Vintage Embury Mfg Co. Highway Lantern - No. 500 'Supreme'

This great lantern is quite the elusive fellow... you won't find many of these around.

The Embury Manufacturing Company was formed out of true passion. William C Embury was born in Ontario in 1873. After graduating the schooling system in the Ottawa region, he moved to Toronto to work for a hardware manufacturer called Kemp. They specialized in a few items, but William was always drawn to the kerosene lanterns. He imagined opening his own company to manufacture these lanterns... he had so many ideas...
After 5 years with Kemp, he left. Family ties being tight, his technically-minded brother-in-law, James, saw his keenness and decided to try and nurture it. They decided to make a go of it... James developed a few design improvements while William tried to secure financing for their budding operation. On May 15, 1900, the patents for the design improvements had been issued and William's dream finally came to fruition. The 'Defiance Lantern & Stamping Company' was born in Rochester, NY. They decided on 'Defiance' due to their newcomer status in this lantern-manufacturing mecca.
However, trouble was creeping in. The wealthy investors were happily reaping their rewards and insisted that their families be allowed to invest and even run the company, without any manufacturing or sales experience. William refused their demands and resigned from the company a mere 8 years after its founding.
Now, however, he was free to run his own company the way he knew it needed to be run. He had watched both Kemp and Defiance and knew how the lantern business worked. He formed the Embury Manufacturing Company in November of 1908, with his wife and her brother. The family-ties would remain paramount to the company's success and William and Edna's 3 sons, still in diapers at this time, would all eventually serve among the company's primary board members. The company enjoyed such tremendous success that the Warsaw Improvement Company of Warsaw, NY paid for William to move his business to Warsaw, paid for his new premises and provided access to the nearby B&O and Erie Railroads - all for a supply agreement.
The success continued through both World Wars and eventually attracted the attention of the biggest lantern manufacturer of them all - Dietz, who, in 1953, purchased the entire company.

This lantern is called the Supreme no. 500. It was introduced in 1934 and had a production run of 10 years. They were used for all purposes you can imagine. They were simple and bright and most-importantly, cheap. Their real value lay in the size of their fount (the fuel reservoir) which could hold enough fuel to burn for 100 hours, straight! They were favoured lanterns of construction and road-work crews around the country. When ordering the lanterns, one was able to customize the globe colour and even have the exterior painted a colour of your choosing. The cost was about $0.75 per dozen lanterns. A bargain, really.
This is where this particular lantern starts to emerge as a true find. Most remaining construction lanterns were just re-used versions of home models, painted yellow. This one, as you can see by the base and the scratches showing the metal underneath, was painted at the factory. I would assume that these were purchased by a municipality or larger construction company as a piece of safety equipment for their employees. The piece has obviously been well-used. There are scratches all over the lantern but almost zero rust to speak of! There are a few areas of surface corrosion, but overall, the lantern is in incredible shape. The globe is basically perfect. There are 2 or 3 air bubbles that were caught in the glass during manufacture, but the edges are clean and the entire globe is clear as... well... glass. It opens wonderfully, the wick moves smoothly and the fount is in excellent condition. Although not currently in use (the fount has been scrubbed clean), there's no reason this won't light right up with a splash of fuel. Although the pictures make it look yellow, I'd almost say it has a touch of orange to it. It's not bright yellow and has a wonderful, aged look to the colouring. The patina reflects the age and it has aged wonderfully.

"EMBURY MFG CO WARSAW N.Y. U.S.A. No. 500" is clearly stamped into the top.

Measures 40 cm tall (with handle extended upwards). Actual lantern is 23 cm tall and just over 17 cm in diameter, at the base.
It would make a beautiful piece of decor or a perfectly functioning vintage lantern.

As always, should you have any questions or comments, I'm always happy to respond to messages.

Thanks for visiting C&K!