Pair Port and Starboard Running Lights Today this pair of 19th Century Port and Starboard Running Lights are a rarity. Uniqueness includes nearly perfect condition; pre-fresnel* lens of flat green and red glass (starboard and port respectively); heavy galvinized coating over steel, polished to a soft pewter- like glow; the original E. Miller & Co. kerosene burner in mint brass & iron (unusual combination); two iron lens' guards and hand stamped air vents, etc. These were collected several decades ago in Seattle out of a renting commercial fisherman's locker at the Port of Seattle Fisherman's Wharf. They predate the Coast Guard's late 1800's requirements that all new navigation lights have a glass that had some sort of prismlike casting to create a focusing of the observed light essentially magnifying its brightness and visibility. (Note the old adage: "A collision at sea can ruin your day"). These are a premium pair of running lights for the advanced collector. P. S. No holes drill from electrification! 10-1/2" high. *Fresnel prism invented by Augustis J. Fresnel, French physicist, circa 1st half of the 1800's F5C12144 008 Questions? Ask the Ferret!
|