Aladdin "Corinthian" c1935

Work took me to this wonderful old mansion that is being renovated into a bed and breakfast. While there I spotted a pile of stuff in a trash basket including most of an old Aladdin lantern. I mentioned that I collect and restore old lamps like that and the owner said "if you want it, take it, I was just going to throw all of that stuff out".

I already had most of the parts but I stopped at my "lantern place" on the way home and got an appropriate glass shade and a new wick. A couple of hours soaking parts in detergent and cleaning, assembly, and VOILA!

That is a work of art. Very bright too. Is there a mantle over the wick?

-Ryan

Yes.

Aladdin style lamps use the wick to heat a mantle and all of the light comes from the glowing mantle.
Once it comes up to temperature it puts out somewhere around 650 lumens and it'll run for about 8-9 hours per fueling.

In the winter it's also nice that it puts out about 4,000 BTU of heat which is roughly the equal of a 1,500 watt electric heater
on HIGH. Of course that's not as nice to have in a room with you on a hot summer night.

There are a couple of down sides. Turning it on and bringing it up to temperature is a bit of a process, so you don't generally bother starting an Aladdin unless you are going to let it run for a few hours and the mantles are very fragile (and darned expensive these days) so you find a good location and leave the lamp sit, you don't move 'em around if you can avoid it.

Nice find I have several modern reproductions. Biggest problem is finding fuel that does not smell up the house. And do not light the lamp and then fall asleep! Once warmed up they run until the fuel is gone.

Kilted,
Thanks. I have many years of experience with lamps and lanterns (I collect and restore them) but I always appreciate someone giving safety tips.

I use the uncolored "Medallion" oil from Lamplight Farms, mostly because I have a source that gives me a decent deal if I buy a case of the 64oz bottles at a time. It's still expensive but it is refined enough to be very low odor and I don't go through it very fast normally, just the occasional "lamplight dinner" with the wife or dealing with a power outage here and there.

Great story and very nice lamp, tfs

Beautiful light!

That is a great find/restoration, and the price can't be beat!
I've been wanting to add an Aladdin lamp like that to my collection for a long while, just more $ than I can justify for an oil lamp, lol.
They equal approx 60w of incan lighting, amazing for any oil lamp! Great for hurricane lighting.
I use ultra pure no odor mineral spirits in my lamps, has never caused any issues and is fairly cheap in 5 gal buckets.

Genie or no genie?

If genie, how many wishes?

Any limitations and/or restrictions on the wishes?