Whale oil lamps once used as lights

#Middlebury #Antiques

This unusual light, a Lucerne whale oil lamp, is made of brass and is silver plated. It gives the light from a small burning flame. The unusual shape coaxed a bid of $242.

Many 18th-century lamps used oil to get light. If whale oil was not available, the lamps could use olive oil. The oil was kept in a reservoir, usually metal, that had three or four burners with wicks. Several were needed to get enough light. A group of these lamps also had reflectors on a pole, usually shaped like a moth with spread wings. The pole held the needed tools, wick cutters, wick picks and snuffing caps, and could raise and lower the reflector to direct the light. Many were made of brass to withstand heat, and silver was added for decoration where it would not melt. This late-19th-century silver-plated lamp that burned fat has it all – a silver-plated reflector brass pole, tools, moth reflector and a finial.

Q: I have a 1967 Barbie and Ken wedding set in the original unopened (but not perfect) box. It was made by Mattel. How do I get information on the value of this set, and how could I sell it?

A: Quite a few Barbie bride dolls have been made since Barbie was introduced in 1959. Your wedding set is the 1964-1965 Barbie Wedding Party Gift Set (No. 1017) by Mattel. It is a set of four dolls dressed in wedding finery, which originally sold from about $14 to $20. The set includes a bubble-cut Barbie doll (with blond, brunette or titian hair) in the outfit called “Bride’s Dream” (No. 947); a painted-head Ken doll (in blond or brunette) in “Tuxedo” (No. 7897); a Midge doll (with brunette or red hair) in “Orange Blossom” (No. 987); and a Skipper doll (with blond, brunette or red hair) in “Flower Girl” (No. 1904). The set came with a wire stand for each doll and a pillow with a wedding ring on it, which was exclusive to this set.

Many Barbie and friends gift sets were offered between 1960 and 1974. Some were department-store exclusives. When found “mint in the box,” they are some of the priciest and hardest-to-find Barbie items. Theriault’s, an auction company in Annapolis, Maryland, specializes in auctioning dolls and often sells Barbie and accessories. A wedding set like yours sold at Theriault’s for $1,100 in 2009.

Current Prices
Music box, jewelry, black forest, oak, ram, rocky ground, flowers, leaves, c. 1920, 13 x 7 1/2 inches, $196.
Ivory, card case, pierced, curved, people in garden, different scenes on reverse, 4 x 2 inches, $630.
Doctor’s stool, metal, round leather seat, nail back trim, adjustable, baluster post, scroll legs, steel castors, 1920s, 28 x 13 inches, $1,700.
Advertising tray, Goebel’s Beer & Porter, blue and white, enamel, brass rim, 12 inches, $5,430.

TIP: Candle wax on your antique metal candlesticks? Put them in the freezer. After a few hours, the wax will easily flake off. If there is a large lump of wax in the candle cup, run hot water on the stick until the wax melts. Do not let water get into the hollow.

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