MUST RUN 7/11

ALADDIN & ANTIQUE LAMP COLLECTORS CONVENTION SHOW & SALE PRE AUG. 7–9 w/1 cut

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INDIANAPOLIS, IND. — Collectors of antique lighting will hold their annual convention August 7–9, at the Marriott East Hotel. Sponsored by the National Association of Aladdin Lamp Collectors, it will be the group’s 36th convention and will celebrate the 100th birthday of the Aladdin lamp, first created September 25, 1908.

As part of the convention on August 9 there will be a lamp show and sale. All types of antique lamps will be shown by dealers from as far away as Minnesota, Florida and Pennsylvania. The show and sale are open to the public. More than 600 collectors from the United States, Canada, England and Australia are expected to attend.

The development of the Aladdin mantel lamp and the history of the Mantle Lamp Company of America will highlight this year’s event. Collectors will focus on lamps manufactured by Aladdin Industries, Inc, at Alexandria, Ind., from 1926 to 1952. Aladdin lamps lighted homes throughout the world and were manufactured there as well as many other countries, including Brazil and Argentina.

The technology to produce light from an incandescent mantel dates back to 1885. Lamps and fuels improved during the next decade and lamps became capable of producing 60 candlepower of bright, white light. Victor S. Johnson saw this powerful light and began selling mantel lamps about 1905. He formed the Mantle Lamp Company of America in Chicago in 1908 and trademarked the Aladdin lamp later that year. Aladdin lamps became famous worldwide during the next 50 years.

The lamps, still made today, are cherished by collectors, and used in remote cabins off the power grid and to provide light during power outages. The manufacturer, renamed Aladdin Industries, Inc, moved to Nashville, Tenn., in 1949. The company has recreated Aladdin’s parlor lamp to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the lamp, which will be available for sale at the convention.

The Rushlight Club, the oldest lighting club in America, will hold its summer quarterly meeting in Indianapolis. The Night Light Club, collectors of miniature lamps, will participate, as will the Historical Lighting Society of Canada, Historic Lighting Club of England, the Guild of Lamp Researchers and Fairy Lamp Collectors.

Every antique lamp collected today once furnished essential light in a home or for a business, or factory. This history will come alive in educational displays, seminars and the antique lamp show and sale, which is open to the public on Saturday, August 9, from 9 am to 3 pm.

For more information, Bill Courter, 3935 Kelley Road, Kevil KY 42053, 270-488-2116 or brtknight@aol.com