Anyone have Yak butter? Tibetan butter lamp

I found this and thought it was a Catholic chalice and then found out that it is a Tibetan butter lamp that is used to burn Yak butter. Seriously! You can't make this stuff up. Does anyone know anything about them? It looks like silver possibly plated with gold gilt. It is very detailed and heavy. I have 7 small cups that go with it. The cups have a stamp BRS and To A 108,8. No idea what it means. Thanks!

 

the sharpie is just a catalog number....

why have cups, unless it's a punch bowl ??

Yakity Yak...........don't talk back ! Bahhahaha!!!!!!!!

 

Gorgeous! The smaller cups are also butter lamps.

Nor would you want to when it already exists in Vajrayana Buddhist monasteries and convents all over the world.
They burn on altars, sometimes rows of different sized butter lamps:



The shrines, with lamps:



With your set the big one would be in the centre, three small ones on either side, one in front of the big one.

 

that makes sense................ you so smart in the ways of the world !!!!!

 

What type of metal are they? Does the BRS stamp mean anything? Any idea how old they are?

 

Hard to say what metal was used,it looks like it was "factory" made and could be newer.The soldered yellow plaques are usually not on traditional Tibetan products and could be from a number of countries.

 

They look like fairly recent base metal copies of traditional precious metal Himalayan butterlamps.

The shape of the placques and the designs on the placques are very Tibetan, as you can see on this antique one.

http://www.michaelbackmanltd.com/object/large-silver-yak-butter-lamp/

Another one, probably vintage rather than antique:

https://bid.alexcooper.com/lots/view/1-12VDLA/tibetan-silver-yak-butter-lamp

A new one from a Nepali webshop:

http://www.handmadeexpo.com/client/index.php?action=show_product&cid=393&scid=497&sort_by=id

 

There may be others out there, @Graymich64, but yours is just SO delicious looking (and Gorgeous!!!!!)