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...