Paul Revere - Old North Church Bicentennial Lantern — Numbered EP 416 — Authorized by the Concord Antiquarian Society

Updated on December 25, 2025: This has been sold.

This lantern, issued for the Bicentennial, is the most requested item we've ever offered. I found this one some time ago and set it aside to offer at Christmas. As you can see, it's in excellent condition.

These reproductions are the closest—in shape and design, though not made of tin—of the lantern used to signal from Old North Church the night of Paul Revere's ride. (Others rode, too.) Joseph Warren sent Revere to Lexington, believing that the troops planned to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two leaders of the Sons of Liberty, who were staying at a house in Lexington.

This lantern was authorized by the Concord Antiquarian Society, the owners of the only one of the original two known to exist, and created for the Bicentennial in 1976. These were made in limited editions and each one registered. The Mahogany base carries the registration number, as does a plate on the bottom of the lantern.

You can learn more about the original here.

The role of the signals conveyed by the lanterns is sometimes misunderstood. Here's the explanation from the Paul Revere Museum:

"Revere contacted an unidentified friend (probably Robert Newman, the sexton of Christ Church in Boston’s North End) and instructed him to hold two lit lanterns in the tower of Christ Church (now called the Old North Church) as a signal to fellow Sons of Liberty across the Charles River in case Revere was unable to leave town.

"The two lanterns were a predetermined signal stating that the British troops planned to row 'by sea' across the Charles River to Cambridge, rather than march 'by land' out Boston Neck."

You can read their longer explanation here.

— Lee Wright | Founder

Shipping: $65. Will be shipped UPS.