What is happening with you Brits? Bialaddin 300X

No, no inquiry in to what the british members here are going through now the implementation of Brexit comes near.
This is a Pressure Lamp Site after all, and I do have a question about the zest, or rather the lack of it, with which seemingly most of you buy lamps on your local Ebay.

Granted, I know that most collectors are not very keen on the odd run-of-the-mill Bialaddin lamp.
I have come to realise I have an interest in and appreciation for them that could be well above average.
But once in a while there is this lamp being offered, that, although with a very common title, must be rare
in appearance as the very first version, especially in the likely hardly-used condition it was put up for sale.
All that for the paltry sum of £ 27.50 !!

And it kept there being offered for quite a while, likely because the seller had chosen not to ship; the lamp was only to be collected. Now this can be a mistake, an unintentional blockage of own interest by seller.
But no, upon inquiry seller started ranting and raving about "being conned' by buyers he had shipped to, a flood of complaints that did not make sense to me, but helped me to get a picture of his mind. Suggesting a shipment to alien territory was out of the question: how dare I!

So, the lamp was registered as Sold in the end, and so far, I have not read any news on it here, nor an entry in the Gallery.
Because the lamp, imo, certainly warrants it: here are some pics I copied from the Ebay advertisement.







Look at it: like-new paint, a pristine black enamel top, and no dent or bent in sight. The odd greenish appearance of the brass parts is likely a result of a long storange with some chemistry going on, and just as likely to be removed easily. Study of the logo on the glass makes it appear similar as the predecessor Vapalux 300 X, so prior to the red round logo with Bialaddin underneath.

When will you see this kind of lamp offered again, and for this money?
Someone obviously made the trip, and must have enjoyed the ride back even if it was a long one.
As for the title, I am perplexed as to why this lamp was advertised for weeks on end.
Located near London, it was not in a far and remote corner of the British Isles. Could it be that Corona is casting it's spell and makes folk hesitant about spending frivolous money? Or is it that those collector's with an interest in W&B lamps are already provided?

Perhaps some of you can give me a clue.
Me, had I lived within a distance of 300 km, I would have gone to collect it, on the big moped of course, and turned it into a nice outing.
But then again, I might have a very odd level of fondness for these modest lamps from Halifax.......

Mike

 

@M.Meijer I share your frustration Mike concerning unco-operative and apparently irrational ebay sellers.

My recent experience with one such individual related to an acetylene lantern, a rather unusual and large boat lamp. In anticipation of entering a robust bid I contacted the seller to put some questions to him about the working principle of the lantern - as photographed and described it wasn’t a regulated drip feed of water onto the carbide or a float containing the carbide within a water chamber.

Reasonable questioning, but the would-be seller haughtily replied that if I had to ask such questions I’d best not buy the lantern because I must lack the technical competence to work it safely! I told him off and chose not to risk puttting money in his pocket by bidding.

John

 

@M.Meijer
We Brits do not smoke the same strength marijuana as the Dutch ,

 

John ,

the frustration has sometimes been great enough for me to travel to Berlin to collect a rare vintage target rifle on one occasion.
Mind, as stated before, I usually turned it into a nice trip, and to Berlin (a fun city but I am getting too old for it, lol) there still are - or were - stretches of Autobahn where I could explore the speed limit of my motorcycles......
In fact, I would not have gone to Berlin without these fringe benefits, ha!

But the frustrations cause by limited sellers are largely behind, as I stopped buying, sort of....
The Bialaddin, if I had been able to acquire it, would not have been a clear exception to the rule I have imposed: I will not keep more than 10 lamps. In fact I have a maximum of 9 lamps now, not likely to be expanded, and this very early - in theory possibly a 1946 lamp - would have replaced the 1947 lamp I have described here before.

Years of collecting did bring these kinds of disappointments, simply because people have this unreasonable fear for a world they do not know. I explain this as a lack of education, or personal development.
In your story I read a seller who'd rather not admit having no clue what you were talking about; saving face is not uncommon.
Beause not shipping to the Netherlands - from Albion - has often been explained to me for reasons ranging from ridiculous to the absurd: even as too expensive for me !

If this 300X seller had bad experiences with several buyers, who claimed the goods did not arrive and made him pay, it seemed to me this person had not enough grip on how to deal on the internet and was plagued by his own ghosts.
At the end of the day, it is any seller's prerogative how to sell, but it does not ever make good business sense to limit yourself on a worldwide classifieds.

But the question as posed in this thread is about the, to me, lacklustre action on what I perceive as a unique opportunity.
Not for the first time I see lamps in great condition, offered in the UK for a pittance locally, and no takers.
That to me indicates the home market is fullfilled, or people still trust to find similar on the next car boot sale for zilch.
But I did not longer want to speculate and decided to ask.

Regards, Mike

 

To answer your question, Mike, from what I see here they're collecting Veritas stuff at the moment!

Interesting enough lanterns, I suppose, but there are only a couple of types to be had. Give me a Bialaddin / Vapalux any day...

 

I'm with you, David!! Give me a Vapalux/Bialaddin lantern any day!!

 

Vapalux/Bialaddin/Imber Research lanterns are in my opinion, reliable and well built!

 

Yep...Vapalux and Bialaddin are all I need...apart from the occasional Geniol ....
But when it comes to easy to handle and reliable lamps these are first choice.
And Mike, if a loon is too complicated let him go. Another one will cross your way

 

They do seem to be quite the thing these days!

 

Why!? Nice lantern but limited... what really happened when it comes to the bum wrap they got just months ago? Was it all B.S.? I don't own one so can't run my mouth about this one...

 

@george yes mate, there’s enough empirical evidence now to thoroughly debunk the Veritas’s “bad lantern” myth. The charge against this myth was led by @ColinG and since, his findings, have been validated by many more Veritas owners, @Norman @Darryl Durdin and me included.
Cheers
Pete

 

Thanks @AussiePete and @Norman

Like everyone else I 'knew' that Veritas were rubbish because that was always the story - that they were extremely difficult to start, flaky in operation and prone to giving up randomly for no apparent reason, possibly from a change in external temperature.

My opinion changed when I was gifted a Veritas Superb (thanks @Norman ) and at first I have to be honest I wondered what on earth I was going to do with it, but I went through the same procedure I always do - like we all do I guess. I gave it a thorough check over, made sure there were no leaks in the fount and then cleaned and polished it to get rid of the grime and kero gunk. After that I replaced the seals, checked the NRV was OK, oiled the pump leather and filled it with Kero. Seeing how similar it was to a Coleman or an AGM in the way it worked (quite diferent to a Tilley or Bialaddin for instance) I treated it as such and it just worked!

That's all I've done with all of my (now 9!) Veritas and apart from one or two dodgy NRVs that's about it. One had a stress crack that I repaired with pouring epoxy but the rest are great. The Superbs particularly are absolutely amazing. You can leave the kero under pressure if you use them regularly (which I do) and if there's still fuel in the vaporiser they self start after about a minute' or so of pre-heating. I don't have any other brands that do that and it still makes me smile each time it happens! After that I gently open the control valve and away she goes, full pelt.

But as someone else mentioned I've kind of shot myself in the foot as the prices of Veritas lanterns is steadily rising but it's fine. If I can be bothered I could do with a P9955 and a P350 Dutch Army version which is half an AGM anyhow but I can wait.

 

To be fair, the original 'conventional wisdom' that Veritas lanterns were rubbish applied only to the Superb. I don't think anyone criticised the 350 - that's my recollection of it anyway.

I've probably got 5-6 Superbs and only one of them ever worked properly for me - at least until it got jarred one day and the mantle broke; it's never worked since. I've one that had been test-fired only but that didn't work either no matter what I did, at least until I put a new vapouriser on it and it's been OK ever since. But you shouldn't have to be putting a brand new vapouriser onto a lantern that's been lit only once or twice.

But I can't get any Primus lantern to work either so it's probably me...

 

I guess it's like the Mil-specs, you either love them or hate them! I'm not a big fan of the Mil-specs but I still had to have one, or two, or three... lol

 

Going back the original point, if I’d seen the add for that 300 I’d have bought it straight off then organised to collect it

 

The Superb's bad rep is partly me as well I guess. Well made good looking lanterns but I have tried maybe four or five and they just don't work for me. I am not a big fan of the 350 types either although they do work well. ::Neil::

 

Mind you, I did get a Veritas bowl-fire working...

...and a Thermidor 303, now I think about it - and they're almost a Veritas!

 

Well, back in the day the lampie website ‘Be Back Later’ (now defunct) carried an experiment by @David Shouksmith in which his Veritas Superb developed a black mantle after a short while. I countered with an experiment of my own with one of my Superbs - both perform equally as well - and here was the start ...




... two hours later




... and on and on.

John

 

Yeah, that was the 'only test-fired' one I referred to above which now works after I changed the vapouriser for a new one...

 

@malcolm race ,

thank you for sticking to the topic.
Perhaps the overall reactions to this topic so far are an illustration for the supposed low interest in W&B lamps when offered on brit Ebay, and serve as an answer to the question I put out.

 

Well, in stark contrast, there was the Vapalux / Bialaddin hybrid with the crappy home-made top that went for £142 recently...

Vintage Vapalux Bialaddin 300x Halifax Tilley Pressure Paraffin Lantern | eBay

I don't think anyone would call that a lack of interest in Willis & Bates stuff.

But on the other hand, I can list a lantern here just like the one you've shown right at the top, Mike, and I can almost guarantee no-one will be interested...

 

The margin between "low' and 'lack' is a considerable wide one, David.

And IF this lamp was bought by a british national , which I doubt , than I should repeat my question, but this time in capitals.

 

Perhaps I should just save my time and go straight to eBay then...

 

Mike, I must agree the Bialaddin 300X you show is lovely but is not of interest to every "Brit".

Just because a collector hails from the UK doesn't not necessarily mean they have an interested in lanterns produced in the UK. Frankly while I agree it is great lantern in original condition, I've no more than a passing interest in it so could miss it every day of the week while it is on ebay. In fact I've more interest in getting my hands on a Ex Dutch Military Coleman or Ex Dutch Army Veritas 350 than this.

 

Alex, I am not questioning anybodies personal interest. I do - or rather did - wonder about the willingness to acquire an imo now rare lamp in this condition available only to Britons.

 

People follow ebay to see the selling trends, if a 300x sells for silly money, you can guarantee there will be 3 or 4 on the following week, flooding the market, hence the prices drop

 

Mike, Point taken. It could be the rarest lantern of its type, but unless people are interested in it and appreciate it then it will slip by.

 

Hi Mike,

I did see this lantern on ebay and liked it a lot. The seller didn't want to ship and I can quite understand why, especially in the current climate.
The only other alternative for me was to drive a considerable distance and also at a very inconvenient time ; I am also well into several long term restorations including more than one identical Bialaddin 300X... (work and day to day life is just so inconvenient?)

So just where do you draw the line?

 

Well, I fail to understand that, period. And which 'climate' are you referring to?

As for drawing a line, we all do, or should, being it on financial or practical grounds. Someone overcame the practical problems created by seller, as it was presumably sold. This took some time despite the very low price.
Again, I wondered (out loud) why it took so long and suggested some factors, like having ones fill.

 

??? i take it that you are aware of the current global pandemic and the restrictions it entails? That was the 'climate' i was referring to. Basically there are some folk that are less than happy to try to wrap up a delicate antique in newspaper and post it with our dear 'royal mail' knowing that it just ain't gonna make it pal...then they have to take all the shit that follows in the name of progress.
You may not understand that,period. But i do and i also have some sympathy with the old boy( or was it old girl?) who was selling the lovely lantern, hoping that somebody would turn up on the doorstep and save them all the bother..but i couldn't do that and that's all there is to it, goodnight.