Miscellaneous Lamps/Copper Oil Wick Helmet Lamp Top

Miscellaneous Lamps

Copper Oil Wick Helmet Lamp Top.JPG - COPPER OIL WICK HELMET LAMP - Copper hard hat with integral oil lamp font and wick tube, internal leather suspension and leather neck cover on back, overall length 10 1/2 in. front to back, max width 7 1/4 in. & 3 in. high at crest, font 2 3/4 in. long and 5 3/4 width at rear where it attaches to hard hat portion, wick spout 3/4 in. dia. and 2 3/4 in. tall, ex-Al Grazevich collection [This is a very unusual oil wick helmet lamp and one of only four or perhaps five known examples. A picture of the copper hard hat lamp is shown in Henry Pohs’ The Miner’s Flame Light Book on pg. 229. It is thought that it may be the same helmet lamp as shown here in my pics. Another reference to the copper helmet lamp is a photo shown in the 2008 French publication La Lampe des Mineurs by Michel Bonnot and identified as in his collection. Interestingly, the lamp description is given as British from the metal mines of Cornwall and dating from the late nineteenth century. Only one of the known examples is marked in an oval stamping E. BOULLEROT DARNETAL SEINE providing strong evidence these lamps were French made. The marked lamp is missing the leather lining and neck cover but does include a brass wick tube similar to one noted in the Tony Moon collection. Of the four for-sure known examples, no two are exactly the same. The finest example is in the collection of my good friend Tony Moon and includes the leather neck cover as well as a leather chin strap. This example also has a 2 1/16 in. tall brass wick spout that is 3/8 in. in diameter. The helmet pictured in Bonnot’s book has a bent wick spout differing in shape but without any signs of a leather neck cover or helmet chin strap. The internal support also has a different pattern of sewn attachment to the hat’s bottom edge. The lamp pictured here is without the chin strap and includes a copper wick spout 3/4 in. in diameter and 2 3/4 in. tall but is otherwise identical to that of Tony Moon’s helmet lamp. The wick tube on the pictured lamp is likely a replacement. A review of US patented oil wick lamps shows other attempts to integrate the lamp oil font with the hat but none proved to be successful. It is likely that this helmet lamp’s rarity may be due to its expensive construction and lack of success as well.]

Copper Oil Wick Helmet Lamp Top | COPPER OIL WICK HELMET LAMP - Copper hard hat with integral oil lamp font and wick tube, internal leather suspension and leather neck cover on back, overall length 10 1/2 in. front to back, max width 7 1/4 in. & 3 in. high at crest, font 2 3/4 in. long and 5 3/4 width at rear where it attaches to hard hat portion, wick spout 3/4 in. dia. and 2 3/4 in. tall, ex-Al Grazevich collection [This is a very unusual oil wick helmet lamp and one of only four or perhaps five known examples. A picture of the copper hard hat lamp is shown in Henry Pohs’ The Miner’s Flame Light Book on pg. 229. It is thought that it may be the same helmet lamp as shown here in my pics. Another reference to the copper helmet lamp is a photo shown in the 2008 French publication La Lampe des Mineurs by Michel Bonnot and identified as in his collection. Interestingly, the lamp description is given as British from the metal mines of Cornwall and dating from the late nineteenth century. Only one of the known examples is marked in an oval stamping E. BOULLEROT DARNETAL SEINE providing strong evidence these lamps were French made. The marked lamp is missing the leather lining and neck cover but does include a brass wick tube similar to one noted in the Tony Moon collection. Of the four for-sure known examples, no two are exactly the same. The finest example is in the collection of my good friend Tony Moon and includes the leather neck cover as well as a leather chin strap. This example also has a 2 1/16 in. tall brass wick spout that is 3/8 in. in diameter. The helmet pictured in Bonnot’s book has a bent wick spout differing in shape but without any signs of a leather neck cover or helmet chin strap. The internal support also has a different pattern of sewn attachment to the hat’s bottom edge. The lamp pictured here is without the chin strap and includes a copper wick spout 3/4 in. in diameter and 2 3/4 in. tall but is otherwise identical to that of Tony Moon’s helmet lamp. The wick tube on the pictured lamp is likely a replacement. A review of US patented oil wick lamps shows other attempts to integrate the lamp oil font with the hat but none proved to be successful. It is likely that this helmet lamp’s rarity may be due to its expensive construction and lack of success as well.]

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