Sometime in 1999, my father purchased this lantern at a local auction house. Friction tape wrapped the upper handle, it was a very dirty, crusted, grimy mess.

I spent the better part of two days cleaning and polishing.

We knew it was a railway style "carbide lantern" and was made of brass, has a hard wood handle (mahogany?)

What we didn't know, (until I cleaned it and stripped the friction tape off the handle), was that it was made in 1927 for Interborough Rapid Transit Co., (now part of the NYC Subway).

The top on the handle is stamped I.R.T while the back curved portion is marked No. 44. (same style lettering as IRT)

I have taken the lantern almost completely apart (except for the wood grip, I didn't want to cause it to split), and I cannot find a manufactures mark anywhere.

Anyone who know what type of lantern this may be, please contact me.

When I was done throughly cleaning & polishing, I set the lantern up with some other historical NYC subway artifacts, and snapped away.

Minolta 8000i
Minolta 50mm f1.7
Kodak 400 PPF

Photographed by Philip M. Goldstein, 1999.
Added to the photo archive by Philip M. Goldstein, March 24, 2007.
Railroad: New York City Transit System.

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