VERY RARE Miniature Student Lamp, H1-102. Miniature Student Lamp, H1-102. About 8 1/4 tall to top brass ring handle. About 7 3/4 tall to top of chimney/shade. Base about 3 3/4 in diameter. Miniature Student Night Lamp. Six prong burner marked “P & A MFG CO”. Solder around brass joints. Two similar appearing lamps, one larger, one smaller, shown in the reference books. Two similar appearing lamps are shown in the miniature lamp reference books; one in Figure 83 of Frank & Ruth Smith’s book “Miniature Lamps” and the other in Figure 102 of Marjorie Hulsebus’ book “Miniature Lamps of the Victorian Era”. Because of similarities in the two lamps’ overall configuration, it is easy to confuse one with the other. This is especially true if one is making a comparison based on looking at photographs of the individual lamps. This type of visual comparison makes it impossible to judge relative size. However, when the two lamps are put side by side (as we have done in the last photograph) it is easy to see that, while both lamps are quite petite, one is noticeably larger than the other. The larger of the two lamps is the one shown in Figure 102 of the Hulsebus book and is the one we are offering for sale here (it is the lamp on the left in the last photograph). The lamp on the right in that photo is from our own collection and is not for sale. That’s perhaps more than one would expect to see of a lamp rated “very rare”. But, in that same time frame, we’ve seen just one other example of this lamp (the larger lamp, H1-102). The Smith’s (in the caption to Figure 83) suggest that these lamps may have been made as salesmen’s samples. While this thought is appealing, (and while many antique dealers like to think that any miniature item may have been a salesman’s sample), there is documentary evidence in the form of the old advertisements by the Bristol Brass & Clock Company, that their lamp (S1-83) was in fact made and marketed as a “night lamp”. And we believe this one, too, was made to be a night lamp. Miller & Solverson (“Student Lamps of the Victorian Era”) note that while full-sized student lamps were produced primarily to provide light for reading, miniature student lamps, which were accurate miniature versions of the full sized lamps, were made small in order to economize on the use of fuel (because the cost of fuel was a consumer concern) and to emit just enough light to let people see their way around at night. While the white milk glass chimney shade differs from the shade the lamp shown in the Hulsebus book, the shade is correct for the era, fits correctly in the shade holder and appears to be appropriate to this lamp. The shade is somewhat larger than similar period shades which were made to fit on the old Olmsted-style e. Little Harry’s and Fire-fly burners and is unusual in that it has a decorative ridge just below the flared top and the fitter end is slightly bulged out and rounded. Condition of this lamp. Both the brass lamp itself and the white milk glass chimney/shade are in very good condition. There are no dings or dents on the brass and no chips, flea-bites or cracks on the shade. There are two very thin excess wing-like pieces of glass at the mold lines on the shade fitter. It seems clear that this was glass which seeped out of the mold when the shade was made. All of the brass has been polished. There is a bit of visible solder at both ends of the tube which connects the font to the burner tube, around the top and bottom of the font (or oil reservoir) and at the joints where the brass rod connects to the base and goes through the connecting tube. The solder is polished and neat and inconspicuous. The burner gallery has six prongs to hold the shade in place. This is a somewhat unusual burner design for P & A and one not seen very frequently. Measurements of the lamp are to the left underneath the first photo. While just a little bit larger than the similar lamp shown in the Smith book, this lamp is still quite petite. It is also quite attractive especially with its bright brass finish and its cute little white milk glass chimney-shade. That would date it at somewhere between about 1878 and 1890. About the Use of Words Like “Scarce” and “Rare”. We realize that some eBayers, not having or knowing of a better way of assessing an item’s scarcity, use these terms quite subjectively and frequently based on their own personal experience. They simply don’t know whether an item is common, scarce or rare. We take two steps to describe the scarcity of a lamp. First, we only use the words “Scarce”, “Rare”, “Very Rare”, “Very Very Rare” and “Extremely Rare” if the item in question is judged to be so by an acknowledged outside and independent source. For miniature lamps, we use the ratings in Marjorie Hulsebus 2006 edition of the “Price Guide for Miniature Lamps”. Marjorie’s ratings are also somewhat subjective (they are based on the collective view of a panel of 12 experienced miniature lamps collectors–we were members of that panel). But were at least arrived at independently of the sale or offering of any particular lamp. 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The item “VERY RARE Miniature Brass Student Oil Lamp, H1-102″ is in sale since Tuesday, February 25, 2020. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Lamps, Lighting\Lamps\ Non-Electric\Miniature”. The seller is “kayschwartz” and is located in Stockton, New Jersey. This item can be shipped worldwide.

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