and the chin strap mounts. These attributes are not found on the brass Uncle Ed helmet. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 SRF Page 10 Snead Company Victory Ashtrays So the dust has settled on poorly restored Victory lamps. Time to switch subjects. Post by 72 usmc Sun May 12 2019 3:48pm Call me a hog and a hoarder, but I just found another Snead ashtray in all places—Washington. This is a long way to ship a heavy item back to Wisconsin. The cost of shipping is getting nuts, you can expect to pay $16-$25 depending on the distance and how it is shipped. The weight for an ashtray is approximately 3.25 pounds. This one is a little beat and well used during the last 100 year These are somewhat harder to find than the lamps. I consider them a rare find. Here are some pictures of my third Morgan Explosion Victory ashtray (original patina). The brass plate bottom remains intact although dented. Maybe it was utilized as a nut cracker? The ashtray is marked with the more commonly found inscription similar to the markings found on the lamps: VICTORY Nov. 11, 1918 75 m/m SHELL There are two versions of the inscription: one with a reversed order and the commonly found inscription identical to the Victory lamp. Post by 72 usmc Wed Mar 13 2019 Here is another Morgan ashtray that is on flee bay and the seller has no clue. It should sell in a day or two because it is listed as a “Buy it Now” and listed incorrectly. This is not mine, I got two examples already that are similar to the one shown for sale. If it had the reverse writing, it would have been mine. There are two versions, this is the variation most commonly seen. Here is a HINT to the lucky person that may stumble onto the listing. If you want one, best grab it asap. Time 09:40 Wen going, going … . I wonder how long it will take? It SOLD 21 March and was listed 13 March 2019; the sale took much longer than I thought; 8 days! Note the source link has been removed due to age https://www.ebay.com/itm/WW1-Trench-Art ... %7Ciid%3A1 This one has a flat milled bottom and is lacking the bottom brass plate. These are rarely seen. So this makes the fifth ashtray that I have seen since I started this forum post on SRF on 7 June 2017. These ashtrays are some interesting additions to the Victory lamp and are heavy little buggers! #138 Post by 72 usmc Sun Sep 22, 2019 1:56 pm Here is a very interesting new version of a" Victory" ashtray. While in poor condition, it sold very fast. I made an offer and in the time that elapsed to get a reply, a lucky buyer paid the full BUY IT NOW price. I think that was $69 or $79 plus $15 shipping. I was cheep. I tried to offer a lower bid. I did not think many would be after it because it was so beat; hence, I lost out. This is the first one I have seen inscribed 'PEACE". Its top edge is decorated. I have only observed two other ones marked like the Victory lamp that also had the crazy decoration on the top edge. Most do not. Note, this has the brass base desk protector on the shell bottom. I am not sure if it is home made, or a factory version. The letter fonts seem to match for upper case letters found on Victory lamps. But the stampings on the word "PEACE" and "75 MM" seem weak and lightly applied. There also appears to be a line under the date stamp. I have never observed such a line on the more common Victory ashtrays. Is the date underlined? The 7 and the 5 are very different from number fonts found on the lamps. I am not sure if the upper edge treatment is a factory production. Most Victory ashtrays have a smooth, milled edge. Most have well stamped, deep lettering on the ashtray. This Peace example is in doubt. Was it a factory made, lunch time personal production? I have not found any 1920s magazine advertising for the Victory ashtray. This Victory ash tray reads: PEACE Nov. 11 1918 ________ 75 MM Ebay pictures: This is another recently sold eBay factory produced, "Victory" ashtray with what is considered a normal upper edge. #143 Post by 72 usmc Thu Jan 30, 2020 2:58 pm Another Victory Ashtray. I am not sure the Peace ashtray show above is a factory production. There are two versions that seem to be factory stamped ashtrays with the slightly different fonts, style, and size, the more commonly seen version has the wording: VICTORY Nov. 11, 1918 75 M/M Shell The other version is much harder to find and has the wording reversed: 75 M M Shell VICTORY Nov. 11, 1918 I just obtained a nice specimen of the harder to find version like the one shown on the Morgan Explosion Web page: http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-ash-tray/ ...The ash tray was awarded a patent. Patent number 53,397 was filed on December 4, 1918. Here is the majority of the text from the patent application: QUOTE "Also like the Victory Lamp and lamp shade, the ash tray was awarded a patent. Patent number 53,397 was filed on December 4, 1918 – exactly two months after the explosions which started on October 4th – and awarded on June 3, 1919. Here is the majority of the text from the patent application: “Be it known that I, ANGUS S. MACDONALD, a citizen of the United States, residing at Great Neck Station, in the county of Nassau and State of New York, have invented and produced a new, original, and ornamental Design for an Ash-Tray, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, which form a part of this specification. My invention relates to an original design for ash trays and resides in the shape or form of the same being novel in its contour and in the arrangement of its ornamentation, as is clearly shown and fully illustrated in the annexed drawing…" END OF QUOTE SOURCE: http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-ash-tray/ Here is a photo of the ashtray example show on the Morgan web page: Here is a documentation of my specimen prior to cleaning the rust (as found condition) : #144 Post by 72 usmc Thu Jan 30, 2020 3:01 pm Here are some pictures of my rare version: This ashtray has a nice even blackish brown patina like it may have been originally blued? It is amazing what a PB blaster and Kroil Oil soak and a soft tooth brush will do to surface rust. It sat oiled for 3 days then I gently brushed off the surface rust. No one wanted it due to its poor condition and high shipping, but for 52 bucks I got a nice example that cleaned up well. This is a rarely found version that originated from an estate in Monroe, New York. It seems most are found out east. #103 Post by 72 usmc Thu Dec 06, 2018 6:07 pm Here is another example of the harder to find version of the Morgan ashtray. It is similar to the one shown on the Morgan Historical web page. See: http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-ash-tray/ This second example has some decoration to the top and cigar holding grooves ground into the upper edge. The bottom is milled flat. This is also odd, it is the first millled base that I have observed. The shell body is rather dark, like it may have been painted black. This version has the wording order reversed. Its inscription is dissimilar to the lamp's inscription. This ashtray reads: 75mm SHELL VICTORY Nov. 11, 1918 not the normally found markings: VICTORY Nov. 11, 1918 75 m/m SHELL There are two versions of the ashtray inscription: one with this reversed order and the other with an inscription identical to the Victory lamp. The “Peace” marked ashtray is an odd ball, it may be a third factory version. I have only seen one example. This baby sold $115. #157 Post by 72 usmc Wed Apr 29, 2020 11:01 pm It must be a sign of the times, another Morgan Explosion VICTORY ashtray just was posted on flee bay 29 April 2020. This one looks in pretty good shape! That makes three for this year coming out of the wood work since January 2020. This one was not blued and had a smooth top edge. insert photo 31 Someone got a deal. $47 is a steal! #145 Post by 72 usmc Fri Jan 31, 2020 8:20 am Some have asked for the web page that I provided on page one. So here it is again. The link to the Morgan NJ web page history: SOURCE: http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/ This is the home page with links to all of the information. This web page has the history of the town, pictures, people, and explosion. The book posted on page 1 is excellent. For specific information please see: Victory Lamp SOURCE: https://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-lamp/ Victory Ashtray SOURCE: http://www.morgan-nj.org/blog/sample-page/t-a-gillespie-shell-loading-company/world-war-i-victory-ash-tray/ Post by 72 usmc Fri Sep 24, 2021 7:38 pm Finally, after about a year an original Snead Victory ashtray showed up and sold cheep in 2021. The seller had no idea what he or she had. It sold for only $56; someone got a real deal! The photo source is the auction photos that have been removed due to age. ------------------------------------------------------------------ The Road to the Armistice #140 Post by 72 usmc Tue Nov 26, 2019 7:39 am In the book, The Road to the Armistice, by Richard J. Connors, 2018, a footnote indicates some speculation on his part that lamps and ashtrays were made by the possible use of left over WW I shells rather than ones just obtained from the explosion factory site. This quote struck me as odd. I wonder the basis of the author’s speculation. QUOTE END OF QUOTE (taken as a screen view) The original Victory tag indicates different: Strathmore Vellum Parchment Victory shade designed by Franklin Booth Booth designed the parchment shade for the Morgan Lamp. No recent photos of an actual surviving specimen are known to exist. I have never seen a lamp with an intact parchment shade. QUOTE "There were two types of lamp shades offered. The first lamp shade type featured a metal doughboy helmet. The second one had an open top and was composed of Strathmore Vellum Parchment. The art work on the open top lamp shade was designed by Franklin Booth, a noted period artist best known for his stylized ink line drawings. It was open on the top to allow for the venting of the burned oil or burned gas. Franklin designed the lamp shade to have a different mood depending on whether the lamp was lit or unlit. Without light, the shade portrayed a war scene. With light, the lamp transformed to a scene of peace. This was done by having artwork both on the outside of the lamp shade as well as the inside." END OF QUOTE SOURCE : http://www.canadianflight.org/content/75mm-artillery-shell An interesting fact is provided from an Auction Company. Here is the quote: QUOTE "Franklin Booth is best known for his illustrations, which appeared in major American publications of the period. His characteristic style of drawing that emulated the fine lines of a wood cut print is evident in the delineated profile of the present design. Booth's one other foray into lighting design was a 1920 patent for a lampshade design commemorating World War I, and to be used on the "Victory" lamps produced by Snead and Company of Morgan, New Jersey. That shade cleverly presented two scenes: when unlit a war scene illustration was visible on the exterior, when illuminated a peacetime scene would shine through from the interior. Less than a decade later, Booth's second lamp design (presented here) once again reflected contemporary American preoccupations in its adoption of a skyscraper form. This design is recorded under the United States patent number D78189 S, published April 9, 1929.” END OF QUOTE Booth sky scraper shade /lamp source: https://www.phillips.com/detail/franklin-booth/NY050214/232 The Phillips Auction Company. "Phillips is a premier destination for buyers and sellers of modern, post-war, contemporary, American and Latin American works of art. So, I wonder what the value of an intact, Booth shade would be? #141 Post by 72 usmc Tue Nov 26, 2019 10:57 am Franklin Booth's shade for the Victory Lamp show on the flyer. #146 Post by 72 usmc Sat Feb 01 2020 11:13 am From the official Gazette of the US Patent Office about inventions/designs of ANGUS S. MACDONALD (Designer of the ashtray) from 22 April 1919, page 780. Here are two interesting drawings of Victory lamps. See the cloth shade on the upper photo, not the helmet or parchment shade, and then the second photo is the short Uncle Ed lamp-not the tall version. The photos are from a specimen that I own and are shown on page 7. The Uncle Ed versions are extremely difficult to find and command a very high price. Diagrams of Victory lamps with shades AS FOUND WW I 1919 VICTORY LAMP #147 Post by 72 usmc Sat Feb 01, 2020 11:46 am AS FOUND WW I 1919 VICTORY LAMP An unheard of find, a lamp that no fool messed with. For those that have way too much cash to get rid of and want an “as found,” unmodified specimen of a WW I Snead Victory Lamp, this one was recently posted on flee bay. Almost all examples the reader will encounter are poorly restored. However, this is a very nice specimen in "as found condition" and I am posting the owners photos of it for a record of what constitutes an example of an unbelievable nice find. Note: This lamp has the original cord and maybe its plug, original Bryant socket, and a correct, but somewhat later 1920s screw on shade holder. It is missing the paper tag, but has the white rubber ring that is most likely rock hard. Take a look at the surface finish of the shell body and the brass parts (cone, socket, and base). This is what a nice aged, 100 year old patina should look like. How sweet it is! Photo documentation is found below: The asking price as a Buy It Now was approximately $170. This was posted 30 Jan 2020 and it will be gone in less than 5 days. Update Post by 72 usmc Tue Feb 04, 2020 2:49 pm It sold in two days, someone made a side offer. They did not like the $169 BUY IT NOW Price. The seller closed the bidding early. This jewel sold at $140. Even at $169 this was a great lamp to own. Someone got a very nice intact lamp. There is a lesson to be learned here. If you see a lamp you like on flee bay, make a crazy offer rather than letting the auction play out. Contact the seller and see if her she might take an offer. Also have a sniping software that bids for you on eBay. You can set the time and amount. Many a time I have won a bid by placing the highest amount I am willing to pay and the program bids in the last 5 or 10 seconds. I call this the “zapper” program. It bids every second till it reaches the end time of the auction or highest bid offered. Sometimes the auction end time runs out and it is the luck of the draw to see who's bid is the last to get in. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 SRF Page 11 More Victory Lamp Examples #151 Post by 72 usmc Tue Mar 31, 2020 2:00 pm Here is a modified Victory lamp that was offered in April of 2020. All photos are sourced from the auction page. This Source has been removed due to age. Let me provide a review of the details of the incorrect parts on this lamp. 1) It appears to have been rewired sometime ca. 1950s using a vintage, but not correct Monowatt pull chain socket that has a nice patina. The lamp can easily be switched to a correct, vintage Bryant red/black shuttle switch. 2) The cord and plug is modern and not a reproduction cloth cord with vintage plug. 3) It appears from scratches and peeling paint that the original finish may not be present. I am unsure of the paint. It is possible the original paint was removed in the 1950s and resprayed and this 1950s thin layer is now aged and peeling. It is also possible this is simply a poor factory paint job. 4) Good attributes. Both the brass cone and base remain non dented and have a nice original patina. A good number of lamps get their brass base stand bent from poor packing and rough shipping due to the weight of the lamp banging around loose in the box. This movement inside a poorly packaged box can also destroy the socket and bend the cone. The cone and base are hard items to find intact. 5) This lamp has a nice original patina. The base has the correct washer and wing nut. The rubber ring is present and not cracked. The price is very fair for such a lamp in this state (it started at $50) and is a great buy for a parts lamp. Heck, it would be nice to have a bare shell. There are two bidders on the first day... we shall see the going flee bay value. The lamp sold for $91 and the normal shipping of approximately $25 (total value $116). Photo of correct nut and intact rubber desk protector ring. Below is an incorrect Monowatt socket, but can be salvaged Incorrect cord & plug 1950s Perfect brass cone with patina, and strip the paint, and one has a nice metal shell to place next to an intact lamp . I am not sure if this is an original finish or not, I would have to view it in person to be sure. The black paint just does not have a dull look, it seems too thin and the color generally wears down and not peel off. Update #152 Post by 72 usmc Tue Apr 07, 2020 7:45 pm This lamp sold at a somewhat high price than expected ($116). Parts can be expensive. It appears if the brass cone or base plate is damaged it is going to cost at least $100 to obtain a replacement for a damaged lamp. Shipping for the heavy lamp is on the rise and can vary from a low of $25 to high of $40. #156 Post by 72 usmc Mon Apr 27, 2020 1:12 pm Also of late, I have seen just the Victory lamp shell bodies for sale in an effort to recoup the high cost of parts. I believe when a second lamp is purchased parts, most likely the best parts: the cone cap and base, are stripped off for use on another lamp.Then the shell is sold. An example was on auction for $75. While a spare Victory shell is nice, I would really like to obtain a shell actually recovered by a metal detector find or a dug relic from the ground at the Morgan Explosion, NJ site, not one from a lamp. This would be an unmarked shell. The actually Snead factory marked stripped shells are going $75 to $100. Apparently more than a few collectors want a shell for their collection. The sources of the photo is the auction and this source was removed due to age. #101 Post by 72 usmc Mon Oct 29, 2018 7:52 am Here are some pictures of a Snead Victory lamp still maintaining its original cord. The remains of the paper tag and white rubber ring is also visible. Original cord on Victory lamp Unfortunately the impossible to find top nose piece and upper original section is missing on this lamp. Intact victory lamp lower shell section. This is one nice base that remains intact. I wonder what happen to the top? Victory lamp shell with broken top, photo of bid list shown below. Another shell body. SOURCE https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-1918-victory-lamp-wwi-morgan-1935324095 The GOODWILL LAMP - a perfect example Post by 72usmc Sun May 12 2019 Here is a treasure, a Victory lamp that I missed at Goodwill that the dogs gave away at $55. This is the best condition lamp I have found and I am providing some photo documentation of it. SOURCE: https://shopgoodwill.com/item/66993766 The photos are now removed due to age. Sold at auction by Goodwill Industries on 4/29 /2019, this Victory lamp is about as original as you can find and the idiots put scotch tape over the original tag. This clueless act most likely caused the destruction of the tag. Notice the plug and correct Bryant push button shuttle socket with red/black switch. The lamp has correct parts, an intact nice finish, intact cone & base, intact rubber base ring, and intact paper tag. This is a lamp in just the correct condition anyone would look for. This lamp is about as perfect as one can find after 100 years. Condition, condition, condition, due to its near perfect condition, on ebay or at auction, such a Victory lamp would have easily sold at $250-$300. This lamp is photo documented with six photos below. All Goodwill photos that have been removed from the auction listing. I still cannot believe the morlocks put tape over the original fragile tag. Someone needs a 3 day waiting period before they handle historical antiques. WORTHPOINT EXAMPLES WorthPoint is a web site that is designed for researching and finding somewhat current values for antiques, art and collectibles. WorthPoint.com includes a price guide for researching and valuing antiques, a reference gallery for identifying makers’ marks, and it provides a digital library of current reference books on collecting topics. More information can be fund on the web page. SOURCE: https://www.worthpoint.com/about Below are some examples of Victory lamps archived on their resource pages. Most of these originate from now removed old ebay auctions. You must be a member in order to see the price an item sold for at action. While I am not concerned with price, they provide some nice research photos. However, they do not show all the photos offered on the original auction sites, but they do preserve a sample of the past photos and the item description. If you are a member you can see what an item sold for as well as the date and place of the auction. I am not a member. Below I provide photo documentation of some Victory lamp examples that I wanted to preserve with their source link. All photo sources are screen shots taken from archived Worthpoint examples. Example 1 Here is an intact Victory lamp that most would be lucky to find that is archived by WorthPoint. Notice the original worn and hard frayed cord is present and the lamp has its original socket, black paint, and aged patina. SOURCE: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/antique-ww1-1918-victory-lamp-75mm-1883687349 photos are from the source: insert photos 23 24 25 26 Example 2 This lamp shows a different paint finish, all too shinny with its finish flaking off. The paint application seems to be too thin due to a bad mix of paint or light application. This is a second example of such poor paint on a lamp that I assume is original. I have no idea? The lamp is restored poorly like most of the finds at auction. SOURCE: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/snead-co-wwi-victory-lamp-works-1928488324 Example 3 This example has the odd brass/bronze coating that is found on some of the lamps redone in the 1950-1960s. The photos provide a great close up view of this bronzed finish. Notice the incorrect turn switch and a tall harp for an adaptation for a cloth shade rather than a steel helmet. https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/authentic-trench-art-75-mm-shell-case-2011890261 Example 4 This specimen shows the dull black paint finish generally found on intact shell bodies that show 100 years of patina. Its paper label is well preserved and the ring is flattened down and rock hard from age. SOURCE: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/75-mm-victory-lamp-trench-art-mortar-shell-lamp Example 5 This lamp is interesting because it has some kind of wire framework remaining from the shade. I wonder, is this an original wire support frame from the parchment shade? SOURCE: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/fantastic-wwi-french-american-75-mm-1918-shell Example 6 This lamp has already been shown. However, its color is exhibiting some kind of deterioration. Is this lamp black, but the finish is waxed or the photo’s color is wrong? Again, like most Victory lamps it exhibits an incorrect restoration. However, the lamp is not bad and it may have a correct black finish. This lamp has correct parts and patina. I think the brown tones are due to poor photography. Some lamps have color alterations to their black paint from chemical cleaning. This is an attribute to be on the watch for when purchasing a lamp. Always try to obtain photos in natural light. The finial is modern and the harp incorrect and to bright. All easy fixes to obtain a better restoration. SOURCE: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/wwi-ww1-morgan-explosion-75mm-shell-536263924 Example 7 This final example is another nice condition Victory lamp that is just all wrong. Notice the incorrect bulb, modern cord, wrong harp and an out of place homemade finial. Still, this lamp can be saved if restored properly. SOURCE: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/original-ww1-75mm-1918-victory-lamp-3824644815 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 SRF Page 12 The Jokers Post by 72 usmc Mon Jul 12 2021 9:23am Here is a real joker, this lamp is so modified it's crazy. This is the first time I have seen one go this far toward the incorrect. A turn to the dark side... And the asking price is $400. It looks like someone took the top socket and milk glass shade from a mogul floor lamp and used it on this poor Victory lamp. I am not sure what is more crazy; the price or the remuddled electrical components? Do you think it's a three-way switch? One more time, if you find an intact lamp please consider this thought prior to improving upon it: QUOTE “If the essential original character of a historical item is altered, or more than 50 percent of the finish or original parts have been changed to altered the original surface patina or non original, contemporary replacement parts have been utilized in the restoration, the item is no longer considered an antique. Its value is drastically lowered. It's an amateur muddle job, not a restoration. A large portion of the value of an old piece or historical military antique is determined first by scarcity, then second, its patina and original nature. Patina is the aged surface finish caused by the changes that occur in the aging/handling process. If you alter the original aged finish or do not restore with original, period correct parts, you destroy both the charm and value of the historical object. In some instances the remuddle is so bad, the item is worthless even for its parts value.” END OF QUOTE I guess it must be the same specialist destroying lamps (remember these that could only fetch $200 for a pair, not the 600 asking price.) Please see the lower photo. French Oil lamps Stamped Verdun by 72 usmc Tue Jul 13 2021 10:55 am Here are two interesting factory made trench art clones. They are similar to the Snead oil lamps, but not. These are a French made oil lamp set. They are interesting for the shade. (There are original gas and oil Snead Company Victory lamps, but most have been electrified. Either example of an actual Victory specimen is very rare in their original state.) These are documented here because they are a nice set of trench art pieces. The French company that produced these two above oil lamps is unknown. I am unsure of the burners, they do not look used. I see no patina, so are the burners new NOS replacements? Or are they modern replicas? They are French, but do not appear to be the same style as found on turn of the century oil lamps from 1900. I am not familiar with the oil burner head maker Brevetf. Notice that the collar has a patina, but the oil burner heads appear new. These are possible modern reproduction replacements.The lack of patina with heat and soot staining are a red flag. However, these are still nice lamps if one could obtain two identical, period, well used, original oil burners to fit them. The true horror is that they were both cleaned, "sure do shine". I wonder if the seller had a rare coin, would he or she clean it? As antique people, they seem to have no clue. The maker of the wick assembly is "Brevetf". This is not the lamp producer. Is this lamp made by a French factory or a trench art craftsman? They are very well done? The stamping “Verdum" has been added later. It is stamped uneven and does not appear the same quality of workmanship as seen in the lamps. The information and photo source is Heidelberg Antiques, Denver. Below is their description (ebay source has been removed due to age): QUOTE Description 2 French WWI Art Nouveau Trench Art Shell Boudoir Brass OIL LAMPS Verdun c1920 LB Brevet MEASURES: ~11 1/4" tall, ~4 5/8" widest diameter at shade, ~2 5/8" base diameter. Good used condition with great patina. Untested. Frosted glass shades in good shape, original. Marked on wick knob- L&B Brevet F. END OF QUOTE There seems to be few takers on these odd trench art specimens. I would venture to predict that the value is most likely around $100 per lamp? Note: destroy the patina and one destroys the lamp's character and value. These lamps may be an example of “clean it=lower value.” Gas Lamp Trench Art SOURCE https://www.ebay.com/itm/265292180912?hash=item3dc4a56db0:g:PgQAAOSwH6VhGdWl&amdata=enc%3AAQAHAAAAoMMnuuRSDwSLNy0WBb93aN2JuHBj6PA1HNvbJ4U9%2BuM%2Bs2amNfzV%2FV%2FQafjEVlQ3G0HlqkCvaiGtdn7JHLXQJgo6n4XOhuBV57VyVUcf7QYtWzoWwW1C5ylUNF46Y%2F0VVkhvWzRkRYLAGcxCcwqw3FItRCRH8DrvYANXCtMpz094L%2FgMI5KzW43u5HyhJ81zCLXeQZ4Fg%2F5eSP8sr%2FXv42Q%3D|tkp%3ABk9SR_j7_t3rYA Here is another odd ball trench art lamp base missing its upper parts that was originally a gas lamp. Notice it was not cleaned or spit polished! It has its ORIGINAL Patina to the surface and if the correct gas head can be found this lower section can be restored to a very nice gas lamp. It has not sold for at least a year due to its crazy high price and the additional need cost for original replacement parts. There seems to be far less interest in these home made trench art lamps because the gals of the house hate them. They are more for a man cave. My wife said, when I die my Victory lamps are the first things to go. Unfortunately, they most likely will be tossed into the trash. I love my Uncle Ed lamp. Most seem to like the history of the Snead factory lamp versions due to their association with the Morgan explosion. However, if I saw one of these two rather unique trench art specimens discussed above at a rummage/fair grounds sale, or large antique show or store, I'd be your huckleberry at $100. One sees too many common, poorly done small trench art shell lamps generally priced at $30-$75. Common trench art is not in high demand. At least the above two are rather artistic and unique works of craftsmanship. With high shipping costs and damage occurring during shipping because heavy items are being poorly packaged, and the artifact having a high sticker price, many trench art lamps sit on flee bay or the antique store shelves. I have never seen female WW I trench art lamp collectors at the antique store. I do occasionally work at an antique store when its owner is off on a buy. Another item buyers avoid because they have fallen out of fashion is the trench art ashtray. Few collect trench art ashtrays. These are very common and crudely made. The ones for sale at the antique store, we almost have to give away. Nonetheless, a true factory made Victory ashtray is a rare bird. They command a good price. Now if we get a WW I firearm, or equipment, especially bayonets, helmets, or uniforms that walk into the door, it is a lucky day. Granted it is a rare purchase. Most good military related stuff is sold to friends; people do not bring it into the store to sell.There are too many military buyers readily available, why take a 30-50% loss selling to a store for resale. Most vintage military items are sold to friends that desire the goodies. When we do obtain them, WW I items sell fast at the store. Even with a high price tag, it flies out the door. In contrast, trench art sits on the shelf unless it is a unique specimen. Victory Clone by 72 usmc Tue Jul 13 2021 11:01 am The third, Non Snead, Victory-like clone lamp is an electrified, more commonly seen shell lamp. The helmet is original and is the most interesting attribute on this lamp. Notice the white interior and helmet bracket. This appears to be a modified original WW I steel helmet that utilizes a unique holding design. I have observed two of these sort of lamps with this type of shade. I have no idea if this is a factory production or trench art. It is unfortunate that it has been poorly restored. To see it in its original state with correct parts would have been historically interesting. The switch is not original, nor is the finial. I wonder what type of socket it had? See page 13 for an intact example of this same lamp that showed up in December of 2021. A unique helmet attachment method On the positive side, the shell, base, and helmet remain intact. Finding a correct socket and finial may make for a nice lamp. However, this is the first one like this I have seen. I am unsure what would be a correct socket for this nice specimen. It will take some research. This is a nice clone, but it is not as valuable as an intact Snead Victory Lamp. But is this some factory lamp, or artist’s trench art? Who made it? I asked the seller and there is no maker's mark or tag on the lamp. Here are some observations. The shell has no inscription, it has an original fuse rather than a Victory lamp’s brass cone cap. The lamp is made from an actual surplus WW I, 75mm shell. The rotating band has no rifling imprints; it was never fired engaging the rifling in a barrel, otherwise you would see grooves imprinted on the rotating band. The base plate looks like metal, but painted with a black lacquer. But notice it is not identical to a Snead Lamp brass base; it is shaped differently. The helmet has white enamel on the inside of an original olive drab green, steel WW I helmet. The interior has been spray painted white over the original green color to replicate a reflector as seen on the IMA brass specimen. Look closely and you can see green below the areas where the white paint chipped off. The lamp finial is a modern replacement. Why use a finial? The creative holding bracket design does not require a finial. The socket is a monstrosity of poor restoration. I see no switch? To call it a restoration is beyond nice--more like an idiocy. Intact, not working, and original, this would have been an intriguing lamp for study. The pictures are from the auction. The source is long gone. I wish it was priced cheeper, I would love to see the helmet in person. It appears to be a factory even application of vintage white enamel. However, on well used shades, you generally see evidence of heat discoloration and yellowing to the interior white paint toward the top of the helmet from the hot bulb. Sometimes the heat caused flaking of the paint to the interior and exterior of the helmet shade. On this lamp, there are no visible signs of heat stress unless a low watt, small bulb was utilized during its historical use. It also fails to have bracket wear marks at the attachment points. This always exhibits wear, loss of paint, scratches and patina? All Puzzling attributes. I wonder how recent a fabrication this lamp actually is? I wonder if the strap mounting bracket is someone’s clever solution to hang the helmet as a shade on a piece of home made trench art or is this a factory production? I assume the base is original and likewise the shell body, however it is possible the entire upper helmet and bracket has been assembled/fabricated from other parts? The shade may not have come from this lamp, rather it is a later addition. While the shade is a real helmet, a close inspection of the white paint finished, and the hole in the top of the helmet may indicate removal of the head band assembly from a surplus WW I helmet and a recent type of white paint. While I do not remember where I have seen this before, that curved bracket for the helmet mount looks familiar. I am thinking it maybe original to the lower section of this lamp. (See page 13 for a view with another lamp with a similar mount for the helmet.) Because there are two samples of this type of hanger, I wonder if some sort of kit was sold to produce trench art lamps that had this form of hanger. It may also be a factory produced lamp. The white socket is modern garbage, too bad we do not know what the original lamps socket looked like. Below are photos of my American WW I helmet and my British helmet showing the chin strap attachment points. The American helmet is shown first. WW I American US helmet Painted American ,The white painted helmet ( American ) from the above Victory clone lamp. For more information about American WW I helmets please see: SOURCE: https://www.treasurebunker.com/forums/index.php?/topic/3412-us-ww1-and-ww2-brodie-helmets-and-maker-stamps/ Next is an example of one of my British WW I helmet. WW I British Helmet For more information and photos (This is good) about British WW I helmets please see: SOURCE: https://www.treasurebunker.com/forums/index.php?/topic/1514-british-commonwealth-ww1-ww2-brodie-helmet-maker-stamps/#comment-9780 Broken Socket Victory Lamp in Original Condition Here is an all original, “as found,” Victory lamp in poor condition from some basement. While broken, it still has its original socket which is a Bryant shuttle switch with the red/black plastic bakelite button. All to many Victory lamps have been poorly restored by morons. This is a nice intact specimen to restore. The original ebay auction source has been removed due to age. Post by 72 usmc Sat Sep 11 2021 6:47 pm In its original condition the old lamp sold fast. The price is $230 total, you got to love original lamps! Original Paper Documentation by 72 usmc Wed Sep 08 2021 9:16 pm Well, I finally found an original magazine with the "Uncle Ed” advertisement. This Uncle Ed Lamp was made in sections and differed from the solid shell, Snead Company Victory Lamp. This magazine is in great condition. The Uncle Ed Lamp advertisement consists of a full page found on page 15 in The American Legion Weekly which was printed on newsprint paper and is a very thin weekly pamphlet that functioned as the American Legion newspaper of the times. The newspaper becomes brittle and very yellow with age, so it is difficult to find an issue in good condition. This advertisement is found in The American Legion Weekly , Volume 4, Number 12 from the week of 24 March 1922. The magazine presents a very interesting period advertisement with some enlighten facts about Uncle Ed lamps. For a review of the short Uncle Ed see page 9 of this post where details of my Uncle Ed lamp are discussed. The details and patent number 282,754 A view of my Uncle Ed short boy lamp Some have requested close up views of the advertisement page, so here are the requested close up views: Left side, top corner Left side middle Left side bottom corner 3 Here is the Right Side. Right side central top description below the main description title Right side center. Views of the Lamp sections-2 views Right side bottom corner. The order form for the lamp, but you are 99 years too late. A deal at $12.75 per lamp! 1919 Snead Company Instruction Sheet Post by 72 usmc Wed Oct 06 2021 8:33 pm Talk about luck... I found this piece of paper and had a friend get it for me asap. This rare document was listed the day I got it as a BUY IT NOW on flee bay. This is one of the original 1919 instruction sheets that came with a Snead Victory Lamp. Yeps, 100 years old and someone saved it and more important the finder did not throw it out, rather he or she gave it away on flee bay. I could not believe my eyes. The only thing better would be an original shipping crate or parchment shade. I have posted the sellers excellent photos. It proves three versions of the Snead Company lamp were manufactured: electric, gas, and kerosene Victory lamps. It is interesting history to read the set up instructions and the comments about the Booth parchment shade. It seems none of the shades have survived. The Original Snead instruction sheet And this original historical document's cost if you can believe it... was as shown below. $8.50 Sometimes all things go just right and the correct stuff comes to those that will preserve it and treasure it. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 SRF Page 13 Post by 72 usmc Tue Nov 30 2021 5:27pm Here is a photo of an original Victory lamp missing its socket insert; the base is present. This as found condition Victory lamp has its aged patina with its original paper tag somewhat intact. There is no flaking of paint on the shell. The paper tag is almost complete, no scotch tape was placed over the tag. However, it does appears that a second coat of shellac, clear varnish, or glue was placed over the tags surface in order to preserve it. Here is a close up view of the original tag found on the bottom of the lamp base. While has a modern replacement cord, this lamp still maintains the original plug. The black shell has nice paint. This lamp is listed at $145+$40 shipping. This is an easy restoration. All this lamp needs is the cloth wrapped cord and an original Bryant shuttle switch. No takers; it is now at $129. Unfortunately, the killer to the sale is the high cost of shipping such a heavy item in a strong double box that is required to avoid the lamp arriving damaged. Generally the cone/socket gets crushed by forward movement and/or the base gets edge damage-bending in on the base’s edge. Here is a warning. If you find an intact specimen be sure it is properly packaged by the seller. Here is a suggestion, always be willing to pay more for shipping and request special packaging. As the buyer, be sure that you request a strong double box and foam packaging. Ask me how I know! Two lamps arrived damaged due to movement inside the box. Pay extra and do it right. OFF BRAND NON SNEAD LAMP Post by 72 usmc Fri Dec 10 2021 9:18 See page 12, here is another one of these non Snead Company lamps with the iron band attachment for the helmet shade. This is the third one that I have seen. A similar lamp was just discussed on page 12. Compare the pictures of these two lamps. The auction description indicates: QUOTE “Excellent WWI Trench Art Lamp, with US combat helmet and WWI artillery shell (I think it is a 75mm). Has original (frayed) cord. I have not plugged it in to see if it works. Electricity and I are not the best of friends. The socket for the bulb has a 1909 patent date on it. All original, just as the doughboy fashioned it when he returned from the Great War.” END OF QUOTE This lamp has a different base plate and the shell has no markings on the rotating band or the inscription on shell body. The shell is not painted. The helmet shade and its attachment is unique to the producer of this form of Off-Brand Victory-like lamp. The manufacturing company remains unknown. The lamp socket appears original to this lamp and is a pull chain variant, not a shuttle switch. Unfortunately, no detailed photos are shown in the auction. The price is nuts at $395. The lamps value is more like $100-125 as trench art. This example remains more intact than the one shown on page 12. The lamp socket, cloth cord and plug, as well as the helmet appear original to this specimen. There is no mention of any maker’s tags or maker’s mark on the bottom of the lamp. Shipping can really vary by seller. With this sale and others, I have noticed the average shipping costs have risen. Due to the weight of the lamp and shade, shipping has increased to $45-60 for such large items in 2022. This is a rather interesting, almost intact lamp. Since I have seen three similar examples with this sort of shade hanger design, I now believe that this is most likely a small factory production lamp imitating the Snead Company Victory lamp. This is speculation on my part, I have not found any period advertising of the lamp or a kit to build such a lamp in any historic magazine. The manufacturer or factory remains unknown. On this example, I am not sure if the inside of the helmet shade is painted white like the example shown on page 12. And I think this version is lacking both the "Snead" inscribed scripture quote found on the rotating band and the "Victory, Nov. 11 1918, 75m/m shell" markings on the body. Pictures in the auction are fuzzy and rather unclear. This intact specimen would be a nice knock off to have as an example what others produced in competition with the Snead Company. I just wish the pictures were more clear. Below are views of the lamp up for auction: Post by 72 usmc Sat Dec 11 2021 1:23pm At my request, the seller of this lamp graciously provided me more photos proving it is not a Snead Morgan Explosion shell or Victory Lamp. However, it is a factory production lamp and the shade is a WW I helmet. The strap hanger is identical to the lamp I documented on page 12, with the exception that this one remains intact. There are no modifications. This specimen remains all original. Here are views of the wood base plate. The name of the WWI soldier that owned this lamp is written on the base. This is made of black enameled wood. It is possible the lamp shown on page 12 may actually have a wood base. Here are views or the original socket, it is a pull chain socket. Both inside and exterior views are shown. The original socket is a Circle F brand, fat boy, pull chain, brass socket with porcelain guts. It is dated 1909 and made by the Circle F industries Inc. that made lamp and electrical components from 1908 into WW II. Please notice in the second picture that the fuse cone is original to a 75 mm shell, it is not the thin brass replacement cone found on the Snead factory Victory lamp. This lamp is made with a surplus shell and deactivated fuse cone. The lamp on page 12 most likely originally had this type of pull chain socket. Here are the views of the helmet shade that does have white paint to reflect light. It should be observed that this lamp has its original patina as found after 100 years of use. More evidence this is a factory production. Not trench art! Post by 72 usmc Thu Jan 13 2022 4:30pm An update on the above lamp. This expensive unknown factory lamp finally sold on 12 January 2022 for $295. It took awhile to find a high roller with some cash. However, due to its condition, this a very nice lamp. I like the name on the bottom. While not a Morgan Explosion relic, this specimen is one of the nicer shell lamps seen over the years-it is a beauty. "Victory Lamp, World War Ended Nov 11 1918" Post by 72 usmc Sun Mar 06 2022 6:31pm Here is a true repainted Joker. This poorly redone specimen exhibits the harder to find lettering variety found on a Victory Lamp, one rarely finds such examples with this style of markings. Originally this version was not painted. The problem with this specimen is that there are just too many modifications that have destroyed its historical integrity. It is a double bulb version with pull chain sockets. The paint on the shell body is new and fills in the lettering which is a sure sign of a repaint. And most important, the price is way over the top at $600 for such an incorrectly redone vary rare specimen. What a shame, that this lamp does not maintain its original condition. A Repainted Joker Rare Variety: "Victory Lamp, World War Ended Nov 11 1918" The lower photo shows what it should look like with the “smell” of original patina. The “Victory Lamp, World War Ended, Nov 11 1918, 75mm” version and the Uncle Ed lamp were made in the bright. They were not painted. This is marked: Victory Lamp World War Ended Nov 11 1918 75MM One rarely encounters this style of lettering. Here is a close up view of the lettering. The 75MM is difficult to see, but it is present. The 75MM markings appear to have been sanded down and painted over so they are difficult to make out. The reader should make note of the socket cluster stem, it has all wrong parts. I doubt if the sockets are correct? The Helmet is wrong. The Finial is wrong. The person working on this lamp is too cheep to use a vintage finial? But why go to the trouble since nothing else is original? Furthermore, it also has an incorrect (not the WW I period), modern cord. Not even a period replica cloth replacement cord was utilized. You can see a paint flake edge under the new coat of black paint. It is rather sad how the lamp body’s patina (condition of paint) does not match the brass base’s original patina. This is an example of a very poor, amateur restoration that at best failed. I wonder if original period sockets were used or modern new ones? And then they drilled a $150 original WW I helmet; lets destroy more historical artifacts. Why fabricate such a historically incorrect monster? If left intact, that lamp base would have been a jewel to add to any collection. Now it's remuddled junk. Such work makes one want to cry... The question is, was this version of the shell body originally painted, or was it in the bright as seen in the examples with 75MM under the lettering or on the Uncle Ed versions? From the photo I cannot tell if the "75mm" is stamped under the inscription. It certainly is not a common patented, Snead Victory Lamp found with the baked on black enamel and the usual inscription shown below: VICTORY Nov 11 1918 75 mm Shell Inscription Post by 72 usmc Tue Mar 08 2022 11:26am Here is a close up photo of a correct Victory version with two bulbs, most Victory lamps had a single bulb and the black enamel paint shell. The photo is of my specimen. Below is the joker lamp photo. Notice the brass cone cap is painted black; this never occurred on an original condition Victory lamp. The cone was left Brass. An exception to this convention is observed on the Uncle Ed shorty lamp. On the Uncle Ed the brass tray and cone is painted a military olive green. For more details, please see page 7. Lamp socket/harp fit. The source for this magazine page shown in the photo is unknown. It shows an original Snead lamp, but the photo was altered in the SRF crash with a blue line. This is the only remaining photo I have. blue line corrupt SRF photo In the photo, note how the shade harp screws onto the socket, you do not see a modern harp placed under the socket. The (harp under socket) is a sure sign of non professional restoration or contemporary modification to more securely hold a heavy shade on a lamp. As shades got larger and heavier, the socket could not support the weight. Hence, a larger harp with the mounting position under the socket is commonly seen as a contemporary repair. While such a modification holds the steel WW I helmet quite well, it is not period correct. Antique Guilford Estate Auction Lamp Sale closed on Friday, July 24th 2020 at 8:00 PM EDT Here is a great link that shows an original black painted enamel finish on a Snead Victory Lamp: SOURCE: https://www.auctionninja.com/estatesolutionsct/product/ww1-snead-co-victory-lamp-75-mm-mortar-486.html I am unsure how long the auction photos will be posted. Only the one above photo remains due to age of the posting. However, most of the missing photographic details have been preserved below. As a record of this lamp, I reposted the missing photos from the above source. That is an excellent set of reference of photos. All other photos will be screen shots of those found on the auction web page showing details and alterations of this lamp when it was first posted. This Victory lamp is an example of a modified lamp with an incorrect modern cord and likewise an incorrect, contemporary lamp socket and harp. Basically the upper portion of the lamp is incorrect. Fortunately, all of the amateur modifications are correctable! Most important to this specimen, the patina on the original shell and brass parts remains intact. The black enamel paint is ORIGINAL. Below are the lamp photos from the auction listing. Post by 72 usmc Wed Mar 09 2022 5:20pm See pages 1, 2, and 3 for a discussion of correct parts found on Victory lamps. The above Guilford Estate Auction lamp's socket is a modern aluminum replacement, not brass. It should have a Bryant brass socket with a red/black bakelite shuttle switch. The lamp finial is a modern type. The original lamps seem to have had a helmet with an enamel painted interior with a Clip-on bulb fitter mounted inside the top of the helmet. It seems some of the two bulb, Victory Lamp styles may have had a short harp fitter that screwed onto the socket and small vintage finial like found on early 1920s lamps. No original parchment shades have been located. Some Victory lamps have been observed with a short harp that was commonly found on the early 1920 lamps. This style of harp is made for the small Edison light bulbs, it is a screw-on-harp that screwed onto the top of the socket threads. The lamp’s socket supported the shade. The later 1940s-1950s harp is larger and was attached to the lamp stem at the base of the socket. This is not correct for a Victory WW I lamp. Such a long 7-8 inch style harp is a later addition/modification that is more secure, and a better modification to hold up the weight of a WW I helmet, but it is a modification to the lamp that post dates WW II. The tall harp secured under the socket on the lamps central steel rod stem was an adaption for the large heavy cloth shades found on most post WW II living room table lamps. Notice that the Guilford lamp was photographed with a contemporary plastic coated wire. The original lamps had 1920s silk/cotton wrapped, parallel cord and some have been observed with a twisted cord. Both had a black Bryant 700 two prong plug. The lamp should not have a contemporary polarized plug or plastic cord. A view of the original Snead tag is shown. It is found on the bottom of the brass base plate. This specimen has a very nice intact tag. A rare find! This is a fantastically intact lamp worthy of restoration. Whoever purchased this specimen from the Guilford Estate Auction did fine and obtained a great lamp as a base for restoration. Here are some views of the details. Gifford lamp above Here are some more close up views of the original enamel patina and the finish on the Guilford Estate Victory Lamp. The shell body and brass parts are in their original " as found state.” No cleaning, polishing, or painting has been done. Below, I have provided some select screen shots from the past auction photos. Unfortunately, the auction company has removed most photos from the original listing after the lamp’s sale. So the original finish can vary from a dull as seen on this lower photo to a sort of glossy look as seen on the Guilford Estate lamp. The best original finish, in almost NOS condition, of a Snead Victory Lamp can be seen on the Victory lamp that was sold by Goodwill Industries. Please see the lower portion of page 11 for a review and photos of this fine specimen. An original aged dull finish on the Goodwill specimen. Goodwill lamp finish This lamp is a perfect example anyone would love to find and buy. Perfect condition is everything. However, the Guilford estate lamp is also a great buy since it requires only a few correct vintage parts to restore it to its former glory. If you are selling a lamp, any vintage collectable lamp, it is best to sell it in “as found” condition so the new owner can leave it as is, restore it, or do a remuddle and destroy his or her treasure's value. Some lamps have a well worn, aged, original paint surface as seen on my specimen shown below: On other variations (the 75 Lamp and the Uncle Ed) the patina may appear as an unpainted bare metal surface showing oxidation similar to Victory ashtrays. Uncle Ed Finish on my lamp Victory Ashtray Finish Post by 72 usmc Thu Mar 10 2022 12:43pm Victory ashtrays were not painted and generally have an oxidized bare metal surface like seen on old vintage wrenches. Ash trays can have altered finishes depending on their use and storage locations. Here are some views of the patina range found on Victory Ashtrays: here are some photos of aged, original Uncle Ed Lamp patina finish examples shown below: Below is an Uncle Ed tall lamp finish ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Update Post on the Gifford lamp: At the final hammer price of only $27, this Guilford estate lamp was an unbelievable deal. We all should be that lucky. So ends the all new September 2022 update and reorganization of Surplusrifleforum (SRF) old post titled WW I Snead Victory Lamp - Morgan Explosion I decided to keep the old post numbers and dates, but due to SRF forum crashes, soft wear updates, and photo loss, the old post was corrupted with mixed, missing, and modified words photos and sentences. While the 2017 post was saved to the Wayback Machine, its information is so outdated that I decided to remove all links to the Wayback Machine Archive. I hope to build upon this new format. If you have a Victory lamp or Uncle Ed lamp please photo document your lamp here on this forum. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Starting 27 October 2022 Here is a link to a lamp owned by member Gilwiller1918: 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted October 27, 2022 Author Share Posted October 27, 2022 Here are some Victory lamps shown on the Gunboards forum : https://www.gunboards.com/threads/victory-lamp-from-morgan-explosion.1177134/#post-10558142 Tip top member's lamps: Source is the above link 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenny Andrew Posted November 3, 2022 Share Posted November 3, 2022 Excellent post USMC, thanks for sharing the information 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gildwiller1918 Posted November 4, 2022 Share Posted November 4, 2022 Great addition to this thread and topic. Excellent research! 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted January 28, 2023 Author Share Posted January 28, 2023 Here is a double socket lamp. It has correct fat body pull chain sockets. Tag is present. Not too bad. The parts have original patina. This specimen just turn up recently. 5 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted May 17, 2023 Author Share Posted May 17, 2023 Here is a recent Victory lamp that was tastefully redone. Very nice. A better restoration, even though not a correct socket, it is vintage and fits well with the look. The tag is present and a cloth cord. Well worth $200-250, but at $650 it's steep and someone is a dreamer.... An example of what can be found at high end markets. The owner is a store called the Antique Spot and these are their photos. Notice the lamp's patina is maintained and the lamp finial is ingenious. I like it. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted July 12, 2023 Author Share Posted July 12, 2023 An interesting Victory lamp appeared on flee bay and must have sold at a crazy price. (12 July 2023). The helmet was painted; but I believe it's a modern fake. I see no light bulb heat alteration to the paint or top of the helmet. The $1000 question, a fake or real ???? My vote is fake. The helmet definitely has no heat alteration patina. However, is it an original, top grade, real WW I painted helmet that some nut used recently for a shade destroying a military relic? I have not seen any up close painted original WW I helmets to be able to make an informative guess about the type of paint , the color pallet, or age patina to the paint. Is this an original helmet recently painted, I have no clue. The lamp is real and in nice shape. If that helmet was original and a work of some WW I soldier's trench art; it was a shame it was drilled for a lamp. This is a very nice lamp that can be restored with correct parts. Here are some of the seller's photos. The seller's description; Quote WW1 Artillery Shell Lamp with Identified Helmet that has been hand painted. The scene on the helmet has a British aircraft flying over trenches with a burning village nearby having SHOT DOWN a German aircraft. It is identified on the brim as having belonged to Sgt. James Turner, M.G.T 403, Co. 163 (harder to see). I've tried to get the best pictures I can to represent this one of a kind piece. It's a 75 M/M WWI Armistice celebration shell desk lamp. The socket and finial are new replacements- not period correct. The cord is more recent. The shell has correct patina and was not altered. 2 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulchen Posted July 13, 2023 Share Posted July 13, 2023 ridiculous price, completely unrealistic 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gildwiller1918 Posted July 14, 2023 Share Posted July 14, 2023 I have been seeing these go for about $500 on up, crazy prices. 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted September 10, 2023 Author Share Posted September 10, 2023 Here is an interesting specimen that recently sold. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gildwiller1918 Posted September 14, 2023 Share Posted September 14, 2023 Very handsome looking helmet! 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted December 10, 2023 Author Share Posted December 10, 2023 A good look at a 75 mm shell; see this old post; very nice information and photos. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72 usmc Posted January 26 Author Share Posted January 26 Some history and actual footage of the 75mm cannon. The Victory lamp utilizes a 75mm shell. Here is a U.S. 75 MM http://www.passioncompassion1418.com/Canons/Eng_AfficheCanonGET.php?IdCanonAffiche=874 Keystone stereoview card # 18034 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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