thrift store find,ships whale oil lamp.

[Red James Cash]

I found a ships whale oil lamp in a thrift store. Its basically a round metal cage that opens like a clam shell,its a little bigger than a small bowling ball.The oil font is on a gyroscope which stays upright no matter which way the lamp is turned.I brought it to an antique dealer once.The guy i talked to said it was a reproduction because the only hinge was replaced.Interesting that a repair would discount the whole lamp yeah right. I have no faith in his words,I figured he was jealous because the thrift store was right down the street 100 yards from their antique shop lmao.When new stuff came in i got first dibs on it. I paid 35 bucks for it. Its one of those things where you can see the age in it just by looking at it and holding it. I've only seen this lamp in one antique book,the book said 500,00 bucks.That was quite a while ago.I also could never really find any info on it.Even online theres nothing.Does anybody have any ideas.I would appreciate it.Wish i had pictures post

 

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[colorado14ers]

sound cool but.....






hope its worth a lot!!!!

 

[diggummup]

Does it look like this or similar?--



If so it's referred to as a Gimballed lamp, a gimbal consists of two or more concentric rings connected at right angles by swivels, bearing the lamp, thus allowing its center of gravity below the points of suspension to keep it level regardless of the movement of the support of the outer ring.

Here is one that sold on Ebay- http://tinyurl.com/4dwcaoy