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book from the early 1950s

These lanterns were all featured in a small booklet of BTH's entire product range. But they don't represent all BTH's lanterns but merely a sampling.

The lanterns were being sold under the Mazda tradename, which BTH used for valves, lamps and lanterns (BTH having bought the Mazda name from GE in 1911). As the lanterns themselves have BTH logos, collectors tend to ignore the Mazda tradename.

BTH were ahead of their time in several ways - they offered side and top entry options for most of their lanterns, whilst their sodium lanterns were sleek and well designed (unlike the bulky lanterns being offered by their competitors). On their other hand, the fluorescent lanterns were large and unwieldy - just like their competitors.

The BTH and Metrovick lines would ultimately be merged and sold as AEI lanterns, the precursor of the Thorn line - but none of these lanterns resemble the examples from the Alpha, Beta or Gamma ranges in any way.

Lanterns