Antique Details

Rare brass betty lamp stamped P.D. 1848.  

Possibly made Peter Derr (1793-1868) worked in Berks County as a brazier, coppersmith and founder. His father, Johannes Derr, was a pewterer and was known to have collaborated frequently with Johann Christian Heyne. Derr's first known masterpiece, the Staff of David gallow's lamp, was completed in 1818 when Derr was twenty-five. Perhaps most commonly known of Derr's lighting devices are his wrought iron, copper and brass (and combinations thereof) fat, or "betty" lamps. Among the last items he is known to have made are pewter topped canteens, knives and needles for the Berks County Regiment during the Cival War. For several years, Derr was also involved with the foundry Haag, Kline & Company in Bernville.

When Johann Peter Derr was born on 21 June 1793, in Berks, Pennsylvania, United States, his father, Johannes Derr, was 38 and his mother, Catharina Anna Braun, was 24. He had at least 1 son and 6 daughters with Elizabeth Bender. He lived in Tulpehocken Township, Berks, Pennsylvania, United States for about 10 years and Jefferson Township, Berks, Pennsylvania, United States in 1860. He died on 31 January 1868, at the age of 74, and was buried in Bernville, Berks, Pennsylvania, United States.