Lamp (Oil lamp)

Description

William Homes Webb left two impressed "W" marks on the underside of the base of this whale oil lamp designed to look like a brass candlestick. Cast brass oil lamps with maker's marks are a rarity in American lighting of the early 1800s. Webb's professional training included his successful silversmith father, Barnabas Webb, an apprenticeship to Boston brass founder Thomas Leach, and study of the brass industry in Birmingham, England for six months. He found personal success after moving to Warren, Maine where he produced a range of brass goods including fireplace tools, clock parts, ship and harness fittings, candlesticks and oil lamps like this one. The double wick-tube burner is possibly not original; the lamp was modified to hold an electric bulb sometime in the early 20th century.