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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.

My grandparents were antique collectors all their lives, their whole house was furnished in antiques. They ha… [more]

Among old-time lamps there are certain types that mark changes in the manner of living or that are representa… [more]

When one considers that man is the one animal who depends on artificial light for getting about in the dark,… [more]

What got me interested in TV lamps? I’ve always had an interest in the tackier artifacts of the 1950s and… [more]

Interested in antique oil lamps? This site is a great place to learn more about their history, and scroll through b… [read review or visit site]

This stunning gallery of 138 Tiffany lamps and lampshades, part of the Dr. Egon Neustadt Collection presented by th… [read review or visit site]

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

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

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

Bruce Bleier's tribute to the Emeralite and Bellova lampshades made from Czech glass and popularized and distribute… [read review or visit site]

This incredible site is a stunning showcase for Victorian and contemporary fairy lamps, a style of lamp with a glas… [read review or visit site]

Terry Marsh’s beautiful showcase of gas-pressure lanterns, lamps, stoves, irons, and heaters from the 1920s o… [read review or visit site]
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The walls' creamy paint colors contain historically accurate doses of linseed oil, lamp black and milk. (Among the only modern intrusions are plumbing,...Read more
The 8:20 pm fire, started by an oil lamp, was extinguished by a neighbor who reportedly used Stassi's garden hose to put it out as emergency units arrived...Read more
The 1737 house had virtually fallen in on itself, electricity was 20 miles away and Mays read and painted by oil lamp. While at RISD, he had shared...Read more
The container used to administer the saline solution, which typically has a long spout and resembles an oil lamp, is called a Neti pot, from the Sanskrit...Read more
With an oil lamp for light and crude pigments (charcoal and ochre), the creators of Paleolithic art crawled into the darkness of deep caves and drew all...Read more
The stash far exceeds the value of the copper and brass oil lamp, which is expected to fetch around $450. Fortunately for the family of its former owner,...Read more
Wabi Stone Oil Lamp: Stone Forest's Wabi Stone Oil Lamp brings instant ambiance to garden settings without breaking the bank. These solid granite lamps...Read more
It was given to me by a woman who would be more than 100 years old now, and she believed it is an oil lamp that has been electrified...Read more