Oilwick Lamps/Miniature Pottsville

Oilwick Lamps

Miniature Pottsville.JPG - C. GEORGE POTTSVILLE MINIATURE - Miniature tin oil wick lamp, marked on font with paper label OLD HOME WEEK POTTSVILLE, PA SEPT. 2-8-1906 L. C. THOMPSON, stamped on bottom C. GEORGE HAZLETON, PA, 1 5/16 in. tall to lid, 15/16 in. base dia. (Miniature oil wick lamps are highly sought after items with collectors. There is speculation that these miniature lamps were salesman samples from lamp manufacturers. That may be true but it seems to make little sense that samples would be made for the actual lamp that is only somewhat larger (see oil wick lamps marked C. George elsewhere in these pics). It is much more likely that these little lamps were produced by manufacturers as promotional items or souvenirs for mining related events. I believe that to be the case with this miniature lamp. Old Home Week was the Centennial celebration of the arrival of John Potts at the town’s future location along the Schuylkill River in 1806. Potts purchased an anthracite fired iron furnace at the site and subsequently founded the city of Pottsville, PA. Pottsville's anthracite coal history began in 1790 with the discovery of coal by a hunter named Necho Allen. Legend has it that Allen fell asleep at the base of the Broad Mountain and woke to the sight of a large fire. His campfire had ignited an outcropping of coal on the southern end of what would become the well known Anthracite Coal Region in northeastern Pennsylvania. These coal fields extend 50 miles east and west, and 100 miles north and south, and cover approximately 484 square miles, containing the richest deposits of anthracite in the world. Pottsville would come to be known as the southern gateway to the anthracite coal fields. The Old Home Week celebration of Sept. 2-8, 1906 held a number of events featuring parades of fire stations crews, trade unions, fraternal organizations and mining companies. Lewis C. Thompson was a prominent resident of Pottsville and the owner of the largest hardware store, L. C. Thompson Hardware, providing mining supplies in the town of Pottsville. It was located at the corner of Centre and West Market Streets. In 1924, the store was sold to the neighboring Schuylkill Trust Co. so the bank could erect its new building at the site. The miniature lamp would seem to be a promotional mining item provided by Thompson’s Hardware for the week long celebration. See Steinberg, Mining Artifact Collector #1, pp 14-15)

Miniature Pottsville | C. GEORGE POTTSVILLE MINIATURE - Miniature tin oil wick lamp, marked on font with paper label OLD HOME WEEK POTTSVILLE, PA SEPT. 2-8-1906 L. C. THOMPSON, stamped on bottom C. GEORGE HAZLETON, PA, 1 5/16 in. tall to lid, 15/16 in. base dia. (Miniature oil wick lamps are highly sought after items with collectors. There is speculation that these miniature lamps were salesman samples from lamp manufacturers. That may be true but it seems to make little sense that samples would be made for the actual lamp that is only somewhat larger (see oil wick lamps marked C. George elsewhere in these pics). It is much more likely that these little lamps were produced by manufacturers as promotional items or souvenirs for mining related events. I believe that to be the case with this miniature lamp. Old Home Week was the Centennial celebration of the arrival of John Potts at the town’s future location along the Schuylkill River in 1806. Potts purchased an anthracite fired iron furnace at the site and subsequently founded the city of Pottsville, PA. Pottsville's anthracite coal history began in 1790 with the discovery of coal by a hunter named Necho Allen. Legend has it that Allen fell asleep at the base of the Broad Mountain and woke to the sight of a large fire. His campfire had ignited an outcropping of coal on the southern end of what would become the well known Anthracite Coal Region in northeastern Pennsylvania. These coal fields extend 50 miles east and west, and 100 miles north and south, and cover approximately 484 square miles, containing the richest deposits of anthracite in the world. Pottsville would come to be known as the southern gateway to the anthracite coal fields. The Old Home Week celebration of Sept. 2-8, 1906 held a number of events featuring parades of fire stations crews, trade unions, fraternal organizations and mining companies. Lewis C. Thompson was a prominent resident of Pottsville and the owner of the largest hardware store, L. C. Thompson Hardware, providing mining supplies in the town of Pottsville. It was located at the corner of Centre and West Market Streets. In 1924, the store was sold to the neighboring Schuylkill Trust Co. so the bank could erect its new building at the site. The miniature lamp would seem to be a promotional mining item provided by Thompson’s Hardware for the week long celebration. See Steinberg, Mining Artifact Collector #1, pp 14-15)

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