About Bradley and Hubbard
Bradley & Hubbard began in Meriden, Connecticut as a partnership of Nathaniel Bradley and Walter Hubbard in 1854. Initially they produced decorative clocks, vases, mirrors and other decorative metal objects. By the 1860s they began to produce lamps ... oil, gas, kerosene and eventually electric lamps. Bradley & Hubbard were best known for their lamps as well as their bookends but their other products included chandeliers, candelabras and clocks (with movements often by Ansonia) ... and produced among the world's finest metal wares of the late 19th/early 20th century. They seldom worked in bronze but their work is consistently mistaken for bronze, even my knowledgeable dealers. The height of the Bradley & Hubbard foundry's business was 1854-1920. B&H products are always excellent examples of their genres and consistently command higher prices than those of their closest competitors (like Chase, Jennings Bros, Connecticut Foundry, LV Aronson, etc.). Further, their values are escalating significantly faster than comparable pieces.
Bradley & Hubbard pieces are usually, but not always, marked with their characteristic triangular mark that has an Alladin's lamp in the center or with a circular mark with a B&H in the center (this is an older mark than the Alladin's lamp mark).
There is an extensive collection of Bradley & Hubbard pieces at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC.
What is a RAYO Lamp? Rayo Lamps were first patented in 1894 and were kerosene lamps that were actually made by Bradley & Hubbard. These lamps were made under contract with the Standard Oil Company (which today is known as Exxon). Apparently if you bought a certain number of gallons of kerosene, you got a free Rayo lamp. Standard Oil actually owned the trademark to the name "Rayo". It has been written that the sole purpose of the Rayo lamp was to sell kerosene -- apparently it was quite a fuel eater. While Bradley & Hubbard made these lamps primarily for Standard Oil, they also sold them for retail sale to many large retailers, who apparently paid royalties to Standard Oil for the use of the name Rayo.


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