A note from the bench
A workshop that has not changed its method in 125 years.
The presses still run on the original 1901 tooling. The alloy is the same. The eight-hour bench test has never been shortened. What has changed is only the address on the invoice.
A catalog 125 years in the making
Spun in Pune. Shipped through Adelaide. Now available in North America.
The Patel family has operated the Pune press shop since 1898, when the British Indian Lamp Co. closed and left the tooling behind. The dies stayed. The family bought them for one hundred and forty rupees and a promise.
For over two decades, these pieces reached collectors through our partners in Australia. Now, for the first time, the same catalog — same brass alloy, same bench test, same hand-numbered tag — is available here in North America.
Pressed on original dies
Eight of our nine brass parts come off tooling first cut between 1901 and 1908.
Tested for the night burn
Every lamp runs an 8-hour bench test on No. 2 wick before it earns its tag.
Plain paper invoice
A real receipt, a real return address, and a real person at the other end of the phone.
A working timeline
One hundred and fifty years, one method.
- 1873
Cattaraugus patent filed
Bradley & Hubbard file the center-draft burner patent that anchors our entire fixtures collection.
- 1881
Pittsburgh railroad order
First gimbal-mounted caboose lamps roll out of the Pune works for the Indian railway.
- 1898
British Indian Lamp Co. closes
The dies stay. The Patel family buys the press shop for ₹140 and a promise.
- 1934
Porcelain signage line opens
A third firing process is developed for the advertising-sign trade.
- 2003
Australian distribution begins
The first containers cross the Indian Ocean. The pieces find their first Western collectors through partners in Australia.
- 2026
North American launch
Fifty pieces cross into North America for the first time. This is the website you are reading. No catalog will repeat exactly.
Begin where the light is