Crestworth Mark 1 Astro - accidental find on eBay

[ChuckM]

I was looking for a Crestworth... wanted to get a lantern, but then decided a nice copper Astro would be a good find... getting it to the US would be even better and I wanted to test out my forwarding service. Well, little did I know that the Astro would turn out to be the first version of the Astro! 

I will be rewiring it since the wiring is clearly not original anyway... I wonder how old it is?!

Album here, with some shots of the lamp flowing on a heritage base, but also included some photos of the vintage base here..

Astro Mark 1 Album

[Jonas Clark-Elliott]

Score!!

[Aladdin 2 Lava]

Spunkers !!!

[Johnny]

yep thats the first model and been rewired, it should also have a earth wire attached to the screw on the inner base cone, word of warning the black plastic screw bolt which holds the bulb fitting can wear down/ thread goes when tightening and then wont grip.

Cant tell if the bottle is orig as the copper cap is on.

Nice find

[ChuckM]

The black plastic ring seems to be okay, but it may not matter ultimately. I ordered three different sockets to try out with this lamp since the 240V bayonet style bulb is a complete non-starter for me here. I will also be adding a cord with a dimmer to this as a standard procedure really. I looked around for a grounded plug wire, but couldn't find anything useful. They are all way too thick to go through that little hole. I will have to just be very careful in the wiring and use plenty of electricians tape.

What should I be looking for with the bottle to determine if it is original? The cap is quite a bit shorter than a modern Heritage Astro cap... and from looking up and into the bottle, it looks like it is a wide-mouth screw-top. 

[Aladdin 2 Lava]

Aww ... Kid gloves matey... all the very best.

[ChuckM]

I took a photo of the cold bottle next to a modern Heritage bottle. I think that this fits the description I have read of the early bottles... the cap is quite a bit shorter (one site calls them "thinner" but that doesn't really fit the description I think). You can clearly see the liquid level when cold.... when running, it rises up just enough. Does this match everyone else's first edition Astro description?

I still can't believe this is 50+ years old. The liquid is only slightly cloudy, but I would almost just call it tinted. It may even clear a little with running. I am not touching this bottle unless it just decides to die someday.. then it will likely become a glitter lamp, but that is far into the future I think...lets see if this thing is still running at year 60... year 70...

Johnny said:

yep thats the first model and been rewired, it should also have a earth wire attached to the screw on the inner base cone, word of warning the black plastic screw bolt which holds the bulb fitting can wear down/ thread goes when tightening and then wont grip.

Cant tell if the bottle is orig as the copper cap is on.

Nice find

[Rob C]

For what it's worth, I've used this on a re-wiring job, and it looked a lot better than electrical tape. You brush it on like you would with rubber cement.

[Johnny]

The liquid amount is at the correct level for that size cap, looking how the cap is sitting id say its the original bottle :-) the cap (copper part) will be glued on to either a metal screw top or a thin plastic top, to remove the copper bit you'll have to place the copper part into a pan of boiling water and boil for a while to loosen the glue,  so its heat up put on a bottle wiggle it up n down till it comes of.

[Aladdin 2 Lava]

As johnny said... but be careful the Bakerlite/plastic screw top may have diminished over the years and can snap of at the top.... Then it is a bitch to remove !!!

Johnny said:

The liquid amount is at the correct level for that size cap, looking how the cap is sitting id say its the original bottle :-) the cap (copper part) will be glued on to either a metal screw top or a thin plastic top, to remove the copper bit you'll have to place the copper part into a pan of boiling water and boil for a while to loosen the glue,  so its heat up put on a bottle wiggle it up n down till it comes of.