Well I will try to make a long story short. My mom was handling an estate for her deceased brother and was back in the very small town in New Mexico where I am from. VERY SMALL TOWN. Time to time she has to sell items and had some random antiques and farm kind of stuff so she went to a shop to ask questions...etc. This store is set up in a historic like mansion homestead type house, and the house is open for tours and has the house antiques for sale. Old lamps, chairs, everything you can think of. Apparently they know my mom and the family from a long time ago so the usual conversations about "oh so how's so and so doing?" and the like...and the conversation turned to asking about me. She said whatever...he's doing good...married...working hard....and he has a weird hobby about stoves and lanterns. The old man perked up (probably thinking about junk he could sell her) and with his oxygen tank in tow took her around the house to an area where stuff was in a cabinet for sale. Amongst the "stuff" my mom knowing nothing about stoves and lanterns recognized two names he said.... "coleman" "Primus" After some haggling the old guy set a deal with my mom and she decided to pack the items and thought well what the hell...even if he has them he will like some new toys.... Then the old man threw in another random item into the mix. He called it a "pocket stove" and he has had it a long time but no one ever looks at it. "Something they used to put in a saddle for cooking outside". He quoted a price as a "deal" and for about 25 bucks each she left with the stuff.... Have no idea how old the pocket stove is...there is only one other one on this forum and mine has an older patent date of 1875. Here is the stoves and lantern from a photo I just took....
The Primus is dated 1951, has a dome cap and is unfired. Has all the paperwork, prickers, etc. I will post that separately. The lantern is a 1983 quadrant lantern with stuff too. Will post that on the other forum...but nothing out of the ordinary....
This stove is the old one. Its marked something like "Houchin" or something like that. The paperwork says something like Parvo and 1875. It has a brass trivet and base, a nickeled tank and looks to me to run on alcohol. The paper is very brittle on the bottom. T.W. Houchin? New York?
That’s lovely @Remus1956 but I’ve got to admit that Coleman lamp has made my mouth water … there’s just something about that design that gets me perked up, ditto with the Veritas ones which are a very close cousin! C
@gnome Yeah its very interesting. It has a smaller cap I just noticed that pops out to let it simmer. I want to try it out with some denatured alcohol but kind of nervous based on the age. Its not flimsy or anything but the trivet has a slight crack. Not bad for 150 years old.
@Pharael Yeah haha...how did you know? Well she was happy she did good in getting those, she was more about the primus 71 actually as she thought that was the big find. She is going back there for more and this time she will be on a video call with me. A part I didnt mention is that I have a small collection of Coleman Quick Lite lanterns with Mica Globes. She wanted to see them and on her crappy flip phone showed me a really bad photo of a bunch of them hanging on nails there "just like it" and pointed to my L327 that had mica...Im really curious what else this store has.
@Automedon I will post more when the sun is up and I got time, but you would like it. Came even with spare parts in it and those old radioactive gold bond mantles inside. I am going to work on it this weekend and wipe it down and try it out!
@Pharael my native american mom and a magnifying lens looking at the markings on the Houchins stove while I screen share the forum posts I found here for here to compare. Thomas W Houchin Co - Pocket Cook Stove approx 1900 | Classic Camp Stoves
A cherry unfired Primus 71 NIB plus a vintage alco warmer, and a one mantle GPL for $25? That's insane luck. Good thing you know a Coleman Factory-trained Fettler.
@SveaSizzler yep and the lantern needed all sorts of work. Ended up having to take the fuel pickup out as the whole system was plugged up with old gas. Complete rebuilt from the bottom up.... It's actually an ok lantern but I think the 200a is brighter haha. This is just 15 pumps... Gets white bright at 35 per it's specs on the side instruction label
