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The starting piece for this awesome lamp was a 1950's Francis Signalling Lantern. Francis lanterns started in business in 1901 in Bolton, Lancashire. They are still in business today and still in Bolton !. They are well known in the industry for manufacturing the highest quality marine search and signal lanterns. 
 
Our lantern is a FSP68 lantern made from the early 50's through to the mid 60's. This particular lantern was made for the British Admiralty for use on a Royal Navy ship. We know this as it has the Admiralty Pattern Number A.P 198499 is on the I.D plate. It would have been used on board for ship to ship and ship to shore signalling. 
 
The lamp was originally painted black, but years at sea hadn't been kind to the paint. We therefore elected to have it sand blasted and then lightly burnished to brushed aluminium finish. Three coasts of clear lacquer later and it now has a finish ready for the next 70 years of its life !. 
 
As this would have originally been a 12v lantern we removed the original bulb mount and made a new mount to support a nice brass bayonet flight fitting. We were able to use the original switch plate and fitted a new vintage style toggle on off switch. 
 
The lamp was then wired with 1.5m of antique style braided cable. 
 
For a lamp a nice as this we really needed a nice base and mount. For the base we sourced a nice piece of antique mahogany which was fine sanded and then waxed. We then made a custom steel mount which we had professionally powder coated in satin black.
 
The lamp is finished off with a 150mm LED double cross tube bulb. The lamp is earthed and has been PAT tested for electrical safety. 
 
This is a truly stunning lamp, perfect for a desk or sideboard. It's a real conversation piece with some fantastic history.