Is this common ?

Over the years I have restored quite a few lamps, but I have never come across this before. I purchased a used lamp a while ago and when I came to strip the paint off it and prepare it for repainting, it actually turned out to be a chrome lamp. The paint that I removed was definitely a factory paint with a factory finish, but the chrome under the paint appeared to be faulty.
It was almost as though somebody at the factory had seen the poor chroming at quality control and decided to have the lamp sent for painting instead of re-chroming.
The fault on the lamp appears to be a faint line around the tank where the process seems to have not been successful, although I have read that many tanks were not actually chromed at all. Instead, they went through an alternative process to create the shine, but the name escapes me?
Was that common practice in the Tilley factory at the time, maybe to keep costs down ?

 

Welcome aboard!
Yes, those turn up once in a while, if the plating did not come up to Tilley's standard, then it was classed as a failed plating and the tank was then painted.

 

Are you thinking of Speculum plate ?

 

Thanks Jeff
I must admit, I was quite surprised when I first saw it and some of the tank looked absolutely brand new and totally unmarked, probably because of the protection given by the paint.

 

That’s the one Henry. I remember seeing a post about it. To be honest I probably wouldn’t know the difference between chrome and Speculum if I saw them side by side.

 

My first Tilley lamp, which was made in August 1977 has speculum plating.

 

The lamp I have is dated August 88. What were the benefits of Speculum ? I’m guessing financial ?

 

I couldn't say, I only got bitten by the Tilley bug earlier this year.
Most of my oily lamps are Chalwyn wick lanterns.

Thanks to the power of t'interweb, speculum is a cheaper alternative and there's less work involved as well.

 

Hi @Chris Lesser and Welcome!

i have seen a few of these as well..
Tilley didn’t throw much away

i did look into the Speculum and Chrome plating a while ago..
i too got the impression that plating with Speculum might have been easier to obtain than using Chrome? especially at that time in the 1920’s..

we do tend to generally label anything shiny as ‘Chrome’ these days..
but after comparing side by side i feel that the Speculum looks a bit warmer than Chrome, slightly more silvery but not as much as Nickel ?
the Speculum colour may have changed over time as well, of course