Featured Napoleon Oil Lamp "Collection"

Hey everybody,

It's me again.
I bought yellow Nopeleon & Josephine oil lamps a couple of months ago.
I was planning on buying them some globes sometime, but I haven't done that yet.

3 Days ago I received the 2 blue Napoleon oil lamps (the middle one I already had).

Now, I'm wondering...
Online I see price variate from $120 for the pair till $3000 per piece.

Where should I digitally "GO' for more information and valuation for these?


Thank you very much!

 

Lovely! Wow, the shades of the blue ones are still intact! I really don't know anything about these Napoleon and Josephine lamps other then to say they are late 19th century+. Your lamps seem to have the common Kosmos brass collars. It appears the shape of the blues ones are less common then the shape of the yellow ones. Like you have found, I have seen prices ranging from a $100 to thousands. Of course the ones with the original shades tend to be the highest. Example:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/FRENCH-ANTI...NE-BANQUET-VICTORIAN-GLASS-LAMP-/221247876779

Then there is this one price at only $200 that didn't sell:
http://www.ebay.ie/itm/172232364074

I have searched through my many oil lamp reference books resulting in none of them mentioning these lamps. Thuro's Oil Lamps II, p. 133, "Foreign Lamps" section, has a Sevres porcelain Napoleon banquet vase lamp pictured. This one has the vase body with Napoleon picture and has a ball shade with a pic of a French seal, coat-of-arms, or something I can't make out. The background is green. In the description it says:

"Lamp; hard paste porcelain with gilt metal handle and mounts. French; bears the marks of the Sevres Factory, circa 1891-1900. The green ground color is said to have been Napoleon's favorite color from Sevres.
"Such commemorative pieces, complete with portraits and appropriate crests as on the shade were popular from the late 19th century onward; particularly for fancy decorator vases.
"The shade is marked 'PHOENIX, MADE EXPRESSLY FOR BURLEY & Co.' The Phoenix Glass Company in Monaca, PA near Pittsburgh, was noted for its fine quality hand-painted shades. Height to the top of shade is 34"."

Not that long ago there was an excellent oil lamp website, The International Guild of Lamp Researchers. Earlier this year the website was discontinued. The only way for several months I was able to get into it was via the "Wayback Machine," an internet archive search engine; however, the Q & A (Question & Answer) section wasn't archived. Today found that one of the links on another lamp organization got me into the Lamp Guild website, surprise surprise. Here's the link:
http://www.lampguild.org/
Link to their Q & A page:
http://www.lampguild.org/QandApage/index.php.html

Gee the "Search the Archives" button/link doesn't work.
Anyways they wouldn't have helped you on value for the website was dedicated to **only** info on IDing and operating oil lamps and definitely did not give any evaluations, appraisals. They frowned on queries asking for sale values and would ignore them. It was an no, no to even mention eBay, auction or selling.

Here is the Wayback Machine link to the website the last homepage:
https://web.archive.org/web/20161230224804/www.lampguild.org/
Earlier homepage:
https://web.archive.org/web/20161010005917/www.lampguild.org/

Following are a few oil lamp websites that may have forums that you might post a query. I would highly advise not mentioning you are planning on selling them. Now most organizations' sites require membership to post, but you may be able to search their forums, Q & A pages for info?
Click on there link to "Lighting sites" for more online sites:
http://rushlight.org/
http://www.historical-lighting.org/
http://www.thelampworks.com/index.html
http://tomsvintagelighting.com/
https://19thcenturylighting.com/restoration/restoration.html

--- Susan

 

I meant to add in my previous reply that the thumb-wheel, wick-winder knobs, design may be identified to the maker of the burners. Nowwww in common oil lamps, the burners were were usually replaced a time or 2 through the life of the lamp and really should not be considered in determining age of the lamp or maker. Also most common burners were made by burner companies that didn't make lamps; however, some lamp companies **did** also make burners that fitted only their lamps. I am woefully ignorant on foreign (not American) oil lamp makers and burners. Following is a link to a website IDing "foreign" (French, German, Austria) oil lamp thumbwheels. You might be able to ID one of the burners on your lamps. This is another website that isn't active anymore. THe following link is via the Internet Archive Wayback Machine:

https://web.archive.org/web/20160302152344/http://lumiara.perso.neuf.fr/lumiara/en/manuen.htm

Scroll down this page to see a few also.
http://www.oldcopper.org/special_topics/oil_lamp_makers.php

--- Susan

 

Your lamps are beautiful!

I wondered what happened to that site - thank-you for posting the link to them ladybranch

 

Thank you very much for your all your links and information.
I wil definately check it out tonight.

By the way, I belive these lamps are made of bristol or opaline glass.
And they're not handpainted. Also not in the very best condition,
but still nice pieces.

I have saved multiple links a while ago. Prices variate very much.
Some sold some haven't. But the blue napoleon lamps I bought as a set.
I really bought them immediately when I saw them online for cheap,
to be the first one. I didn't exam the pictures really. When I received them, I found out that it isn't a complete set.

The blue ones have different "collars" + I believe the prints should face eachother, where now they both facing to the right.

The yellow one's I had to travel for... (6,5 hours by train haha) only to find out 3 months later that one had a crack. I'm not really bothered by that, because I'm glad to have them. It's just hard to determine a price for them.

The middle blue lamp, I have placed online: €500, €450, €400, €300. Didn't sell.

While I asked somebody on e-bay, selling comparable ones, how much the middle one might be worth. He/she told me she had seen a pair being sold online for €3000 or 4000. She didn't respond when I asked if she could share link or company name something.

But still... I think they nice pieces, and I know they're at least worth more than what I paid for them.

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-European-Oil-Lamps-Pair-/332102364194?autorefresh=true


http://www.ebay.com/itm/Antique-Blu...UWWQdbmIZsTsHzYoHZRV0%3D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc


http://picclick.ca/French-Antique-Napoleon-Gwtw-Old-Oil-Kerosene-Banquet-221247876779.html


http://www.ebay.ie/itm/172232364074

 

https://new.liveauctioneers.com/item/17812372_old-pair-of-glass-oil-lamps-napoleon-and-josephine

https://new.liveauctioneers.com/item/25916993_old-pair-of-glass-oil-lamps-napoleon-and-josephine

http://www.antiques-atlas.com/antique/a_good_pair_of_opaline_glass_oil_lamps/as122a259

http://www.thomaswatson.com/lot/pai...ar-yellow-glass-lamp-all-on-gilt-metal-bases/

http://www.lawsons.com.au/asp/fullCatalogue.asp?salelot=8050++++1006+&refno=31137970&saletype=P

https://www.etsy.com/nl/listing/485140637/paar-van-olie-in-opaline-blauwe-lamp?ref=market

https://new.liveauctioneers.com/item/34830421_pair-of-french-milk-glass-table-lamps

https://new.liveauctioneers.com/item/25916993_old-pair-of-glass-oil-lamps-napoleon-and-josephine

https://www.antiquesnavigator.com/d-1821113/antique-oil-lamp-in-with-the-figure-of-napoleon.html

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https://new.liveauctioneers.com/item/1121295_pair-of-continental-opaline-glass-kerosene-lamp

https://new.liveauctioneers.com/item/359537_a-pair-of-continental-opaline-glass-ke

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You're welcome. Nowwww the thought of being bristol glass is interesting. I can't help you on whether of not. Did find the following on bristol glass and possibly history of these lamps.
Do scroll about 1/2 way down the page to pics of Napoleon lamp with paragraph starting:

"Old Boney: The most common commemorative lamps produced before the Boer War, were the Bristol glass oil lamps of Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte and ......"

http://angloboerwarmuseum.com/Boer93b_lamps.html

Possibly the "glassies" on the Pottery, Glass & Porcelain Forum can help on the glass.

--- Susan

 

Yes, I have read that article before