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Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: yellowrose84 on December 22, 2013, 03:34:25 pm
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Hello. I have an H. Clark lantern. Does anybody know anything about the H. Clark company?
Please help me.
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More pics...if I can get them to load.
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What is the paper sticker ??
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I got it at Goodwill today! I love going to all thrift stores and trying to score vintage things. Sometimes I get lucky and sometimes I leave empty-handed.
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What does the other side look like? Any other markings?
To me it looks like a carriage and/or hearse oil light.
Found John H. Clark patent: http://www.google.com/patents/US672093
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I hope it showed up for you...it is glass and it slides up and down.
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No more markings other than H. Clark on the front. The bottom is very heavy.
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Going by what you said Mart, do you think that my lantern is what is on top of that carriage in the photo?
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I can't blow up the pic to really see well enough.
But since the window is on only one side, to me, logically, it would be like a headlight now-a-days.
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Good eye. I wouldn't of guessed that. What kind of oil was used do you think? Is there any value to this item?
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I am no expert...I have tried to google image search under several terms and combinations: John H. Clark lamp, oil lamp, brass oil lamp, etc. with NO luck. Maybe someone else on here can help with those aspects.
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Yes it would be similar but,,the link that Dogaman posted is for a lamp holder,,not the lamp itself !! It could be the same company and a son may have patented this !!
I think the one you need (still checking ) is Harold Hayward Clark !! He was a miner early 1900`s and found several references to him in the development of safe miners lamps and later electric lamps for use in mines !! Think he was from Pennsylvania !!
But still looking !!
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He must be from upstate Pennsylvania. That's what we would call it. If that helps.
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Trying to find a link between John H and H.H !! It not unthinkable that H.H. started the lamp co. and John H. was the son/brother ect !! Just haven't found the company yet
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http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Catalog.html?id=4XXcPgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y (http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Catalog.html?id=4XXcPgAACAAJ&redir_esc=y)
http://www.onlinebiographies.info/pa/indi/clark-h.htm (http://www.onlinebiographies.info/pa/indi/clark-h.htm)
Also
Hail Clark sole proprietor of the growing business.55 At 13 Clark had worked as a muletender
on the canal, and within six months he settled in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and turned to the
trade of carriage and harness-making. Clark moved to Saltsburg in 1849, where he soon after
earned the reputation as a skilled mechanic. The carriage trade attracted many proficient
craftsmen and their families to the borough. Between 1867 and 1883 Clark employed twenty
men to build and repair carriages, wagons, and buggies, as well as related tasks such as
trimming, painting, woodworking, and blacksmithing. In 1873 Clark attempted to expand the
enterprise-which produced 200 buggies annually, some shipped to Pittsburgh~by constructing
repositories in Indiana, Pennsylvania, and Butler County. But by 1878 business had fallen off
sufficiently to reduce the staff to six men, and abandon both the latter outlets.
In its prime, Clark's reputation was that of producing "only the highest class of work." He owned the
"largest and most complete establishment of this kind in the county" and, expanded another
source, it is "one of the largest and best-equipped carriage factories in the state."5* By 1913
Clark's two sons, Murray and Ferdinand, were partners in the carriage business, whose buildings
were thereafter abandoned and used for automobile storage by 1927
Looks like a rare thing !
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WOW! Thanks so much for getting back to me. This is so interesting!
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Is there any value in this item?
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Of course there is ! In a good PA saleroom there'll be a little extra because of the local interest. Pity you don't have a pair.
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Thanks so much! I will call PA auction houses!
Have a good night. Take care!
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Here is the problem with that,, there is no link to either carriage company ever making the lamps,,!! John H Clark also was a carriage maker !! He did patent the metal piece to attach the lamps to the carriage but does not say a thing about the lamps !!
Clark Carriage Company was another one of the many old-school carriage makers that supplied wooden and composite metal bodies and sub-assemblies to the larger body builders located in and around Amesbury.
The Clark Carriage Co, successors to J.H. Clark, Amesbury, Mass
Among the body building companies that developed in Amesbury shortly after the introduction of metal covered bodies in 1910 was the Clark Carriage Co. After the death of John H. Clark, senior member of the firm, the business was continued by Thomas Clark, who for many years was not at all antagonistic to the automobile, believing that there was a place for both carriages and autos. As a result very few early wooden auto bodies were built by this company. Their first motor car bodies were built of aluminum for the Buick Motor Car Co. They continued to do work for this company during the entire career in the automobile business, specializing in the Buick touring car. In 1913 seven to ten bodies per week were finished. A large brick factory at the corner of Oakland and Chestnut Street housed the establishment where in 1916 one hundred and twenty-five men were employed. The Walker Body Co. bought out the Clark Carriage Co. in 1920.
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To further confuse things, there was a Clark Carriage Co. in Wisconsin as well.
The following is an article from the 1899 Oshkosh newspaper that mentions H.M. Clark as running the company after his father's death.
http://oshkoshpub.cdmhost.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/p4025coll5/id/203/rec/1 (http://oshkoshpub.cdmhost.com/cdm/singleitem/collection/p4025coll5/id/203/rec/1)
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The carriage companies did not usually have a foundry or the extra equipment to make the lamps !! Like other parts they usually bought the lamps in bulk in the styles they liked and installed them at the completion of the carriage !! Just like General Motors does not make the headlights for its cars !! Same thing !! Wouldn`t be practical nor profitable !!
My theory is that they had the H.Clark stamped by the maker of the lamps because it was one way to identify their carriages !!~ That's probably why we can`t find a lamp maker with that name !! Any search always comes back to the carriage company which is what Clark intended !!
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Well that makes it clear as mud...
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Then there is Jopsephus Clark.
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=85192985
http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/NYCHAUTA/2003-12/1070322077
Did foundries produce lanterns?
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Yes but I believe his was a steel foundry !! Didn`t see if they did other metals !!
Yellowrose where are you located ??
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I am from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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I didn't see anything else but steel mentioned, either. But, they would be a more logical business category than carriage makers. Unless, carriage makers contracted with lantern makers and had their name imprinted on their orders. Geesh...logical hoops...where's Sherlock Holmes!?
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Dogaman- ;D You just made me laugh.
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Glad to have brightened your day!
It is a good thing I like to research and sleuth; otherwise, I'd be pulling my hair out in frustration. :D
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I didn't see anything else but steel mentioned, either. But, they would be a more logical business category than carriage makers. Unless, carriage makers contracted with lantern makers and had their name imprinted on their orders. Geesh...logical hoops...where's Sherlock Holmes!?
But that is what they did !! They would contract with the lamp maker for X number of lamps with their name imprinted and the style they preferred !! Guaranteed money and good business !! The lamp maker wouldn`t just make a bunch of lamps without a contract !!
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Well that makes it clear as mud...
No. I still think Hail Clark is the most likely option. the lozenge mark with Clark's name appears to be held by rivets ? Their factory had a smith shop with three forges.
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Could be !! I am tired and my eyes are crossing !! ;) I am going to bed !!
Then again,, Rauville`s link was in WI,, That's more in the area !!
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Researching.....and found this. Maybe you can call or email?
Carriage Museum of America. 859-259-2933. http://199.253.17.48/leading_centers.htm cmalibrary@windstream.net
Also, found something about Clark & Company in Lansing, Michigan http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/c/clark_company/clark_company.htm
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Another one ?? How many darn Clark Carriage Companies are there ???
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Seems like they multiplied like rabbits! lol
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Researching.....and found this. Maybe you can call or email?
Carriage Museum of America. 859-259-2933. http://199.253.17.48/leading_centers.htm cmalibrary@windstream.net
Also, found something about Clark & Company in Lansing, Michigan http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/c/clark_company/clark_company.htm
I will absolutely contact the Carriage Museum of America. Thank you so much for the link! :D
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Also, found something about Clark & Company in Lansing, Michigan http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/c/clark_company/clark_company.htm
Albert Clark.
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Ipcress... you know a lot of info. I am very impressed. :)
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;D Keep on and Ipcress will need a bigger hat !! LOL
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Seems like they multiplied like rabbits! lol
Is,nt that what they did way back....now..If Tv,s had been invented sooner,....the bunny population might have been lower, and Marts veggies spared.... ;D
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It looks like it was made to use a small candle as the light source.
If so, its a real oldie.
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;D Keep on and Ipcress will need a bigger hat !! LOL
..Lots of big hats in the west....just depends on the shape.... ;D