SCARCE" Blue Uranium Glass Mini Finger Oil Lamp, Glows

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"Scarce" Blue Uranium Glass Paneled Finger Lamp, S1-47 Glows Under "Black Light" Vibrant Blue Paneled Finger Lamp, S1-47 About 3 1/4" to top of collar About 2 1/2" wide at base and 3 1/2" wide including finger handle Lamp has Dated, "Taplin-Brown" Collar Background & History: This is another of those wonderful little night lamps about which we don't have very much information. It is shown in Frank & Ruth Smith's book "Miniature Lamps" in Figure 47. The Smith's point out that the glass is paneled and that the finger hole is "closed" (i.e. it's an indentation rather than a true hole). They note that the lamp they have pictured is amber in color. In her 2006 "Price Guide for Miniature Lamps", Marge Hulsebus states that the lamp is found in clear, blue, amber and opalescent vaseline glass. She rates all variations of the lamp as being "Scarce". Because of its vibrant blue color, we thought that the lamp might have been made with some uranium content. Uranium was used as a coloring agent in glass from the 1830s (and t is some evidence that it was used in ancient Rome as early as 79 A. D.) until the advent of World War II. Uranium by itself is yellow and imparts a yellow color to the glass. But Uranium was also used in combination with other coloring agents to produce a variety of other colors of glass. When placed under ultra-violet ("black") light, the uranium causes the glass to fluoresce (glow) a bright yellowish green. And, as you can see in the 4th photo which was taken under black light, this lamp does glow quite nicely. The degree to which a lamp fluoresces is dependent on the amount of uranium in the glass. (Although Uranium is radio-active, the amount of Uranium in the glass and the amount of emitted radiation is considered to be harmless; Uranium glass items pose no radiation danger). Not all pale blue glass fluoresces. We are also listing a very nice stem lamp in a very similar color which does not fluoresce under black light. As noted in the sub-title above, this lamp does have a dated (April 13, 1875 and March 21, 1876) "Taplin-Brown" collar. The two patents, one issued to Alvin Taplin and one to George Brown, both of Forestville, Connecticut, relate to the process by which the collars were made. They were stamped from sheet brass rather than being made from brass tubing. According to Thuro ("Oil Lamps: The Kerosene Era in North America") this process was so much more efficient and economical that "production of all earlier types [of collars] appears to have ceased abruptly". Thuro notes that at least the Brown patent was assigned to the Bristol Brass and Clock Company of Bristol, Ct and that the company probably only stamped the dates on the collars for a few years after 1876. She does note, however, that she's seen this collar on one lamp which dated to 1884 and another that she dates to the mid-1890s. So while the collar is not definitive proof of age, it is reasonable to assume that a lamp bearing this collar (assuming the collar is original to the lamp) dates to somew between 1876 and about 1895. The Brown patent is reproduced in the appendix to Frank & Ruth Smith's book "Miniature Lamps." Copies of this patent and the Taplin patent will be supplied to the winning bidder on request. Condition of this lamp: This lamp is in very good condition. T are only 2 items worthy of note and both of these are shown in the second photo. The first is that t is a small ridge of extra glass (presumably an artifact of the molding process) at the top of the finger handle and the second is a very small (3/16") shallow flake on the inner edge of the base. Neither of these are significant enough to detract from the lamp at all. The old brass hardware on this lamp has been polish... read more

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