About Us
Terry Marsh and Iain Sedgman have both been collecting, restoring, and researching gas pressure heating and lighting appliances for many years. Iain is new to working on this website but has been contributing to it for several years. We share a curiosity about these appliances and the companies that made them.
About Terry
I am a field biologist, retired from North Central College in northeastern Illinois, who had been casually collecting gas pressure lighting and heating appliances for 35 years. Camping trips with my dad and brother included a Model 6-J Canadian Coleman stove and a 200A US red Coleman lantern. In college one of my professors showed us how useful Coleman lanterns were for finding small animals in caves. He teased us students because our newer Coleman lanterns weren’t nickel plated as was his older lantern. A couple of years after graduating I found two nickel plated lanterns – an AGM 100 and a Coleman 242. The 242 became the lantern I used with my family when we went camping.
As I neared retirement in 2000 I began to seriously collect and research these appliances and the companies that made them. The collection grew quickly at first but has fortunately slowed in growth with time. My interests are broad; I have owned lamps, lanterns, and stoves from all over the world, as well as some iron models and even a few carbide lights. During my travels in North America I have visited libraries and historic museums to learn what I can of the gas pressure lighting companies that were once located in those cities and towns. City directories and incorporation papers are especially helpful in this research. To follow up on the research I have written a number of articles for the Coleman Light and other publications. Most of these articles were written in collaboration with other collectors.
Terry with several appliances made by the Turner Brass Works, a company that was first located in Chicago (1871-1906) then Sycamore, Illinois (1907-1999)
In the fall, 2010 I visited with collectors in the Ruhr Valley of Germany and attended a meet in Lungern, Switzerland, at the invitation of Erik Leger. It was a pleasure to meet the collectors, all of whom were friendly and allowed me to take images of their lamps, lanterns, and stoves to add to the lantern website.
A light-up at the 2010 Lungern, Switzerland, meet from across LungernSee
Image by Hans-Werner Jehn
Much of the fun of this hobby is meeting other collectors at meets and conventions, seeing their collections, and sometimes looking for treasure together. I am a member of the International Coleman Collector’s Club.
About Iain
I am a mainly retired but still registered teacher. In the early seventies, I started rock climbing and my father gave me his Tilley lamp and some stoves to use when I went camping. Over the ensuing years I gained a handful more appliances from family and friends. Having caught ‘the bug’ I started collecting cheap stoves and lanterns from fairs and secondhand shops. Incidentally, this is still a great way to get started with this interesting hobby. Gradually, heaters, clothes irons and blowlamps started to mysteriously accumulate as well!
Iain holding a favourite Coleman lantern.
Around 1999 I started collecting information on lanterns and stoves from online sources and a decade later joined a few forums. I enjoyed repairing and learning more about gas pressure heating and lighting appliances and their safe operation. I was also keenly interested in researching the companies that manufactured them. Discovering the Terry Marsh Lantern Gallery helped me identify some of my unknown items. In recent years I have attended the past two Australian national lantern and stove meets which were both held at Ballarat, in Victoria, my home state.
About this Website
The lantern website has grown from a few images in the summer, 2000, to over 4000 images from over 487 collections located in 20 countries as of this writing. In a 30-day period the website received over 14,000 visits from 100 countries/territories. The website is protected by copyright law.
The 2000th image added to the website was a Tilley TL 10, steel construction, in Neil McRae’s collection. Neil has been very supportive of the website since its inception. This lamp was added on August 22, 2012.
The 3000th image added to the website was an AGM 2572, finished in green, in Agostino Del Coro’s collection. Agostino has also been very supportive of the website. This lantern was added on March 18, 2020.
The 4000th image added to the website was a National Stamping & Electric Works lantern made for their Acorn Brass subsidiary and owned by Rob Butts. Rob has also been a strong supporter of the website.
The lantern website is recognized on this website, http://www.collectorsweekly.com/, in their Hall of Fame: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/hall-of-fame/view/gas-pressure-lanterns-lamps-and-stoves.
If you are a collector of gas pressure appliances, please understand that we get a large volume of email and are not able to help everyone. Collectors can get a lot of help from other collectors by joining one of the forums, such as the Coleman Collectors Forum or the Classic Pressure Lamps forum and asking questions there with images as appropriate. We are both members of these two forums. Visit our links page for help finding parts and other collectors forums.
Collectors can contact us if they have a different gas pressure appliance that they would like to see on the website. Two things should be sent to us, a photo of the appliance in front of a plain or neutral background and a few notes about it.
A summary of the information we need is in the optional preferred form (below). You may also provide us with the same information in an E-mail, if that is easier.
terrymarshgallery@gmail.com
If we want to consider adding the appliance we will reply with information on taking images and ask you for any further details of your appliance.
“NEW” – We have recently added two pages to the website for blowtorches and fire pots and we are slowly going to add different manufacturers of these and similar appliances. Remember to check back for new manufacturers pages that we may have added.
People wishing to sell an appliance are best advised to leave restoration to the collectors. We don’t make appraisals or offer values for these appliances. The best place to get that information is to search Completed listings on eBay.
Best wishes in your collecting and enjoyment of these appliances.
Sincerely,
Terry Marsh & Iain Sedgman
terrymarshgallery@gmail.com
To use this form:
- Drag it to your ‘desktop’.
- Print it out and complete it.
- Take a photo with your phone.
- E-mail the photo along with your appliance photo.
© 2000-2025 Terry Marsh
The Terrence Marsh Lantern Gallery 