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Braimes Torch
Comstock Lantern Door Open
Comstock Lantern Side
Comstock Lantern Candle Socket Inside
Engraving Harper's Weekly November 1879 Bonanza Mine Comstock Lode
  Comstock Lantern Hanging.JPG - COMSTOCK CANDLE LANTERN - Comstock candle lantern, unmarked with side opening glass door, 4-sided with glass windows in tin frame and soldered wire glass protectors, candle holder in floor of lantern with tin hood and large dia. carrying ring handle, lantern 18 1/2 in. high to top of ring, 4 5/8 in. wide lantern, 6 1/2 in. wide base, 5/32 in. wire and 5 7/8 in. dia. ring handle, thought to be made by John Gillig Hardware of Virginia City, Nevada, ex-Tony Moon collection [The Comstock lantern is a rare piece of mining history. Very few have survived. It was used extensively on the Comstock Lode in and around the towns of Virginia City and Gold Hill but it is also known from other locations including Park City, Utah and Butte, Montana. The lantern is shown in photos of two presidents, Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes, during their visits to the underground workings of the Comstock mines in 1879 and 1880, respectively. At least five styles and three different markings are known. The styles vary in the number and dia. of the wires with four styles in circular wire patterns and one in a crossed wire pattern protecting the glass windows. The lantern shown here is classified as style 1 in an article by Tony Moon as presented in Pohs’ Miner’s Flame Light Book, pg. 199. It has three sets of wires surrounding the lantern and the wires are the heaviest gauge of any of the lantern styles. The heights of the various style lanterns vary slightly as do the diameters of the handle rings but the basic configuration remains unchanged. Markings on the hood include A C M Co (Anaconda Copper Mine Co.); A. Chenette, Maker, Virginia, Nev.; and John Gillig, Virginia, Nev., Patd May 20, 1879. The patented lantern of John Gillig has a drop down bottom rather than a side-opening door and would seemingly present a difficult time inserting or removing a long candle especially if it were lit. No examples of the Gillig patent are known. The patent No. 215,449 was awarded to Gillig on May 20, 1879. Gillig ran the Gillig Hardware Store in Virginia City and supplied a large number of the lanterns. Two styles of the lantern are shown in a well-traveled photo by Lee and Noe taken of the visit of President U. S. Grant and his party to the Big Bonanza Mine in 1879. Each of the nine members of the party including two of the Silver Kings, J. W. Mackay and J. G. Fair, are shown holding Comstock lanterns. The use of the lanterns was to protect the lit candles of the miners during transportation down windy shafts until the miners reached their stations where the candles were then inserted into miners’ candlesticks.]  
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Comstock Lantern Hanging | COMSTOCK CANDLE LANTERN - Comstock candle lantern, unmarked with side opening glass door, 4-sided with glass windows in tin frame and soldered wire glass protectors, candle holder in floor of lantern with tin hood and large dia. carrying ring handle, lantern 18 1/2 in. high to top of ring, 4 5/8 in. wide lantern, 6 1/2 in. wide base, 5/32 in. wire and 5 7/8 in. dia. ring handle, thought to be made by John Gillig Hardware of Virginia City, Nevada, ex-Tony Moon collection [The Comstock lantern is a rare piece of mining history. Very few have survived. It was used extensively on the Comstock Lode in and around the towns of Virginia City and Gold Hill but it is also known from other locations including Park City, Utah and Butte, Montana. The lantern is shown in photos of two presidents, Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes, during their visits to the underground workings of the Comstock mines in 1879 and 1880, respectively. At least five styles and three different markings are known. The styles vary in the number and dia. of the wires with four styles in circular wire patterns and one in a crossed wire pattern protecting the glass windows. The lantern shown here is classified as style 1 in an article by Tony Moon as presented in Pohs’ Miner’s Flame Light Book, pg. 199. It has three sets of wires surrounding the lantern and the wires are the heaviest gauge of any of the lantern styles. The heights of the various style lanterns vary slightly as do the diameters of the handle rings but the basic configuration remains unchanged. Markings on the hood include A C M Co (Anaconda Copper Mine Co.); A. Chenette, Maker, Virginia, Nev.; and John Gillig, Virginia, Nev., Patd May 20, 1879. The patented lantern of John Gillig has a drop down bottom rather than a side-opening door and would seemingly present a difficult time inserting or removing a long candle especially if it were lit. No examples of the Gillig patent are known. The patent No. 215,449 was awarded to Gillig on May 20, 1879. Gillig ran the Gillig Hardware Store in Virginia City and supplied a large number of the lanterns. Two styles of the lantern are shown in a well-traveled photo by Lee and Noe taken of the visit of President U. S. Grant and his party to the Big Bonanza Mine in 1879. Each of the nine members of the party including two of the Silver Kings, J. W. Mackay and J. G. Fair, are shown holding Comstock lanterns. The use of the lanterns was to protect the lit candles of the miners during transportation down windy shafts until the miners reached their stations where the candles were then inserted into miners’ candlesticks.] Download Original Image
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