Notes About Kerosene Lantern Prices

Kerosene Lantern Values and Price Guides

  The value of a lantern is mostly based on two factors - Condition and Desirability. The desirability rests in the mind of owner / buyer and is the most difficult to gauge. One factor is clear: rare lanterns are more desirable than common lanterns due to supply and demand.

  The books on my site are all the barn lantern books of which I am aware. That's five books on kerosene lanterns you can buy today. My book, Classic Lanterns is now available from my publisher. My book has less lanterns than Hobson but it's all pictures, lots of color, and it has the best restoration information available. Hobson has already revised his prices up in his Book Two. The price list in my book is already getting stale and the book is just out but, I also included a do-it-yourself price calculator for EVERY kerosene lantern ever made.

  If you are a dealer, you need to know what a lantern may be worth to collectors. If you are a collector you need to decide, and limit, what you are going to collect because you can't collect everything. Many folks try to collect everything and they just end up with a junk collection. True collectors specialize to make a meaningful and instructive collection. I know a guy who limits himself to only traffic lanterns. They're still relatively cheap and plentiful but they won't be forever.

  As a collector, you must determine for yourself what lantern is of value to you and your collection. You would pay more than "blue book" for a lantern you needed to fill a gap in your collection. I suggest you use Hobson's, Wood's, L-W's, and my price guide as a starting point for your own price guide. Write down what is important to your collection. A lantern style, type, maker, size, material, use, color, etc. What are these worth to you in dollars? I can tell you that on my list a 1936 Monarch in "C" condition is worth $20: $10 for American made, $10 for complete and functional. Your list will be different and you can quickly and accurately determine what any lantern is worth to you. That's all that counts anyway.

  In conclusion: buy and refer to the published price guides, but don't rely on them.

  The condition of a lantern is much easier to quantify. The Lantern Condition Rating table is included on this site for everyone to use. Using the table can easily establish a standard "grade" for any lantern and is especially useful when buying and selling over the WWW. Check it out.

Some Tips on Lantern Restoration

  The following restoration tips are based on going back and re-analyzing several lanterns I had "restored" 25 years ago. I could see what works and what I did wrong. My approach to lanterns is much more sophisticated now than it was when I was 17 years old.

  I did sandblast a few lanterns when I was a stupid kid but I would never do it again. The risk of destroying the lantern is great and reducing its value is certain. The steel used in lanterns is thin and rust makes it even thinner, An expert with the right tools would have a hard time not pitting, stretching, heating, and hardening the metal. I don't buy sandblasted lanterns if I can help it. Just trying to get all the blasted (pun) sand out of a sand blasted lantern is next to impossible!

  There is a more important consideration before I tell you how I remove rust. Should you remove the rust? Sounds simple but a rare, old or otherwise valuable lantern in moderate original conditional is worth far more to collectors than the same lantern restored. I walked away from many lanterns with a glossy coat of paint because I can't tell the condition of the metal underneath. The condition of the metal determines the value to a collector. The better the metal condition, the more it's worth. Once the metal is pitted by rust it can never be put back. Once the fount begins to weep it can never be the same. It can be sealed or the pits covered up but, it can never be in original condition again. The high dollar collector's fork out the bucks for lanterns in their original condition. "Barn Fresh" is a term they really like.

  So what about your collection? Every collector should have a restored Dietz Monarch in their collection, so if you must sand blast, do it to a Monarch. However, Monarchs can still be found with such minor rust that paint stripper and steel wool together will get it all shiny again. Paint to match Dietz blue can be found in spray cans for auto touch-up at the auto parts store. Just remember, any lantern that is so rusty that it needs sandblasting, may have too many pits and holes to be worth anything after you blast.

  I advocate painting lanterns because that's the way I like to find them. Many coats of paint over the light original weathered tin can be easily stripped off. I paint to preserve the metal, to slow the rust, so future generations can strip my paint and see the original condition. Yes, I paint over the rust if it's not too bad! They look just fine and remain in a state of preservation for the future.

  It's a little harder to define this category. Let's call it the decorating factor. To some people (women mostly) primitives like lanterns look better when they have several coats of peeling paint and a little rust showing. It's the kind of thing restaurants and theme parks want to decorate with. They love that crackle paint finish best. So you should consider leaving a lantern with an ugly green brush paint job alone or give it another coat of paint. I bought a Dietz Victor from a lady who thought the green paint was its best feature.

  Finally, some lanterns are in terrible condition but, because they are rare, they must be restored to preserve them for the future. The best example may be this Dietz Number 60 Beacon.

  I hope these thoughts help you sort things out when deciding to restore your lantern.