I'm pretty excited; I've been watching this thing on eBay for close to a year now, and Mom finally got it for me for Christmas. It's a Browning Porta-Lamp portable F15T8 fluorescent camping light, which runs on 12V via a cigarette lighter adapter. Based on my research it could be from as early as 1966. It is of course an electronic ballast of some sort (one of the earliest DC-powered ballasts, perhaps?), but the special thing is that it's manual preheat. That's pretty darn cool. I don't know how rare it is, but I do know it's one of only two I've ever seen on eBay, and I'm the only person to have ever watched either of them. The other one never sold, and the seller never relisted it.

It's in perfect shape in the box; probably never used. According to the seller it works perfectly. Based on the fourth picture, it looks like the lamp might be a GE. Take a look:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/VINTAGE-BROWNING-PORTA-LAMP-12-VOLT-DC-FLORESCENT-CAMP-LIGHT-/141509151424?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item20f29a4ac0&nma=true&si=TojaDMtB%252B0WUbuREFQBAVbKF8xI%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557

In addition, there is absolutely no mention of these on the Internet at all, save for some magazine articles from the 1960s. Looks like they made a few models, in 6 and 12-volt form. By the looks of one advertisement, these were discontinued around 1971, as the the price in that ad is a fraction of the original, and only "while supplies last":

https://books.google.ca/books?id=pVLlAAAAMAAJ&q=browning+porta-lamp&dq=browning+porta-lamp&hl=en&sa=X&ei=SjWaVIurBMerggS3_oOgCQ&redir_esc=y

https://books.google.ca/books?id=6Rpr4kuBGbgC&pg=PP18&dq=browning+porta-lamp&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GDWaVPWRE4ygNqqTgpAE&redir_esc=y#v=onepage&q=browning%20porta-lamp&f=false

https://books.google.ca/books?id=YYggAAAAMAAJ&q=browning+porta-lamp&dq=browning+porta-lamp&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GDWaVPWRE4ygNqqTgpAE&redir_esc=y

https://books.google.ca/books?id=3Z47AAAAMAAJ&q=browning+porta-lamp&dq=browning+porta-lamp&hl=en&sa=X&ei=GDWaVPWRE4ygNqqTgpAE&redir_esc=y

A quick search on Google Patents didn't bring up anything relevent.

Anyway, I'm quite excited to get this. It won't be in my hands until sometime after Christmas. Hopefully I won't be back at school before it arrives.

much the same here.
http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=1633&pos=2&pid=96715
few sold probably because of the very high price at the time.the new at the time gemanium power transistors were expensive and tempermental.
dont run eol lamps with it!

Indeed, that's one cool fixture you got.  Note taken about EOL lamps.

post pics of the inside.
interesting to see if they have shared dna.

Certainly; will do when I get it. I think it will be here sometime around new years; hopefully.

Well, the one day I was able to go to the store where I have my US packages sent, and they were closed. I won't be back before I have to go back to school, so maybe I'll get the fixture on March break.

As luck would have it, we had to travel to town again today, and I got the fixture!  Sadly, it didn't work when I tried it, and it turns out one of the lampholders has a piece broken off it. Don't know if it could have happened in shipping, or if the seller never actually tested it like they said they did. Luckily, the lampholder is not broken in a way as to impede its use - the lamp just happened to slip out of it somehow. In conclusion, the fixture does work perfect! I've still asked the seller for a partial refund, though. 

But get this! I opened this thing up to see what was inside, expecting to find an early electronic ballast with a TO3 transistor and what-not. What I found is the most amazing and awesome low voltage DC fixture I've ever seen. This thing uses a magnetic ballast, paired with a vibrator!! The vibrator converts the 12V DC to AC (at 60 Hz, even), and the ballast is actually an autotransformer, stepping the 12V AC up to whatever the OCV is, and serving as the ballasting impedance. That's so awesome! There's not a single solid-state component in this thing!

As it figures, the cigarette lighter socket I use with my 12V power supply decided to break as soon as I started playing around with this thing, so I need to devise another way of powering it. Once I do, I'll start measuring the OCV and current.

Cool, id love to see such fixture and ballast!

Already in my gallery.

http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=3430&pos=2&pid=102721

http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=2747&pos=6&pid=102757

http://www.lighting-gallery.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=lastup&cat=0&pos=1&pid=102997

That's awesome I'm impressed

@TheMaritimeMan, thanks checking out your video right now