Atlantic & Great Western Railroad Lantern

Atlantic & Great Western Ry brass top, bellbottom railroad lantern made by S. B. Underhill of New York in the early 1870's. I suspect that this lantern was actually made by an early predecessor of the Adams & Westlake Co., although it's hallmarked for S. B. Underhill. This frame is identical to frames made by A&W. The cage unit lifts off of the base assembly, which consists of three components, including the fount. This allows the globe to be removed from the base. I've seen one other of these lanterns where the globe was fixed to the base collar by plaster. The globe is a **stunning**, solid red (medium cranberry) color, and pre-dates the process of applying a thin layer of red glass over clear glass, usually on the inside...known as flashing. The flashing process was used to make ruby globes for RR use from the mid-1860's until selenium red glass was perfected in the early 1900's by Corning. This globe is beautifully wheel cut A. & GT. W. RY., and is slightly over 6-inches tall. The globe's base is tapered outward and could be plastered as part of a fixed globe assembly, such as another I've seen. The diamond-shaped, vent hole filigree makes this model particularly eye-appealing.