Bronze Hinks English Empire Banquet Lamp, circa 1840

Antique Palmer & Co. Empire Bronze & Crystal Oil Lamp with Cut Glass Font, Electrified, C1840 Measures - 34" x 6 1/4" x 6 1/4"

Antique Neoclassical Bronze Five Light Candelabra Table Lamp C1890 Measures - 34 3/8" x 10 1/2" x 10 1/2"

A very fine pair of mid-Victorian parcel gilt bronze oil lamps, by Hinks, each modelled as a bearded warrior dressed in the style of a Saxon king with a crowned helmet, broadsword and double-headed battle axe, standing in front of a slender scroll support surmounted by a cut glass oil reservoir, all set on a shaped ormolu base encircled with a victor’s wreath of oak leaves, and raised on an octagonal bronze base, converted to electricity, stamped ‘Hinks & Sons Patent’ on the fitting. English, circa 1860. Footnote: James Hinks (1816-1905). Leaving home at 16 he tried many trades from wood turning, japanning, brush making, die sinking, medal making and even being a pub landlord, before manufacturing oil lamps. Working from the Crystal Lamp Works, Great Hampton Street, Birmingham, he was joined by his son Joseph and renamed the company ‘James Hinks and Son in 1862’. They won a patent for ‘improvements in lamps’ the following year and swiftly launched the ‘Patent Duplex Lamp...

Pair of gilt bronze and black marble lamps, circa 1840.