Antique Oil Lamp Collecting: Types of Lamps

Series Summary

In The Book of a Thousand and One Nights, the genie Aladdin appears out of an oil lamp to grant three wishes. Ever since this story first gained popularity, people have been rubbing their lamps in hopes of getting similar results. And rubbing... And rubbing... While the secret of entrapping a genie inside of a lamp vanished years ago, if you know what to look for, you might still be able to conjure some cash out of an antique lamp. In the mid-nineteenth century, a wide variety of lamp styles were produced which continue to appeal to current-day collectors.

Watch these series of free antique collecting videos to find out just what qualities make these oil lamps valuable. Our antiquing expert discusses the rarity of different patterns and chimneys and how to determine the ways condition affects their value. She also tells you how to use your prize lamp safely and even the best way to display them. You may not get your three wishes, but you can still have a satisfying collection of lamps.

Video Transcript

"We are here to talk about 19th Century oil lamps. Here we have a few examples starting with three milk glass bases here. When you look at it, there's the chimney, the burner with a column that connects to the font which is where you will hold your fluid and a brass column with a milk glass base. This is your basic 19th Century Oil lamp. We have a few examples here in milk glass; 1, 2, 3. Here and here and we also have whale oil here with your number 2 collar that is missing the burner which is not unusual for a whale oil. We use a number 2 burner to adapt so that it can be used. It is functional still today. We also have different varieties which is also called a finger lamp. Obviously, to hold it is called a finger lamp. This is about 1870 so we will see a range from the early 1810, 1820 up to 1890. This is actually dated September 20, 1870 so that is a little unusual but they do have dates on the bottom, some of them. So this finger lamp is dated. Here we have more of the same fluid lamps. 1840's and 1830's; two more examples. A little smaller fluid container, your font is much smaller than this one right here which you have a much larger reservoir to hold the oil. These contain whale oil. When it was popular in the early 1800's which was changed because of the diminishing whale overkill so they changed into using fuel which today's fuel you can buy just like this for lamp oil which is a nice burning fuel that doesn't smoke as much as the whale oil would have in its day because it doesn't have the fat. So those are some of the examples we have today. Only one colored example which is blue to clear which is areal pretty oil with fairly large font to it and a brass collar and a number one burner and this one actually has the marble base. I have only two examples with a marble base. You can take a look. Take a look at those right there and those are the marble bases with the brass connectors so those are some examples of what we will be talking about today. "