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| Full view of the Persky & Co anchor lantern. Today the company is known as PERKO. |
The PERKO Story consists of many interesting pieces. They make up a
modern day marine hardware success story that goes back over 100 years!
This is the first sentence from the Perko story, the history of the
famous American marine lighting company as taken from their website. I
had known enough about the Perko story to turn to it while researching
this recently discoverd lantern and the article was the source that
validated it's maker. So, this blog is in part about the Perko companies
beginnings and is demonstrated by an example of one of the first marine
lanterns produced by this famous marine hardware company.
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| Name of PERSKY & CO., AJAX , NEW YORK, U.S.A. on hourglass shaped globe. |
This early example is of one of their first anchor lanterns produced
when the company was created by F. Persky & Company, New York,
lantern makers in the early 1900's. The company was in operation for
about a dozen years until 1913 when Frederick became president of
National Marine Lamp Company. This Company name was established prior to
Frederick Persky changing his last name to Perkins! (See history
below).
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| Side-open view of the Persky lantern. |
This unique lantern was manufactured using galvanized metal with brass
chimney cap and 'Christmas tree' vents and ring handle and two tie-down
rings on each side and five vertical wire guards. Fixed 'hourglass'
shaped molded colorless globe with embossed letters stating "PERSKY
& CO. AJAX. NEW YORK, U.S.A.". According to a PERKO representative,
they believe that the name 'AJAX' was the name of the company that
produced the glass globe. Measures 10 3/4" tall, exclusive of the ring
bail handle, 4 1/4 inches diameter of base. Slight scaling on exterior
of the metal surface, but overall, this lantern survives in good
original condition. Missing burner.
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| Top section and brass chimney cap of Persky & Co. anchor lantern. |
History (The Perko Story)
The story starts with Frederick Persky, who later became known as
Frederick Perkins. He was a Russian immigrant who was schooled in
Germany as a machinist and tool-and-die maker. Frederick came to the
United States in the early 1890's and soon became employed as a
machinist for E.W. Bliss & Company in Brooklyn, New York. In the
early 1900's, he and a partner began operating a business, F. Persky
& Company, Lantern Manufacturer, out of the basement of his house.
In 1907, Frederick's son Louis joined him in the business, and together
they enlarged both the product line and the manufacturing facilities. By
1912, they had seventeen employees and made a wide range of marine
lanterns and products.
The business continued operating until 1913 when Frederick became
president of National Marine Lamp Company, based out of Forestville,
Connecticut. Frederick and Louis left that company in 1916 and moved
back to Brooklyn, New York, where they started Perkins Marine Lamp
Corporation.
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| Anchor lantern manufactured by the National Marine Lamp Co., Forestville, Ct. |
Five generations later, PERKO is still a privately owned, family
operated corporation, which is unusual in today's marketplace. Perkins
Marine Corporation was initially known as Perkins Marine Lamp, Inc. The
original focus was on the manufacture of hand formed sheet metal
products for the marine market. The first catalog was published in 1916,
with a product line as diverse for its time as PERKO's catalog is
today.
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| Anchor lantern manufactured by Perkins Marine Lamp Co., Brooklyn, New York |
It included a full range of kerosene and electric lanterns for small and
large boats, ventilators, chart cases, signaling devices, mooring
buoys, pumps and a variety of spare parts. These products, fabricated
from brass, copper and galvanized sheet metal, began what was our
ongoing reputation for producing high quality products. We still do some
hand forming and soldering today, much as it was done in our early
years.
In 1922, the "PERKO" trademark was instituted. Each new product (and
there were many) utilized the latest, sophisticated metal manufacturing
technology and customers came to expect the highest standard of
excellence from PERKO products.
Two other examples, one identical to the one in this blog, the other
manufactured in brass was in the Phillip Sullivan Collection of
Lanterns, recently auctioned off by the
Jeffry S. Evan & Associates, Mt. Crawford, Virginia.
The Persky & Co. AJAX anchor lantern is currently available at
Skipjack Nautical Wares & Marine Gallery. Follow the link above to the product listing on their webstore.
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6:02 PM
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Now, though we probably all saw this coming I don’t think any of us were ready for it to happen so quick. According to the International Business Times, Hip-Hop Mogul, Businessman, and now Sports Agent Shawn “Jay-Z” Carter, along with his International Superstar, Philanthropist, and all around ‘Renaissance Woman’ Beyonce Knowles-Carter are set to become the first billionaire couple in music industry history.For more info, hit the jump.Though
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