I did some research and found people posting about a company with that name making oil lamps during the 1800s (Civil War era). There were also some posts saying there was a newer company with the same name still in business. I was pretty sure my lamp wasn't 150 years old, so I just assumed my lamp was a reasonably current item and threw it up on eBay for cheap.
Shame on me for not making sure I had this story fleshed out. Most of the time I try to nail down a timeline as best I can unless the item is going to be priced for less than $20. Fast forward six months and the listing expires for a second time from eBay. At this point I decide I should try to move it to Etsy but I really need to be sure it's at least 20 years old. Round 2 of research commences...
Now the water gets murky because once I again I find numerous references to this Civil War era maker. I see occasional mention of a newer company using the same name. Sadly in the case of the Civil War company there are no real records to find. I'm also not getting anything helpful about newer businesses with the name except this:
White Flame Light @ History Grand Rapids.Org
This is clearly the right company since they are mentioned in the correct city. Sadly there are no dates in this brief history of the business, just the name of the founder. Well crap, this is not helping me with my timeline problem. I really need to know when this company was founded and when it ended. Obviously from the story I can assume the business started at a time when oil lamps were a primary light source, but that's a pretty big window.
Eventually I find some listings in Google's book search that are advertisements in Popular Mechanics dating to the 1910s and 1920s. This is helpful since I'm getting some type of timeframe. It still doesn't tell me when the business died or perhaps merged with another company.
After a great deal of fruitless Google searches I decide to focus on the guy's name instead of the company name. Finally I start to make progress! I find some stories of land he donated to the city and some family information. I continue digging and come up with this page:
Blandford Family Tree Bio
A bit invasive, but hey, the dude is dead. Since it lists a birth date of 1890 I think we can assume this is not our Civil War lamp maker. So we've clearly got two different companies using the same or similar name on oil lamps. Either way, Victor from Grand Rapids is MY guy. By clicking the "Notes" tab I get a bio:
"Victor produced White Flame Light Burner lamps until electricity came of age. During the depression he joined the realty firm of I. R. Blandford..."
So now we've got a concrete time window! We know that he started making lamps during or after college, so that would be the early 1900s. Being born in 1890, we're probably talking about 1906 if we follow the storyline from the Grand Rapids site. We've also learned that by the Great Depression he had moved into real estate -- 1929. So our lamp has to date between 1906 and 1929.
Mystery Solved!
Not that it makes my lamp drastically more valuable, it doesn't. But at least I know I can safely add it to my Etsy shop and I've got more interesting background information to share about it. I hope this information comes in handy to some other pickers out there who are trying to date their White Flame oil lamp.
If the burner on your oil lamp looks like this:
Then you have a lamp made by Victor Blandford's White Flame Company!
This is clearly the right company since they are mentioned in the correct city. Sadly there are no dates in this brief history of the business, just the name of the founder. Well crap, this is not helping me with my timeline problem. I really need to know when this company was founded and when it ended. Obviously from the story I can assume the business started at a time when oil lamps were a primary light source, but that's a pretty big window.
Eventually I find some listings in Google's book search that are advertisements in Popular Mechanics dating to the 1910s and 1920s. This is helpful since I'm getting some type of timeframe. It still doesn't tell me when the business died or perhaps merged with another company.
After a great deal of fruitless Google searches I decide to focus on the guy's name instead of the company name. Finally I start to make progress! I find some stories of land he donated to the city and some family information. I continue digging and come up with this page:
Blandford Family Tree Bio
A bit invasive, but hey, the dude is dead. Since it lists a birth date of 1890 I think we can assume this is not our Civil War lamp maker. So we've clearly got two different companies using the same or similar name on oil lamps. Either way, Victor from Grand Rapids is MY guy. By clicking the "Notes" tab I get a bio:
"Victor produced White Flame Light Burner lamps until electricity came of age. During the depression he joined the realty firm of I. R. Blandford..."
So now we've got a concrete time window! We know that he started making lamps during or after college, so that would be the early 1900s. Being born in 1890, we're probably talking about 1906 if we follow the storyline from the Grand Rapids site. We've also learned that by the Great Depression he had moved into real estate -- 1929. So our lamp has to date between 1906 and 1929.
Mystery Solved!
Not that it makes my lamp drastically more valuable, it doesn't. But at least I know I can safely add it to my Etsy shop and I've got more interesting background information to share about it. I hope this information comes in handy to some other pickers out there who are trying to date their White Flame oil lamp.
If the burner on your oil lamp looks like this:
