Lighters to collect that were used in movies
- Thread starter VonMagnum
- Start date
VonMagnum
Sr Member
The Ronson Banjo Kazooie Table Lighter (1927), one of the world's first table lighters is on it's way with the original banjo mechanism...
Its De-Light brother model made within a year or two (~1928), the Ronson Tabourette is also on its way now....
Nothing like Christmas shopping for yourself...
Darn, I might have to take up smoking so I can get some use out of these lighters.
Then I think about cancer and C.O.P.D and other nasties and think I'll stick to lighting the occasional incense stick.
Its De-Light brother model made within a year or two (~1928), the Ronson Tabourette is also on its way now....
Nothing like Christmas shopping for yourself...
Darn, I might have to take up smoking so I can get some use out of these lighters.
Then I think about cancer and C.O.P.D and other nasties and think I'll stick to lighting the occasional incense stick.
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VonMagnum
Sr Member
The Ronson Nordic (1955) in clear glass/acrylic/something for $20 + S&H + tax compared to $300+ on 1st Dibs (insane prices there). I cleared the stuck flint which had another flint dumped in there on top of it (people seem to have no clue what's going on). I tried to remove some small scratch/marks on the acrylic, but it didn't work out all that great. I polished it all with Flitz and trimmed the wick. Everything's working fine...maybe 8/10 lights. I now have White with Pink Marble, Polished Wood and Clear Glass versions. I think I'm only missing Black Marble With Gold for the ones they made. I think there might have been two different wood tones as well (light/dark).
Above
Facing Right
Facing Left
Lit
Above
Facing Right
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Lit
VonMagnum
Sr Member
I had another auction and was just watching to see what this Maltese Falcon model Touch-Tip one was going to go for out of curiosity. This one just sold for $910 + S&H + Tax on eBay. Unbelievable. That's more than $125 than I paid for mine in MINT condition just two years ago. This one has paint chips missing, a cracked white surround and it's dirty around the clock. Madness, I say! Absolute madness!
Maybe it's because it's close to Christmas? I guess it bodes well for resale value.
I lost my own auction because I already bid over the maximum book value to get the lighter in question and it still went for more....
VonMagnum
Sr Member
Two Ronson Penciliters (1940s-1950s) arrived today, both Rhodium Plated. It's a mechanical pencil with a lighter in the top (you wouldn't want to have to stop writing back then to go smoke when you're on a hot writing streak so you just flick the shirt clip and the top pops open and lights up your cigarette for you).
The one in front didn't have its case, the one in back obviously did. The cleaner/shinier one in the case had a flint stuck in it I had to drill out (no idea how to remove the mechanism on this one) and the other one did not and worked by just inserting a flint and adding some lighter fluid, which it doesn't hold very much at all so you'd probably have to refill daily. Once I cleared the flint on the other, they both work great. I paid $20 each (clearly the case one was the better deal as it's in better shape and had its original box to show it in). I'll try polishing the one next to see if it can clean up better (Edit: It's now hard to tell it from the other one after a quick polish).
Lighter #1 Lit - The one with no case
Lighter #2 Lit - The one with the case (You can see how having the wick raised slightly increases the flame height).
The one in front didn't have its case, the one in back obviously did. The cleaner/shinier one in the case had a flint stuck in it I had to drill out (no idea how to remove the mechanism on this one) and the other one did not and worked by just inserting a flint and adding some lighter fluid, which it doesn't hold very much at all so you'd probably have to refill daily. Once I cleared the flint on the other, they both work great. I paid $20 each (clearly the case one was the better deal as it's in better shape and had its original box to show it in). I'll try polishing the one next to see if it can clean up better (Edit: It's now hard to tell it from the other one after a quick polish).
Lighter #1 Lit - The one with no case
Lighter #2 Lit - The one with the case (You can see how having the wick raised slightly increases the flame height).
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VonMagnum
Sr Member
I just received my Ronson Futura (1959-60s) butane lighter. It's in almost mint condition. Other than drilling out the flint and cleaning the spark wheel and gas valve, it seems to already work OK as it apparently still had butane in it from a previous fill (bad no no in shipping, but not my fault). I had my high-end Colibri butane already too.... The adjustment might need some tweaking (the flame is fairly high on its lowest setting in the picture here), but otherwise no repairs for now (and after I bought replacement seals; I'll save them for another butane one I guess).
The lighter looks like a boat to most people and is often called the Ronson Boat lighter. Like many recent purchases, I'll have to keep an eye out for it in movies as I just keep moving full steam ahead with my goal of collecting most/all of the Ronson table lighters or at least the wick ones and any interesting gas ones like this. Some of the Ronson 1960s table lighters were kind of boring cylinders, IMO, but this one is very cool looking and hard to find in this condition with no missing parts (there's a cover for the inlet valve, for example). I put a little polish on it, but I don't know if it's clear coated or just chrome so I went light on the polish (and seeing the photo up close, I clear missed a spot wiping it off in the first photo on the side of the button).
Pointing Left
Pointing Right
Lit
The lighter looks like a boat to most people and is often called the Ronson Boat lighter. Like many recent purchases, I'll have to keep an eye out for it in movies as I just keep moving full steam ahead with my goal of collecting most/all of the Ronson table lighters or at least the wick ones and any interesting gas ones like this. Some of the Ronson 1960s table lighters were kind of boring cylinders, IMO, but this one is very cool looking and hard to find in this condition with no missing parts (there's a cover for the inlet valve, for example). I put a little polish on it, but I don't know if it's clear coated or just chrome so I went light on the polish (and seeing the photo up close, I clear missed a spot wiping it off in the first photo on the side of the button).
Pointing Left
Pointing Right
Lit
VonMagnum
Sr Member
It's apparently butane lighter day here at RPF....
Rosenthal Colonial Rose China Base (Made in Germany) with Ronson butane lighter insert (1961-1964)
It's a pretty lighter, but it needed some hidden work. The lighter had a nasty stuck flint in it and I couldn't drill it out from the bottom in a reasonable amount of time so I took it apart and cleared it from the top manually with a jeweler screw driver, but little bits stuck to the tube so it took awhile to get it smooth and clear. Meanwhile, the "ring" on top came apart (looks like it was glued) so I cemented it back on and then I had a heck of a time getting the snuffer back together (and realized the spring for the button came off the tube and so I had to do it yet again... (sigh). I then cleaned the lighter (brass insert) with Flitz polish and gassed up.
There was some butane still in it when I first pressed the button so I figured it wasn't leaking, but if there ever was an adjustment lever on this for flame height, it's not there now. I fired it and it looked more like a blow torch. I manually moved the burner ring over as far as I could, but it seems it just needed to blow out the excess pressure (a bit overfilled?) as it then returned to a normal flame height and it's working lovely now (no o-rings needed for now).
Facing right....
Facoing Left....
It's LIT!
Rosenthal Colonial Rose China Base (Made in Germany) with Ronson butane lighter insert (1961-1964)
It's a pretty lighter, but it needed some hidden work. The lighter had a nasty stuck flint in it and I couldn't drill it out from the bottom in a reasonable amount of time so I took it apart and cleared it from the top manually with a jeweler screw driver, but little bits stuck to the tube so it took awhile to get it smooth and clear. Meanwhile, the "ring" on top came apart (looks like it was glued) so I cemented it back on and then I had a heck of a time getting the snuffer back together (and realized the spring for the button came off the tube and so I had to do it yet again... (sigh). I then cleaned the lighter (brass insert) with Flitz polish and gassed up.
There was some butane still in it when I first pressed the button so I figured it wasn't leaking, but if there ever was an adjustment lever on this for flame height, it's not there now. I fired it and it looked more like a blow torch. I manually moved the burner ring over as far as I could, but it seems it just needed to blow out the excess pressure (a bit overfilled?) as it then returned to a normal flame height and it's working lovely now (no o-rings needed for now).
Facing right....
Facoing Left....
It's LIT!
VonMagnum
Sr Member
I bought a set of pocket lighters to get this Ronson De-Light Princess pocket lighter (1928)
It needed a flint cleared and I glued the bottom corner edges of the leather back into place on both sides that was starting to come up (after the photo, unfortunately). The last photo shows the De-Light standard size lighter next to the smaller Princess size. These are both brown leather with a central cameo plate.
No Flash
Flash
Lit
Side-By-Side Regular De-Light and Princess De-Light
It needed a flint cleared and I glued the bottom corner edges of the leather back into place on both sides that was starting to come up (after the photo, unfortunately). The last photo shows the De-Light standard size lighter next to the smaller Princess size. These are both brown leather with a central cameo plate.
No Flash
Flash
Lit
Side-By-Side Regular De-Light and Princess De-Light
VonMagnum
Sr Member
Ronson Nordic Lighter (1955) in Black Marble and Gold.
This one is old used stock (new in box) so I didn't light it to maintain its never used status. This completes the my Nordic set of bases (Black Marble, Pink Marble, Clear Crystal and Polished Wood).
The other 3 from the Nordic set:
This one is old used stock (new in box) so I didn't light it to maintain its never used status. This completes the my Nordic set of bases (Black Marble, Pink Marble, Clear Crystal and Polished Wood).
The other 3 from the Nordic set:
VonMagnum
Sr Member
The Ronson Juno lighter (1950). It uses the same basic lighter mechanism as the Penciliter, but has a different storage tank attached and a different lever to light it. This one has some dings and a couple of spots with the silver plating off, but otherwise is in fairly good condition.
Parfait, trophy or urn?
Lit
Parfait, trophy or urn?
Lit
VonMagnum
Sr Member
Coco Joe's hand made Tiki themed base for a Japan lighter mechanism.
Coco Joe's operated in Hawaii from 1960 into the 1980s and made a lot of hand-made items. I'm not exactly sure when this particular lighter was made (The Japanese lighter mech is a direct copy of the Ronson "Standard" lighter mechanism dating back as far as the mid 1930s or thereabouts so given when Coco Joe was operational, it could have been made at any point during that 20+ year period). T
he Tiki gods on the side resemble modern "grey" aliens despite predating the History Channel show Ancient Aliens by at least 3 decades so it fits the hypothesis/theory pretty well that at least some of them resembled The Grey.
The chrome appears to have been exposed to some humidity and had some corrosion and a dullness to it. I did the Flitz treatment and it looks like Chrome again, but it's not perfect as there was some damage in places. I almost wonder if I should have just let it be dull looking in this case, but either way, the body looks great (might be able to find a lighter insert that matches in better condition at some point).
It's fully functional, however and lit right up after adding a flint and fuel.
Pre-Polish (eBay photo)
Coco Joe's operated in Hawaii from 1960 into the 1980s and made a lot of hand-made items. I'm not exactly sure when this particular lighter was made (The Japanese lighter mech is a direct copy of the Ronson "Standard" lighter mechanism dating back as far as the mid 1930s or thereabouts so given when Coco Joe was operational, it could have been made at any point during that 20+ year period). T
he Tiki gods on the side resemble modern "grey" aliens despite predating the History Channel show Ancient Aliens by at least 3 decades so it fits the hypothesis/theory pretty well that at least some of them resembled The Grey.
The chrome appears to have been exposed to some humidity and had some corrosion and a dullness to it. I did the Flitz treatment and it looks like Chrome again, but it's not perfect as there was some damage in places. I almost wonder if I should have just let it be dull looking in this case, but either way, the body looks great (might be able to find a lighter insert that matches in better condition at some point).
It's fully functional, however and lit right up after adding a flint and fuel.
Pre-Polish (eBay photo)
VonMagnum
Sr Member
You gotta love when people screw themselves out of more money by turning down a reasonable best offer to go to auction instead on eBay and then end up getting significantly less. I ended up saving $40.01 compared to my pre-auction offer of $215 to avoid the hassle and slight risk of auction fever by offering closer to what this lighter is probably actually worth. Nope, they were apparently hoping for $230+. I ended up getting it for $174.99. I guess when others have theirs for Buy It Now prices of $375, they think it's going to do well, but no one is buying those at $375. They just sit there month after month.
Now I have to hope they don't do something out of spite and blame it on shipping or something....
Now I have to hope they don't do something out of spite and blame it on shipping or something....
VonMagnum
Sr Member
I got a Ronson Senator lighter that looked like new condition, but the gears were worn (sticks a bit and doesn't spark every time) and the fuel screw cap was stuck on there like it was welded. I kept digging down to get more leverage and holes appeared. The cap part separated and the cemented rubber o-ring was then exposed. I dug that out, which was probably what was keeping it from turning and now there was nothing left to turn, really. I had to use a screw extractor set to get it out. Now I have no usable fuel cap. I'll have to find one off some junker or something and some better gears to fully restore it.... Ugh.
VonMagnum
Sr Member
I just ordered 4 junk lighters for parts. The thing is I searched by price and I think I can easily restore two of the four. One is a gas lighter (didn't look carefully enough so it has no fuel cap). Ugh. It's funny reading the descriptions, though. Selling for display piece only. Broken. For parts. I bet all are easily fixed (for function at least).
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