A matched pair of antique harbor channel marker beacon lights — red to port, green to starboard — in brass and copper with original painted ironwork, retaining the international color convention that has governed safe navigation into harbors and channels for over a century. Together, they constitute a complete navigational installation, and their survival as a pair in original condition makes this an exceptional acquisition.
Each beacon is constructed with a hand-raised copper conical chimney above a brass collar and rotating mount, the lamp housing glazed with triangular Fresnel panels in original red and green, respectively, the lower body in brass with original red-painted cast-iron fittings and a control mechanism. The original kerosene burner assemblies have been preserved. The beacons have been sympathetically electrified for display while retaining full original integrity.
The red and green channel marker convention — port to left, starboard to right — was codified in international maritime law in the nineteenth century and remains the global standard. These beacons were manufactured at the height of the great age of harbor engineering, when the expansion of commercial shipping across European and colonial ports drove demand for precision navigation equipment of the highest order. A matched red-and-green pair in this state of preservation, retaining original paint and burner mechanisms, is an exceptional survivor.
Presented on a later sympathetic iron-lattice display stands with brass fittings.
Electrified. Original kerosene burner mechanisms preserved. Original paint throughout.
Dimensions: Lamp head approximately 36 in. (91 cm); overall height on stand approximately 5.5 ft. (168 cm).
A matched pair of antique harbor channel marker beacon lights — red to port, green to starboard — in brass and copper with original painted ironwork, retaining the international color convention that has governed safe navigation into harbors and channels for over a century. Together, they constitute a complete navigational installation, and their survival as a pair in original condition makes this an exceptional acquisition.
Each beacon is constructed with a hand-raised copper conical chimney above a brass collar and rotating mount, the lamp housing glazed with triangular Fresnel panels in original red and green, respectively, the lower body in brass with original red-painted cast-iron fittings and a control mechanism. The original kerosene burner assemblies have been preserved. The beacons have been sympathetically electrified for display while retaining full original integrity.
The red and green channel marker convention — port to left, starboard to right — was codified in international maritime law in the nineteenth century and remains the global standard. These beacons were manufactured at the height of the great age of harbor engineering, when the expansion of commercial shipping across European and colonial ports drove demand for precision navigation equipment of the highest order. A matched red-and-green pair in this state of preservation, retaining original paint and burner mechanisms, is an exceptional survivor.
Presented on a later sympathetic iron-lattice display stands with brass fittings.
Electrified. Original kerosene burner mechanisms preserved. Original paint throughout.
Dimensions: Lamp head approximately 36 in. (91 cm); overall height on stand approximately 5.5 ft. (168 cm).
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