Possible Hobbs, Brockunier & Co Oil Lamp

[robertk]

Bottle Vitals​

(or in this case, Lamp vitals)​

	Date	Color	Shape	Size (Height x Diameter)	Value*
Lamp	1880s	Clear	Round font, petal base	11" x 4"	$40.00

Views (click to enlarge):

Front	Back	Side	Side	Bottom

I am not 100% sure of the ID on this lamp, but I think it's made by Hobbs, Brockunier, and Company, out of Wheeling, West Virginia. There are no makers marks or embossing on the font or the base. There may have been some on the collar or the burner, but the collar is too far gone to tell, and the burner is lost to history. I could not find a catalog of the Hobbs Brockunier Company patterns, but an example of their "loop and rib" pattern is very close -- so close that I think this lamp is either a variation of it, or a copy made by a competitor. The only difference is that their "loop" is just a loop, where this specimen is more like a bullseye or something. And yes, the base foot pattern is slightly different, but I saw other Hobbs lamps using the same base as this specimen, so it was at least a possibility. Here is the Hobbs lamp for comparison (click to enlarge).



The Hobbs & Brockunier company got started in the 1850's, and was an innovator in glass making. They came up with idea of replacing soda ash with lime when making glass. This made glass easier to press (since it cooled faster), and cheaper to produce, making glass more affordable to a wider audience. Here are a couple of drawings of their factory in the 1890's, from the outside and the inside:

They made lots of different things, not just lamps, and shipped their products worldwide. The company was reorganized a few times due to the death of one of the founders, and became a part of the United States Glass Company in 1891. It was closed two years later, though it was sold and reopened under a different name in 1902.

This specimen was found in Michigan, so was probably bought through one of the local hardware stores, most of which would have carried lamps like this. Here's an advertisement for one such business:

The non-exploding oil was an important feature. Though some people still managed to blow themselves up by mistaking gasoline for kerosene. Click to enlarge if you want to know about that, but be warned that it does not have a happy ending.



As for the cleaning on this one, it could still use some more work, but for now I'm leaving it as is. Here's the before and after (soap and water, brushes, wooden picks, and a small plastic scraper were used on this one). The attachment is tenuous and I do not intend to leave it attached unless I can get a new collar. The brass is way too fragile to trust it.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Robert, you are building a true treasure reference for this site. If you're also saving all this data in a file, I'm hoping some day you'll have it all printed off in a book.

 

[robertk]

Robert, you are building a true treasure reference for this site. If you're also saving all this data in a file, I'm hoping some day you'll have it all printed off in a book.

That’s a possibility. I have a couple of other things I’m thinking would be neat, too. Will have to see how it all goes.

 

[Limitool]

Another great job Robert. You do very good research sir and thanks for sharing. You have a lot of interesting bottles to go yet.... have fun buddy.