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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Ladybranch, post: 54955, member: 44&quot;]&gt;Little odd oil lamp,&lt;</p><p><br /></p><p>Sharona, that odd little lamp is a Vapo-Cresolene Vaporizer Lamp, used for medicinal purposes. Yours has most of the original apparatus, but the type of shade that fits this Olmstead burner.</p><p><br /></p><p>Vapo Cresolene was established in 1879 but was still being sold in the 1920s - 30s. It was used as a medicated vapor inhalant. You would pour some thick gooey Vapo-Cresolene potion (poison) in the top and light the little lamp to heat it and &#039;fume&#039; the room. It was supposed to cure a myriad of ailments including Whooping Cough, Spasmodic Croup, Asthma, Sore Throat, Coughs, Bronchitis, Colds, Catarrh. &quot;Cures While You Sleep&#039; 19th Century (quack) medicine at its finest.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p><i>Miniature Lamps</i>, by Smith, 1968, p. 251, fig. 630, has 2 of these lamps with full apparatus pictured. The description given</p><p><br /></p><p>&quot;Vapo-Cresolene lamp; gold gilt iron frame; clear font with embossed &#039;Vapo-Cresolene Use Kerosene&#039;; burner marked &quot;V.C.Co.&quot;; 6 inches high to top of iron frame; two types shown. This little lamp is often seen in antique shops. It was actually a vaporizer for a liquid, first marketed about 1879, whose vapors were advertised to have great medicinal value for many serious diseases. The Notices of Judgment of the United States Food and Drug Administration show that when three shipments were seized in 1930 for these false claims and no claimant appeared, the courts issued a &#039;Default decree of condemnation, forfeiture and destruction.&#039; This opened the door for the passing of this little lamp.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>P. 29 of the same book has pictured an advertisement from an old magazine for the Vapo-Cresolene.</p><p><br /></p><p>Thuro&#039;s<i> Oil Lamps - The Kerosene Era</i>, 1976 with 2004 update Value Guide, p. 52, fig. d., has a picture of this lamp with all the Vapo-Cresolene apparatus - the 2004 Value Guide valued it at $50.00.</p><p><br /></p><p>The burner on these lamps are called Olmstead type burner. Yours is missing an Olmstead shade. Those type shades are nearly impossible to find today even as a reproduction. I have one of these little lamps plus another type of miniature lamp with an Olmstead burner with both missing shades. I have been on the lookout for shades for over a decade now. I have seen a couple of Olmstead shades but they have been either too expensive or too far out for my taste. This webpage has pics of 3 slightly different Olmstead burners:</p><p><a href="http://www.thelampworks.com/lw_burners_08.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.thelampworks.com/lw_burners_08.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.thelampworks.com/lw_burners_08.htm</a></p><p><br /></p><p>The following link is on the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) website. it is a *.pdf file with pics and info on these Vapo-Cresolene lamps, everything **anyone*** ever wanted to know about them. <img src="styles/default/xenforo/smilies/confused.png" class="mceSmilie" alt=":confused:" unselectable="on" /></p><p><a href="http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/MunseyVapo-cresolene.pdf" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/MunseyVapo-cresolene.pdf" rel="nofollow">http://www.sha.org/bottle/pdffiles/MunseyVapo-cresolene.pdf</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s a good lamp site with a page on medicinal lamps showing and telling about this lamp:</p><p><a href="http://www.thelampworks.com/lw_vapo_cresolene.htm" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.thelampworks.com/lw_vapo_cresolene.htm" rel="nofollow">http://www.thelampworks.com/lw_vapo_cresolene.htm</a></p><p><br /></p><p>--- Susan[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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