According to the scratch on the bottom of the tank, it is a Petromax 821, built in July 1930. Please note that the mica glove is a replacement. I have three questions and I would appreciate hearing from all of you experts. 1) I presume that the design of the logo engraved on the tank indicates that it is the first variant of the 821. Is my guess correct? 2) Based on the label on the base rest, this 821 appears to have been sold by a distributor in Barcelona, Spain. Does anyone have information about this agency? 3) The bump behind the lower block of the 1-piece vaporizer is for mounting the shut-off valve of the 819 and other gasoline lanterns, and I suspect the parts were shared. Is my guess correct? Best regards. Shinzo
From the PLC:- The company is Casa Klaebisch, Via Layetana 149, Barcelona, Spain. The company imported a range of Petromax lamps into Spain from 1924. Typically they are marked as Petromax, Estelar or Columbus but some, such as the do-nut lamps, have labels with “Patente Esp 91345” and “Venta Exclusiva A. Klaebisch Barcelona”. Estelar and Columbus are brands registered in Italy and may have been made there but it is possible these are Klaebisch brands and were exported to Italy. Alfredo Klaebisch was born in Germany in 1890 to a family of winemakers who lived in the Cognac region of France. Alfred moved to Barcelona in 1914 due to the outbreak of WW1 and stayed there afterwards. He began importing tools from Germany in 1920 and Petromax lamps in 1924 continuing to do so until at least 1936 from the company address 7 Paseo San Juan, Barcelona which was renamed and numbered as Calle Claris 69 in 1927. Alfredo again fled his adopted country due to War and returned to Barcelona when the Spanish civil war was over. It is not clear if the company continued to operate during this conflict but they were certainly back in business by 1940 at the new address Via Layetana 149. We don’t know when Estelar branded lamps were manufactured but very possibly soon after the start of WW2 when imports would have been difficult. It is thought that the brand was in production through the 1950s and possibly later. At least one lamp has been found with the brand name AKABE on the manometer. This was the telegraphic address for Klaebisch and is perhaps Alfred Klaebisch Associates Barcelona, España. Alfredo died in 1978. This historical info from Juan Vallina in Spain. ::Neil::
Hello @gkpllantern , I'm the opinion too that you have a very early variant. The 821 appears in the catalogs the first time in 1926. The one-piece vaporizer has later been changed over to the two-piece vaporizer. I have found flyers from 1927, 1928, 1929, 1930, 1931, and 1932 which show the one-piece vaporizer, whereas from 1933 on, the two-piece vaporizer appears. In 1926 and 1925 there was also a different design of that part. So yes: it is the first variant of the 821. It can well be that the same cast part was used for the paraffin and gasoline/benzene vaporizer versions, and they did just machine it differently. So I agree with you that parts could have been shared. Best regards, Martin
@gkpllantern Thank you for your invitation via the inbox. I have a very similar lamp.I presented my Petromax 821 from Klaebisch on January 7th 2021 in forum.hytta.de. I don't want to link it directly because the owner has since deleted my account. At that time @Martin K. was of the opinion that my Petromax 821 was from 1930/31 because of the tank embossing. There are two features that distinguish our two lamps.The top of the tank and one of the two nameplates.Mine says Ehrich&Graetz and your Petromax. I can't read the tank scratching properly.Only a 2 is clearly visible.x/2x,probably 3/29. The mica glass may have always been in the lamp.This is not a replacement. The tank with the stiffened top could originally have been intended for an early gasoline lamp.That's just my personal guess.
