Lighters to collect that were used in movies

[VonMagnum]

Ronson Socialite lighter (French Sayings)(1952)

This lighter was actually made in Canada by Ronson and is made from a bakelite type plastic body similar to the New Yorker lighter with a chromed insert. These came in many colors and had many designs printed on the sides for shapes, ads or slogans. This one has French sayings on it so it seemed appropriate for a Canadian Ronson lighter. I bought it from Russ Adams at Ronson Repair. Other than cleaning the chrome, it only needed lighter fluid.

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[VonMagnum]

Bora Extra 901 Lighter (1950)

This is a lighter by Treibacher Chemical Werks from Austria (TCW) and was made in 1950. It seems to borrow the looks and some of the function of an IMCO 6600 Junior lighter, but it has a different fuel tank that opens in the middle and a side mounted flint insertion mechanism (pull the lever on the back and the "window" on the side in the first picture has the spring pull back and you can put a flint in there. I cleaned the outside and fuel tank up and put in a new wick and packing. It's working great.

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[VonMagnum]

IMCO G44R Gas/Butane Lighter (1970s)

I bought this lighter in near perfect physical condition from someone in Greece. It needs the gas tube modified to make it usable (sparks great). First, I have to figure out how to open it so I can change the top seals too (it'll need an airsoft valve installed on the bottom). I think it was made to use disposable butane cartridges as many IMCOs did in the '60s and '70s.

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[VonMagnum]

IMCO G34R Gas/Butane Lighter (1972)

This is an IMCO gas lighter with a removable lighter cartridge (this one is refillable, but needs new seals and possibly a new valve). This one has an aluminum company name printed on it and is in good physical condition with the original box.

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[joberg]

Ronson Socialite lighter (French Sayings)(1952)

This lighter was actually made in Canada by Ronson and is made from a bakelite type plastic body similar to the New Yorker lighter with a chromed insert. These came in many colors and had many designs printed on the sides for shapes, ads or slogans. This one has French sayings on it so it seemed appropriate for a Canadian Ronson lighter. I bought it from Russ Adams at Ronson Repair. Other than cleaning the chrome, it only needed lighter fluid.

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View attachment 1709956 View attachment 1709958 View attachment 1709959 View attachment 1709960 View attachment 1709957

Made for the province of Quebec; old French songs: "Alouette", "À la claire fontaine". Quebec songs: "Vive la Canadienne", "En roulant ma boule.

 

[Ottostudios]

My five cents

German lighter pipe

https://hz.aliexpress.com/i/1005005178319766.html

 

[VonMagnum]

I finally acquired the rather elusive (in good condition) IMCO 4400 Lighter (1936). I cleaned/polished it, changed the wick and packing and inserted a new flint. It works great.

The 4400 is similar in body shape to the USA made IMCO "Buddy" lighter (I'm still not sure what metal the Buddy used, but it's dull), but it was made in Austria. I've seen this one in a shinier brass, but this particular one appears to be a bit darker with the checkerboard pattern it has on it. I polished it several times and that's as shiny as it got. The 4400 isn't terribly dissimilar to the original 1926 "ILSA" lighter (itself a more automated version of their earlier 1920-1922 models, having a wire to pull the cap off as you pull it down instead of manually moving both). The main difference appears to be its octagonal shape. Original thinking, eh? I have no idea what the point is compared to the round or elliptical versions they made before it, but there it is.

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[VonMagnum]

IMCO 4400, 4700, 6600 Lot (1930s-1950s)

I actually got the 4400 as part of a lighter lot including these other two IMCO lighters (a later model "Made In Austria" 4700 and a rather unusual looking 6600 Junior model that has what looks like a flame adjuster ring on it, but in actuality is there apparently just for decoration (or someone moved it to it as it can clearly be pried off of it) as there are no grooves for it to slide up/down in. It looks kind of neat, though. The lot also included another Ronson Rondette (chrome with no monogram) in decent shape for a very reasonable price per lighter.

The 4700 is, as mentioned before in the thread, the number given post facto to the lighter after the Super 6700 Triplex came out. They were normally labeled simply as IMCO Triplex lighters (with various patent markings). The 4700 is the lighter Marion would actually have had to be using in Raiders of the Lost Ark as the pre-patent limited release versions came out in 1936. In reality, the movie lighter probably used a Super 6700 out of convenience as you can't tell the difference really without seeing the handle/spring side of it and she has it covered in the movie. The flame adjuster/ring/body otherwise looks mostly the same. The mechanism internally is somewhat different, however.

The 6600 is also unusual in that it seems to have a 4700 style fuel tank in it where the top unscrews rather than the bottom. This makes it easier to change the wick, but slightly less convenient to fuel it up (you generally just fill the bottom half of the cap and insert the inner mechanism with the wick back into it. The 4700 has an even older version in that it's really designed to be fueled from the top (cotton exposed after you remove the top of the container of the fuel tank). I know the 6700 Super Triplex had a number of revisions and the early models used 4700 style fuel tanks and really later 4700 models (which were still also made for like a decade after the 6700 went into production got the 6700 style fuel tank. They're all interchangeable, but the 4700 style tanks didn't have removable end caps so it's unlikely someone just moved a 4700 tank over to the 6600 Junior model. It's possible early Juniors also had 4600 tanks, though.

I cleaned the lighters up, but the 6600 needed very little attention. The 4700 had some grit under the flame adjuster slide and the inside was pretty dirty as well so I cleaned it inside and out, lubed the slide a bit for the flint pop mechanism and worked it in as well as adding a new wick and cotton packing to get it working like new again and looking reasonably presentable.


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[VonMagnum]

Richard Comyns "Witchball" Sterling Silver Lighter with ROLSTAR lighter fitment (1956)

Witchballs traditionally were thought to repel witches in the age of superstition. It was thought they would be repelled by their own reflection and thus witchballs are normally highly polished reflective balls, reminiscent of Christmas Tree bulbs (which some think the shiner ones may have actually shared the same purpose at one point).

This lighter is by Richard Comyns (known for Sterling Silver flatware) from the mid-1950s. They came in a few different sizes and while most were just chrome balls, some like this one had some engraved details on it. In fact, this one reminds me of the photo I've seen of the unbelievably rare Ronson "Earl" lighter, except it wasn't sterling silver to my knowledge and it had twice the thickness of engraved flower decorations with a more rounded insert, but looked similar in appearance.

The lighter had some kind of dried on substance inside the ball that smelled somewhat familiar. I wonder if it was some dried oil that was used in some incense I have. Maybe a previous owner went full in on the witchball legend and added an oil to the inside known for repelling evil or something? I tried to clean it out the best I could, but scratched the bottom of the inside a bit in the process (not sure which looks worse as the dried substance was almost black. I polished the inside walls which turned out much better (like a mirror really). The outside was already pretty shiny, but I polished it too for good measure. The top has some light pitting on it (not certain if the insert is also silver or just chromed, but the pitting makes me think it's chrome as I don't think sterling silver pits). I'm not sure if polishing it would remove the pitting like it did on the New Yorker lighter I polished to death, but if it is just chromed, there's always the risk of hitting what's underneath.

The insert needed a stuck flint removed and a new wick and packing. The packing was hard and tore a lot so it took about an hour to remove and I had some trouble getting the wick in as well, but now all is well. It took about 2 hours total to fully restore it to working order (compare that to the eBay description that made it sound like there wasn't a thing wrong with it). I hate leaving feedback on those items because while I somewhat enjoy restoring lighters and I'm pleased with the overall outcome, I don't like bogus descriptions either.

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[joberg]

Ooohh...that's another lovely one

 

[VonMagnum]

IMCO G22R (1968)

Butane powered "Parrot" lighter by IMCO. It'll need refurbishing of the gas seals to work again....


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[VonMagnum]

JMCO (IMCO) "Patent A" Lighter (1920)

This is the 2nd lighter by IMCO and released in Austria under the in-house JMCO name instead of IMCO (International for the "i" ?) and the first major production lighter and it's much more rare and harder to find than 10507 model that came after it (which had at first the "bottle cap" style top (1922) and then the more cylindrical one later (IFA 1926). It lacks refinements of later generation models of similar design. You have to pull up on the cap to pull it above the wick and then away from it. There is no outer jacket with air holes in it to cover the flame area for wind. This particular one lacks the original flint spring end (using a screw instead) and the bottom ring (again a screw).

I polished it up several times and tightened the spring such as it is and loaded it up. It works!

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Without Flash


With Flash

 

[VonMagnum]

Ronson Flight of Fancy Lighter (1954)

A Rosenthal Germany Bone China body with a Ronson Essex lighter insert that looks like... a tower??? The Ronson "Sundial" lighter is very similar looking.

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Without Flash



With Flash

 

[VonMagnum]

IMCO G55R lighter (1980)

Another IMCO butane lighter that needs some seals replaced to work again. This one is from 1980.

 

[VonMagnum]

Ronson Victor Table Lighter (1952)

Another one of the 5 "V" Ronson early butane gas lighters from the early 1950s, this one looks similar to the French "Socialite" lighter in dimensions and in fact, the lighter insert from that lighter perfectly fits the body on this one except that the Socialite lighter is a wick lighter and this is a gas one. But they have the same dimensions so they interchange quite nicely. These appeared to have come in at least a few different color options. I kind of like the green/gold stripe version shown here, though.

Given the seals are going bad on all these and thus far I have no idea how to remove the fueling valve, having a wick insert would be a nice way to preserve the body in a usable form. As for the gas valves, the top one is easy enough to get to, but the replacement valves I have are a different model for newer Ronson butane lighters, but at least the rubber o-rings seals could be changed. I'm sure there must be a way/tool to remove the fuel valve, but I'm not sure how yet. The insert here works for a couple of days, but eventually leaks out the gas, but at least you can see how it was suppose to look/work. The valve can be turned with a tool (or pliers) to change the flame height. Later Ronson gas lighters have a little finger dial to do it instead of needing a tool.


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[VonMagnum]

Ronson Regal Table Lighter (1936)

Note that Ronson had a newer table lighter that was also called the "Regal" from the 1950s that looked a bit like a seashell constructed flying saucer. The original version from 1936 is much harder to find and has more of a teardrop shaped curved body below.

This one had a protective "white gold" paint job that would keep the silver plating from tarnishing, but this one is starting to come off in more than a few places. I could just use some paint remover and polish it to a nice silver shine that would look brand new again, but the white gold look goes nice with my Ronson Colonial Lighter and a Decanter version that also had the same white gold look so I'm torn on "new" looking restoration or keeping the original paint job.

I did clean the spotty top buttons up and polished up the exposed silver bits and cleaned the glue off the bottom and polished it to look like new (just needs new green felt). It's functioning, but it would benefit from a new wick and cotton packing (larger longer lasting flame as it seems a bit sparse to me, but usable), so if I was going to go for the polished silver look, that would be a good time to do it as I could even just dip/soak it in paint thinner to make the paint removal easier.

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Newer 1950s version for comparison (they don't look much alike at all, really, IMO):

 

[VonMagnum]

I was watching my favorite Johnny Depp movie, The Ninth Gate (Made in 1999, released March 2000), the other day and while Johnny only had a Bic lighter, Lena Olin's character, Liana Telfer had a Dunhill gold striped Rollagas or Rollalite lighter, we first see when she pays Johnny a visit to try and get her book back (and lights up a cool looking black cigarette with it), but it's shown more clearly at her Chateau, lying on a table, when she's getting undressed (lovely looking lady).

I'd have to get a screenshot at home, but I believe this is the basic lighter (this particular one is the older Rollalite, which has a wick instead of gas):



Edit: Scene from the movie, The Ninth Gate (not sure it's "striped" after all)



Two "Enhanced" Closeups (might be the "bark" texture or some other one. There's really not enough detail to be sure, but definitely a gold variant)



Other textures I have that are or are available in gold (the Barley one seems the closest, but the resolution isn't really good enough for texture to be certain. I think there's a "leaf" variant as well):

"Bark" / Barley / Vertical Stripe #2 / Brick / Hobnail

 

[VonMagnum]

I'm getting behind. I've got four lighters to review including an ultra rare Ronson Cameo from 1934 in near mint condition. An IMCO "Extra" came in today and another Evans lighter along with a near perfect Ronson Jubilee to replace the slightly dented one I got recently.

I've been focusing on home theater lately (I'm up to 19 speaker Atmos/DTS:X surround plus two extra Auro-3D ones for 21 total with 10 overhead and 8 on the ceiling).

 

[VonMagnum]

Ronson Jubilee Table Lighter (Sterling Silver 1954)

This is a 2nd Jubilee lighter I picked up because it was in better condition (almost no hints of dents) for the same price.

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[VonMagnum]

Ronson "Cameo" Table Lighter (1934)

Cameo is apparently a nickname given to this lighter as it didn't actually seem to have a name assigned to it other than a De-Light table lighter and named so because of the large elliptical cameo on the front and back. The books I've seen list it and show it as having a black enamel cameo. This one is ivory colored so I gather it was unknown to the authors at the time, making this more rare. I've only seen one other for sale in the past couple of years and it had a black cameo in similar condition. It seems to be a particularly rare lighter to locate even with eBay and it wasn't cheap.

There's something Snow White wicked witch looking about it like it should be a magic mirror or a tower out of Lord of the Rings or something (i.e. cool looking IMO). The white cameo looks like a TV image might appear on it at any second. It's in great condition for its age other than some micro enamel cracks in the cameo and was fully working on delivery (just added lighter fluid and cleaned the cameo off (had some dark marks that came right off) as well as an old sticker attached to it by someone.

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The Tower....