Hiya, An English Lantern enthusiast without a Tilley in his collection is like an American collector without a Coleman in his, so I had to put that right. And today my Tilley Guardsman was delivered to right that omission! It was described in the advert as a 1955 model, but I have my doubts, You will see why when you look at the pictures I will post. It actually looks better in real life because I'm no photographer and the flash has exaggerated the rust, for example there is NO rust on the tank, it's a reflection from the frame. The hood has only only small spots of rust and only one chip yet it looks terrible(not terrible just worse than it actually is) in the pictures. All of my other lamps(I only have 10) are either new or near new, but I don't intend to attempt to pretty the Tilley up too much, I want her to look like a working Lantern showing her age gracefully. So down to the pictures, please take note of the bottom of the tank, Can you put a year of manufacture? because I understood that Tilley didn't start stamping their tanks until 1956.
In this thread you will find the sequence of variations in the X246 lanterns (after the pork pies). First renovation. Cheers Tony
Hi Tony, I read something like that before, But mine doesn't fit into the pattern! it has the groove on the bottom of the tank, so should not be stamped. And the stamp doesn't follow the normal pattern which is "made in England" got that, and it's supposed to be 2 numbers and two letters, mine is 4 numbers(what do they mean?), Have I got things wrong? Maybe I'm misinterpreting things. It only matters because I'm a awkward bugger and likes to pick things to bits LOL.
I can’t clearly make out your number stamping. Is it “5570”? If so, your lantern is date stamped 5 for May, 57 for 1957. The last letter(s) of theses stampings have unknown properties. Cheers Tony
Its 5570, so its 1957, I did think the 1955 was wrong when I bought it so no surprise there then. Thanks for helping me sort that out, its appreciated!
No worries. By the way, just to be pedantic, the Tilley tanks are brass, and in this case, speculum plated (therefore it’s not rust…). I’m glad I could help. Cheers Tony
The date code is not stamped in the usual manner, but as Tony has already mentioned it stands for May 1957 and the tank is made entirely from brass so there would not be any rust, but sometimes there is corrosion, your lantern should restore well enough.
It's as well to bear in mind that Tilleys have been repaired, fixed, and messed about with a lot, so a lantern may have a mix of parts. You'll only know it's completely original if you know it's history
I don’t thing “parts” are at issue here. What was/is interesting about this lantern is the stamping on the bottom of the tank which is somewhat different to what is usually seen. Cheers Tony
That's what I picked up on in my first post, I knew that wasn't normal. My next consideration is whether to spray the frame and bail silver or to just clean it up and leave it natural.
Absolutely, I was just making a general point about how Tilleys and Bialaddins often get assembled from parts. The stamping issue on this lantern is yet another anomaly a bit like 246A stamped on some Guardsman style tanks. I guess it's what makes collecting such fun.
