SCARCE" Antique End-of-Day "NEW ART" Mini Oil Lamp

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"New Art" Night Lamp in Cased End-of-Day Glass, S1-369 Red/Yellow End-of-Day Cased Glass "New Art" Night Lamp, S1-369 About 8" tall overall About 5 3/4" wide at widest point Imported by William Noe, Ca. 1905 Background & History: According to McDonald ("Evolution of the Night Lamp") a glass industry critic wrote of William Noe that he had "a sort of curiosity shop in lighting devices . . . The specialties in miniature lamps are particularly interesting." Noe's curiosity shop included a wide range of night lamps, from the primitive and very inexpensive "The Handy Night Lamp" to the elegant and much more expensive "Vienna" and "Empress" lamps. Noe imported at least the glass parts for many of his lamps from Europe (he maintained an office in Hamburg, Germany) but also had a factory in Brooklyn, NY and an office in New York City. Noe's "New Art" night lamp was somew in the middle of his product line. Advertised as early as 1905, it was offered in both cranberry glass and end-of-day glass (generally the end-of-day glass versions are found in a single layered glass, but occasionally, as in this example, they are found in cased glass). Our notes indicate that the lamp was also offered in green glass. Three other colors of this lamp are also found (white milk glass, a smoky clear glass and a drab olive colored glass) but these are believed by collectors not to be no older than the 1930s. It should also be noted that not all cranberry examples of the lamp are old--some are made of flashed glass and these are generally agreed to be reproductions. (For more information on reproductions of antique miniature lamps, visit the web-site of the Night Light ). The name "end-of-day" glass comes from an old tradition in glass factories that at the end of the work day, glass makers could use left over glass to make items of their own. It is now used, however, to refer to any glass item that is made of multiple colors of glass w the molten glass is rolled, on a steel surface (or "marver") over bits and pieces of colored glass. Cased glass is glass which is made of two layers of different colors. Nicholas Kopp of Consolidated Glass is credited by some with creating the technique of encasing colored glass in a layer of clear glass to create a super glossy finish. European glass makers used casing to reduce the cost of producing expensive colors of glass; ruby colored glass was made by adding gold to the molten glass mixture. By using a thin coating of ruby glass over clear glass, the cost of making ruby colored glass was effectively reduced. And, we suspect, casing was used simply as a way to make a glass object more attractive. The inner layer of yellow glass in this lamp certainly adds to its attractiveness. Condition of this lamp: This lamp is in very good condition. The only reportable items are some very small flea-bites, or flakes, on the top edge of the shade. The largest of these is very shallow and about 1/8" wide. Several other flea-bites can be felt rather than seen--they are extremely small. The brass hardware, which has been polished, is also in fine condition. The collar is securely attached to the font and has no splits or cracks. The Hornet burner is embossed "P & A HORNET" on the thumb wheel. The thumb wheel adjusts the wick which is in this lamp as it should. Although Hulsebus ("Price Guide for Miniature Lamps") rates the end-of-day glass variation of this lamp as being "Scarce", we've seen about 20 complete examples over the past 4 1/2 years of collecting data on over 27,000 listed miniature lamps on eBay--but our notes indicate that only six of those 20 was a this combination of red and yellow and only one was made of cased end-of-day glass. read more

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