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Unique Antique Aquarium

22K views 93 replies 33 participants last post by  davrx 
#1 ·
I bought this tank from a salvage company in Oregon. I thought of having the guys on American Restoration restore it for me and was approved to go on the show with this but there was just one problem, the price of the restoration. I thought $4500 was rather high for this project and the fact that the show doesn't pay for travel expenses or accommodations made it even more expensive. I guess it came down to how much I was willing to pay to be on national TV for 5 minutes or so. Anyway, I think I can restore this for a fraction of that price. I knew when I saw these photos from the salvage company that something was wrong with the plumbing configuration. It took some torch work to free a stuck screw in the top frame and a plug from the tank bottom to set it right. What's really odd and possibly unique about this tank and stand are the two lights that shine up through the bottom. I thought they might have been used to heat the tank but usually a dome of glass or metal rose from the bottom of the tank up into the water to allow for better heat transfer so I'm stumped as to the purpose of these lights. There are two candelabra base sockets each in a metal cylinder under the stand. The entire aquarium and stand are made from brass or bronze with solid nickel accents. The company who made this, J.G. Jacobs, is on the inside of the little stand drawer. The center fountain is unusual too. Here's the photos I got from the salvage company:











 
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#6 ·
Well, other than adding a pump and possibly resealing the tank it could actually be used now. Only problem is that the tank is made from brass or bronze and the plumbing is nickel and copper all of which are toxic to fish, although I'm not sure about nickel. I can seal the inside metal surfaces of the tank with epoxy and the outside of the pipes. I can also seal the nickel tops. I thought about running vinyl hose inside the pipes but the fountain arms are such a small diameter I'm not sure I'll be able to do this. Even if I can I'm not sure how to seal them to the larger hose that would be in the riser of the fountain. I suppose I could coat the inside of these with epoxy as well but I'm afraid the small diameter of the arms would cause the epoxy to seal them off completely. Any suggestions would be welcome.
 
#16 ·
This might sound "out-there" but compared to $4500 for the TV star to clean up the tank I think this might map a little more sense.

You could remove the glass, return and overflow. Then install/build a new glass tank inside the frame, which would eliminate contact with all of the Metal. The bottom glass could be drilled for return/out flow access. You could use clear acrylic tubes attached to bulkhead fittings for your return/outflow plumbing.

A canister underneath could be house in an antique box or chest.

The substrate lights could still be used as they would be able to shine through the glass base. Maybe use LEDs in those fixtures.

Above hand a PAR38LED, the bulbs kinda steam punk to begin with.

Only down side is you loose the cool fountain outflow & return.
 
#19 ·
I plan on using a canister but I think I can just epoxy the bottom and corners to make it work. I epoxied the bottom of my Victorian tank and it seems to have worked fine. Replacing the glass won't solve the problem of the brass corners as the glass fits into grooves on the sides of each corner with the brass corners remaining exposed to the water. I think the tank would loose too much of its character by replacing the fountain and return. I can also coat the outsides of the pipes with epoxy and use vinyl tubing on the inside. Only problem with this is the arms of the fountain having such a small I.D. I examined the inside of the fountain head closely and see that it is actually one copper tube going through a hole in the nickel finial. There's a small hole in the copper tube in the inside center of the finial. The tube appears to be soldered into the finial and the thought crossed my mind of torching the finial to melt the solder and remove the copper tube. Then possibly a stainless steel tube could be used to replace it but then I'm losing the originality of the fountain. When this was new there would have been a contrast between the shiny nickel finial and shiny copper arms. The fountain arms are the only part of this restoration that I haven't been able to figure out yet.
 
#17 ·
I have never seen anything like this aquarium! What a find! Before I did anything I would ask myself how to determine what it's value is as a historical piece, and how much I would have to deviate from it's current condition to use it without losing that value as an antique. I'm sure you already know that but my oh my, what a unique find!

Is is crass and crude to ask you how dear it came? If so, just tell me to shut up.

Wow...just...wow!
 
#20 ·
Thank you. I don't think patina is going to be an issue here as this is most likely the only one of these tanks that has survived the last century or so since it was made. I'm either going to have a professional polish the metal on the tank, stand top, and stand nickel accents or do it myself. Then I'll coat the outside with whatever is used to prevent them from tarnishing again and epoxy all the metal on the inside to seal it from contact with the water. I'll remove all the original sealant that I can and reseal with black silicone. I will either rewire the original light sockets and switch or replace them. I'll probably use LED's so as not to build up too much heat. It will still look like it did when new so I don't see the value dropping but increasing once it's restored. I got it for a good price but it wasn't a steal. It was about half the price of what I paid for my Victorian tank.
 
#21 ·
I follow your thoughts on keeping the fountain & over flow.

Would fabricating the riser pipes and fountain arms out of acyclic tube be an option? With acrylic riser pipes and fountain arms there would be minimal metal contact in the original fountain head.

You could use clear acrylic and use copper krylon spray paint to get a functional reproduction.
 
#33 ·
I can still use the original riser pipes by just coating them inside and out with clear epoxy or using vinyl tubing on the inside so I wouldn't need to use acrylic. I just need to figure out how to coat or line the inside of the fountain arms since they are so small in diameter.
 
#22 · (Edited)
Awesome find!!! I love those old Victorian tanks - totally jealous of you, I've never actually seen one in the flesh around these parts.

+1 on the pipes being safe - unless your water is highly corrosive (like that ghastly copper-destroying stuff they have in Florida) brass, nickel and copper piping/fixtures are perfectly safe.

I was just about to refer you this thread, then I realized you were already there lol: http://www.thatforumsite.com/viewtopic.php?f=581&t=2845

Do you have a lot of parlour aquariums? Would love to see some more pics of your collection if you do!
 

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#34 ·
Thank you. I have two other vintage tanks on this forum, a Victorian cast iron tank and stand from the 1880's and a bronzed cast iron tank from the 1920's.
The tanks in those illustrations were cast iron so no problems with metal toxicity like my bronze tank. I had to epoxy the inside bottom of my victorian to prevent it from rusting out. It was originally coasted with a black tar substance which eventually failed. The 1920's tank has a slate bottom so I just covered it with glass so I could reseal the bottom and sides.
The fountains you show spray upwards whereas mine sprays downwards. This is the only one I've ever seen with a fountain like this. I've actually seen some of the tanks in your illustrations come up for sale but they go for thousands of dollars and are usually heavily rusted, missing the glass, and are sometimes missing the fountain as well.
 
#39 ·
I plan on using a substate and keeping the windows in the bottom clear of anything. This may be a challenge and I may be able to do this with some rocks placed around the perimeters of the two lights.
 
#40 ·
They're definitely hard to find. I found all of mine searching on the net and contacting other collectors of antique aquariums. I've never stumbled across one in an antique store, antique show, or yard sale. They're just too rare due to the fact that the early ones were only available to the wealthy due to their high prices, so few were made. Many were melted down as scrap during the first two world wars. So you're left with very few survivors.
I have a friend who is a prominent antiques auctioneer and has been making his living doing this for decades and he said he has never come across an antique aquarium or terrarium.
 
#30 ·
I personally would not modify or adulterate anything on this tank. You could rewire the lamps using peroid correct wire and sockets, but as far as anything else I would leave it bone-stock original. Think about it if someone wants 4500.00 to restore it has to be worth way more than that. Once you start expoxying over this and removing that the value(and coolness factor) will drop drastically.
 
#32 ·
The only thing I want to do is remove the corrosion on the piece and shine up the metal so it looks like it did when it was new. The epoxy coating I plan on doing is just a thin clear coat that will prevent contact of water and metal. I plan on keeping the original glass and plumbing in the tank. I just don't believe it is safe to have any copper containing metal in contact with water and aquatic life. If copper is used to kill parasites then all you need to do to kill anything else is just increase the concentration. If I clear coat the outside of the plumbing I see no harm to its originality. It must have been coated with something originally or it would have turned completely green. Although I'm starting to wonder if the plumbing may actually be bronze rather than copper. Either way it would have to have been sealed with something or be bronze or brass or both the intake and output pipes would be green. I can place vinyl hose inside the pipes which can't be seen and is removable. I'm thinking about trying to have the inside of the fountain arms plated with a non-reactive metal because the diameter is just too small for an internal hose. I am aware that vintage electrical component reproductions are available. You can see what I did with the lamp over my Jewel tank in one of my other posts. I plan on leaving the stand alone except for the top which is really corroded and the nickel accents. The entire stand is either brass or bronze so would probably look great if the paint were stripped off but then it wouldn't be original so I'm leaving it alone.
 
#43 ·
The only thing I want to do is remove the corrosion on the piece and shine up the metal so it looks like it did when it was new. The epoxy coating I plan on doing is just a thin clear coat that will prevent contact of water and metal. I plan on keeping the original glass and plumbing in the tank. I just don't believe it is safe to have any copper containing metal in contact with water and aquatic life. If copper is used to kill parasites then all you need to do to kill anything else is just increase the concentration. If I clear coat the outside of the plumbing I see no harm to its originality. It must have been coated with something originally or it would have turned completely green. Although I'm starting to wonder if the plumbing may actually be bronze rather than copper. Either way it would have to have been sealed with something or be bronze or brass or both the intake and output pipes would be green. I can place vinyl hose inside the pipes which can't be seen and is removable. I'm thinking about trying to have the inside of the fountain arms plated with a non-reactive metal because the diameter is just too small for an internal hose. I am aware that vintage electrical component reproductions are available. You can see what I did with the lamp over my Jewel tank in one of my other posts. I plan on leaving the stand alone except for the top which is really corroded and the nickel accents. The entire stand is either brass or bronze so would probably look great if the paint were stripped off but then it wouldn't be original so I'm leaving it alone.
Sounds great! Excellent idea with the vinyl hose ;) This is so very exciting! You must be gleeming :)
 
#36 ·
I agree with Shangrila, please do minimal restoration or just leave it as is. It is a really cool collector piece just as you have it now.

My mom has a house full of "restored" antiques. She accumulated them back in the 70s before antiques began to gain so much value. Some of them would be much more interesting (and much, much more valuable) if they still had their original finishes.
 
#38 ·
I know this is true of wooden furniture but aquariums? They're so rare that I don't think this comes into play as long as they're all original. This doesn't pertain to the glass or the glass sealant or any equipment like pumps and heaters which aren't usually part of the aquarium. Also I don't think a corroded or rusted aquarium is going to be worth more than a restored one. Just like a rusted junk car, once restored to its original showroom condition is many many times more valuable than as found.
 
#42 ·
You mentioned not stripping the paint off the base so as to keep it original, it was probably originally not painted and someone over the years painted it to cover up tarnish or make it match something else. How much metal was really painted in the late 1800's and if it was how much lead is in that paint?


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#44 ·
I don't know, if they went to the trouble of painting the entire stand then why wouldn't they have painted the brass top? Also the tank has a nice patina which I would think the stand would have had too. It may have been painted to match some decor but then I would think the top would have been painted as well.
 
#48 ·
I just had an idea cross my mind for after the tank is restored. I could use a couple of UV lights to shine up from the bottom and stock the 5 gal. tank with some S. Korean bioengineered glo fish. That would definitely be a steampunk tank. It would be a departure from the naturalistic look of my other tanks, might be fun or maybe cheesy?
 
#49 ·
Doesn't have to be UV. My kids glow just fine under blue LED.

Maybe do glofish and build a solid land structure on the surface with plants and moss and have the fountain form a stream or pond that drains down a waterfall to the water below where the glowing fish are living under the surface like in a cave.


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#52 ·
sooooo steam punk! my daughter would be in heaven! very very cool.
I think it was painted black some time along it's long life and would bet that is not original, folks to some tacky things!
stripped and let to tarnish would bring it back to steam punk, old but somehow very sci-fi. I'd clean and seal what I could in the inside and leave th outside to tarnish and patina.
some very matalic fish would finish off the look better than glo fish IMO.
 
#54 ·
Thank you, I hadn't thought of metallic fish, nice idea, they would go well with the nickel diamonds on the tank and stand. The top of the stand and parts of the aquarium outside are corroded green and although the butterscotch patina color is nice, I don't like the green. I wish I could find a photo or illustration of this tank when it was new so I'd know for sure whether it was painted or not. I like to keep everything as original as possible when i do a restoration.
 
#55 ·
Don't know for sure, has to be after 1880 due to the electric lights but the fountain is something from the earliest aquariums so I'm guessing late 19th. century but could be early 20th. I'm hopeful when I dismantle the two light bulb holders that I may find the manufacturer of the sockets and switch or maybe the style of the electrical components will give a better idea.
 
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