Winter 2016

2016 Antiques & Fine Art 143 Fig. 1: Mammoth gaselier with twenty-four burners made by Cornelius & Baker for the Vermont State House in 1859. It hangs in the Representatives Chamber, and measures twenty feet high by nine feet in diameter; bronzed and gilt brass, bronzed zinc, iron. Cornelius & Baker also supplied about two dozen wall sconces for the Vermont State House at the same time, most of which survive, unlike many fixtures the firm made for the State Houses of other states. Courtesy the Vermont State Curator’s Office. n January 1, 1852, the Philadelphia newspaper North American and United States Gazette announced that “Robert Cornelius & Isaac F. Baker, have this day associated with . . . William C. Baker, in the manufacture and sale of Lamps, Gas Fixtures &c. The business hereafter will be conducted under the firm of CORNELIUS, BAKER & CO.” Though the name was new, the firm was not. Its roots extended back to 1810, when its founder Christian Cornelius (Robert’s father) first listed himself in the city directories as a silversmith at 8 Pewter-platter Alley. 1 Christian Cornelius apparently determined, however, that greater opportunity lay in the manufacture of lighting rather than as a silversmith, which proved to be a fortuitous decision. By the 1830s, he was garnering accolades for his lighting devices, and by the 1850s, his firm had become the largest of its type in the United States. This was no small accomplishment, for the country was rife with manufacturers, vendors, and importers of lighting devices, working to supply significant and growing demand. Virtually every city and town counted lighting manufacturers and vendors among its merchant class. Philadelphia was no exception. Samuel F. Bradford, Frederick Hancock, and Lewis Veron, all lamp vendors, and Edward Clark, Jacob Keim, John Ledbeater, Charles Carr, Ellis Archer, and Charles C. Oat, all lamp manufacturers, were among many in the city competing for the same market as Cornelius. 2 donald l. fennimore O