whale oil lamp

On the inside of the pressed base of this lamps are the initials “N.E.G.Co./ E.R.-S.R.” These initials, which confirm that the lamps were made at the New England Glass Company, must have been inscribed on the plunger of the mold. The Museum has two other pairs of these lamps, made of opaque white glass and marked with the same initials. They have fonts of a different shape, however. The fonts of the recently acquired lamps have an unusual cuplike shape, and the chimneys appear to be original. These lamps match a pair owned by Dorothy Donovan Farrell, who lent them to The Toledo Museum of Art for an exhibition of works from the New England Glass Company in 1963. The initials “E.R.” are probably those of Enoch Robinson, who (along with Henry Whitney, another New England employee) was granted a patent for pressed glass knobs in 1826. The initials “S.R.” may refer to Spencer Richards, an East Cambridge resident, who received a patent for pressing glass doorknobs in 1831. This style of lamp was produced in opaque blue, opaque white, and colorless glass, and in at least three sizes. The bases of the midsize lamps are initialed. The Boston and Sandwich Glass Company probably made lamps with unmarked bases of this type, some with small feet at the corners. There are similar lamps with neither the inscription nor the feet (the Museum has several pairs of them), and it is not clear which of the two companies may have made them. Our marked lamps have whale oil burners, but some of our unmarked lamps have burners for camphene, which provided a bright light but was quite flammable.

United States, MA, East Cambridge

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