Oil Lamps

About Antique Oil Lamps

An oil lamp is any vessel that holds oil, with an absorbent wick that sits in the oil and can be lit, producing heat or light. Until the 1800s various candles, pitch oil lamps, and animal fat lamps were common. Once the development of kerosene made mass producing lamps profitable, oil lamps were fabricated from metal, glass, porcelain, and other ceramics.

Collectors often focus on a lamp's chimney or shade. Earlier chimneys were hand blown, free-form, and these limited-production chimneys with peddle tops and frothed or etched designs are more scarce and in demand than later machine-made examples. Typically oil lamp manufacturers made the metal parts (the base and burner) and bought the glass elsewhere. Holmes Booth and Haydens, for example, would buy glass shades from companies like Fostoria or Consolidated.

Shades were made with a wide variety of materials. There were the plain opal shades made with milk glass, which was utilitarian and inexpensive. There was case glass, really two different layers of glass with the inside white to reflect more light and the outside colored (the green and white combination is quite common). There were art glass shades: satin glass, amberina, cranberry, and mother of pearl. They were more expensive back then and command high prices today.

Guest Columns and Interviews

• An Interview With Antique Lamp Collector Dan Edminster
• An Interview With 1950s TV Lamp Collector Mark Stevens

Top Related Sites (“Hall of Fame”)

Neustadt Tiffany Collection

This stunning gallery of 138 Tiffany lamps and lampshades, part of the Dr. Egon Neustadt Collection presented by th…  [more]

The Lampworks

Lamp collector and dealer Dan Edminster has put together an incredible reference site on antique lamps and related …  [more]

Classic Modern

Get a taste of how homes were lit in the 50s, 60s, and 70s with the Danish retro-style lighting designs featured on…  [more]

Texans Incorporated: The History of a Lamp Company

Mark Stevens has created an impressive living memorial to Texans Inc., a 20th century Texas manufacturer of ceramic…  [more]

The Lamps of H. G. McFaddin

Bruce Bleier's tribute to the Emeralite and Bellova lampshades made from Czech glass and popularized and distribute…  [more]

Gas Pressure Lanterns, Lamps and Stoves

Terry Marsh’s beautiful showcase of gas-pressure lanterns, lamps, stoves, irons, and heaters from the 1920s o…  [more]

Got a site to suggest? Let us know.

Clubs

• The Rushlight Club
• Historical Lighting Society of Canada
• National Assoc. of Aladdin Lamp Collectors
• Aladdin Knights of the Mystic Light

Other Great Reference Sites

• Dorons Lanterns Site
• The Art Deco Lamp Blog
• Aladdincollector.com
• TVlamps.net
• Fulper Lamp Gallery

Are we missing one? Tell us.