After lurking on here for awhile I figured I would post my recent find. It is an Optimus No 2 with an adjustable burner. I poked around the files and used the search option, getting some good info. I couldn't find any info on the burner, so was wondering if it was an option. It has a silent burner cap that says Optimus and the underside of the burner says made in Sweden. Also, is there any way to figure out the approximate year of manufacture of this stove? Any info is appreciated. Sam
@Diablo45 Hi Sam and welcome to the forum. Looking in the reference gallery, it seems that the No.2 had quite a long production run, although there were fewer examples with the regulating burner. One of the problems about pronouncing an age is that we are invariably looking at features of the various stove parts to help us. As you will be aware, stoves are made up of multiple parts - many of which are removable and replaceable, so it is difficult to know whether a part from which an age might be attributed is actually original to that stove or a later (or earlier) replacement. So that is my long winded caveat over. Looking at the control knob for the regulated burner, I see it is not the fairly flat "cookie cutter" style, but something I believe came later. I also note it is not branded with the Optimus name. I have four stoves with this style of control knob, all of them are 111's of some type and all of them have maker and model branding by sticky label rather than lettering pressed into the steel box. Two are 111Ts and their knobs are black but unbranded, the other two, with maroon knobs are 111Bs. I believe that these post date the acquisition of the Primus brand in 1962, after which branding of similar models as either Primus or Optimus could be achieved simply and cheaply by application of a sticky label. Oddly, my Primus stickered 111B has "your" control knob, only that one is embossed with the Primus name, whereas the stickered Optimus one has no branding on the knob. So your regulator knob appears to date sometime after 1962. As the No.2 stove was still being made then, there is a chance that the stove might date from after 1962 as well, maybe.
@Dean , Thanks for the reply. I am well aware of replacement parts being a Coleman collector, . I got the same impression that it wasn't that "old". I have a Primus No 96 from 1937 that is tiny compared to this one plus many old Coleman stoves. It cleaned up nice and holds pressure so I am going to get it fired up hopefully this weekend.
