Lighters to collect that were used in movies
- Thread starter VonMagnum
- Start date
VonMagnum
Sr Member
I've got the older Ronson mechanical pencil lighter and an IMCO Silby lighter (all the way from Italy) to inspect next, but I've been busy working on upgrading my home theater to 19.3 channel discrete sound (11.3.8 sound plus 2 surround heights for Auro-3D for 21 total with 3 rows of seats), I'm currently wired up for 15 discrete plus 2 copied surround height array. I've got 4 more to go plus an alternate 8-channel decorrelated surround mode for older titles (original Dolby Surround Star Wars De-Specialized Version, for example) and Auro-3D arrays.
Hopefully, I'll find a few minutes to get the new lighters going in the next few days.
Hopefully, I'll find a few minutes to get the new lighters going in the next few days.
VonMagnum
Sr Member
I just watched a seller from Paris on eBay bid up a JMCO rope lighter to $597 against himself. I already reported him for FRAUD as it was (100% association on half the bidders with his own account), but I wasn't paying a dime over $75 and he outbid that before the last minute (I never even entered the bid) and in the last few seconds bid up to $597 (clearly his own account with over 27% association and several bid retractions). Just UNBELIEVABLE. That lighter probably isn't worth $50 (I got the IMCO US made version for $25 in working order) and as far as I can tell he didn't have one legit bidder the entire auction.
joberg
Legendary Member
Well, that's news for me
Bidding against yourself on Ebay...what a novel idea Some people's kid, I tell you!
VonMagnum
Sr Member
It's actually VERY common on there. If you check the "bids" with the desktop browser and click on a bidder, it will tell you how many bids they've had in the last 6 months associated with the seller (anything over 20% is highly suspect), how many times they've retracted their bids (usually happens when they bid past a legit bidder's maximum bid so that it drops out and they then bid another account to just under that maximum bid so that they max out the legit's bidder's maximum price he's willing to pay.Well, that's news for me
That latter one is the reason you never ever bid until the last few seconds of an auction because that gives them time to bid it up and find out your maximum bid amount and make sure you pay every nickel of it up to the maximum you entered.
eBay is royally screwed up. They push and push and push for you to "bid early" and that's what unscrupulous sellers do to take advantage of the situation. eBay makes more profits with higher sales prices since they get a cut so they have zero incentive to do anything about the fraudulent bids going on, despite it being a felony in the US and that makes eBay an accessory to a felony.
If the FBI wanted to go after eBay for massive fines, whatever, they'd have zero trouble as there's probably tens of thousands of these instances going on every single week for over a decade. However, I think they're far too busy trying to dig dirt on government ordered targets to deal with actual real world crimes.
Now eBay's search system just broke. I have searches to keep an eye out for various rare lighters automatically and now it's sending me dozens of false results each day such that I had to end the email updates because it was junking up my email box. I'm not sure if this is due to false tags on various listings or something broke in the actual search system itself (e.g. all new IMCO lighters come up for a given search, not just the rare ones I'm looking for). I suspect the former as there are some that are not showing up with IMCO and Ronson, but a hell of a lot of them are. I have "Ronson Superba Lighter" in the list (a table lighter that is very rare) and up shows 15 ronson pocket lighters each day for the past few days under that search. It's infuriating.
Just a big +1 for this comment. I completely agree. I set a personal alarm for auctions I'm interested in, and only bid within the last 10-15 seconds of it closing. It's the only way to be sure I can get a fair price. There are tools you can download that will auto-bid for you, but I prefer to be there in person, even if it's middle of the night.
paulhaga
Active Member
I am loving this thread and spent most of last night reading all of the research on different lighters. I'm hoping some of you might be able to help me track down a unicorn lighter I've been trying to find for years. I think it might be a Colibri...but haven't been able to identify anything close. It's the electronic lighter Durant uses in Darkman. Gold, rectangular, push button top (which could've been added by production for the drinking bird bit). Any ideas on what lighter this might be?
paulhaga
Active Member
I'll give that a shot! I've been doomscrolling a lot of Colibri lighters on ebay and in google images to try to find something close. Is there another similar brand or two I should be searching as well? Sorry...I'm totally new to this game!
VonMagnum
Sr Member
Possibly, but I'm not familiar with all the imitator brands. Many just say something like Made In Japan on them.I'll give that a shot! I've been doomscrolling a lot of Colibri lighters on ebay and in google images to try to find something close. Is there another similar brand or two I should be searching as well? Sorry...I'm totally new to this game!
scarf man
Master Member
IM Corona is another brand to search.I'll give that a shot! I've been doomscrolling a lot of Colibri lighters on ebay and in google images to try to find something close. Is there another similar brand or two I should be searching as well? Sorry...I'm totally new to this game!
VonMagnum
Sr Member
There was a 1st generation Regal lighter for auction that appeared to be in excellent condition, better than the one I bought before for $57 (white gold paint tends to start coming off, but I could probably remove it all with a bit of pain remover to get the silver finish this one had). I was willing to pay up to $150 or so. I the last 15 seconds it jumped to $155 and then to $225 and finally $255.
The last two bids were from the owner bidding on his own lighter (25% and 100% correlation with seller). I guess $155 (which appeared to be a legit bid and one I was considering bidding a bit higher against before it suddenly shot into the stratosphere) wasn't enough money for him.
I've seen it rated as high as $200 in MINT condition (basically never used, one step below new in box). I guess he expected more with recent inflation.
He can keep it....
This is the one I bought for $58
The last two bids were from the owner bidding on his own lighter (25% and 100% correlation with seller). I guess $155 (which appeared to be a legit bid and one I was considering bidding a bit higher against before it suddenly shot into the stratosphere) wasn't enough money for him.
I've seen it rated as high as $200 in MINT condition (basically never used, one step below new in box). I guess he expected more with recent inflation.
He can keep it....
This is the one I bought for $58
Last edited:
VonMagnum
Sr Member
I've got one "V" lighter left to collect, the "Vernon". There is a series of five of them, all of them early 1950 gas lighters (The Victor, Vernon, Viceroy, Viola and Vera). For some odd reason the Vernon has been elusive until recently despite the fact it looks identical to the Victor. None of them work or really can work for more than a few seconds and you can't get parts for these early models. I'm not even sure the mechanism can be removed as there's nothing to grip it with, but they're still historical display pieces.
A Vernon went up for auction a few weeks ago. The guy wanted $25 starting price. I forgot to bid. It didn't sell (obviously there's no interest whatsoever) and it went to "Buy Now or Best Offer". I offered $23 because his shipping is at least double what it should be for one state away. He let it expire. I refuse to buy it at $28 because the shipping price is bogus and he just let my reasonable offer ($2 less than his starting bid that no one bid at) EXPIRE, which is rude to not even click no. There's been another since listed at Buy Now for $45, which is ridiculous for a lighter with chunks of wood scratched that doesn't and can't work. Still, there's now two "Buy Now" Vernons for sale on there so if some collector was desperate for one, there they are.
And so there was one that went up for auction this morning that I got up just to bid on. It's not perfect (little dents on the bottom) and I put my bid in at 2 seconds left and still got auto-sniped, probably by some 0.1 second software for $1 more than I bid ($20 with its current bid at $8, which were all bids by the seller, originally at 99 cents)...on a mostly worthless lighter (that I only want to complete the "V" set of early gas lighters) that will never work and which two are Buy Now right now. I was sure the guy bid on his own lighter (two prior bids definitely were, but they were only a couple of dollars), but I see only 4% association so it's either an early account or legit. I still suspect it's the seller because NO ONE bid on the other one for $25 weeks ago (still that one for sale for $28), but this guy wants it bad for a last 0.1 second snipe for $21 now (with who knows what his maximum bid is)?
That's a bridge too far for me to believe. Yeah, I don't need it that bad. I don't need it at all, which is why I refuse to pay $28 for that other one because the shipping and tax makes it almost $40, which is what I expect to pay for a lighter that works or at least can work. Just the urge of "collect them all" when I already have the other 4 urges me to buy one because it looks IDENTICAL to the Victor I already have. I guess I'll wait some more....
A Vernon went up for auction a few weeks ago. The guy wanted $25 starting price. I forgot to bid. It didn't sell (obviously there's no interest whatsoever) and it went to "Buy Now or Best Offer". I offered $23 because his shipping is at least double what it should be for one state away. He let it expire. I refuse to buy it at $28 because the shipping price is bogus and he just let my reasonable offer ($2 less than his starting bid that no one bid at) EXPIRE, which is rude to not even click no. There's been another since listed at Buy Now for $45, which is ridiculous for a lighter with chunks of wood scratched that doesn't and can't work. Still, there's now two "Buy Now" Vernons for sale on there so if some collector was desperate for one, there they are.
And so there was one that went up for auction this morning that I got up just to bid on. It's not perfect (little dents on the bottom) and I put my bid in at 2 seconds left and still got auto-sniped, probably by some 0.1 second software for $1 more than I bid ($20 with its current bid at $8, which were all bids by the seller, originally at 99 cents)...on a mostly worthless lighter (that I only want to complete the "V" set of early gas lighters) that will never work and which two are Buy Now right now. I was sure the guy bid on his own lighter (two prior bids definitely were, but they were only a couple of dollars), but I see only 4% association so it's either an early account or legit. I still suspect it's the seller because NO ONE bid on the other one for $25 weeks ago (still that one for sale for $28), but this guy wants it bad for a last 0.1 second snipe for $21 now (with who knows what his maximum bid is)?
That's a bridge too far for me to believe. Yeah, I don't need it that bad. I don't need it at all, which is why I refuse to pay $28 for that other one because the shipping and tax makes it almost $40, which is what I expect to pay for a lighter that works or at least can work. Just the urge of "collect them all" when I already have the other 4 urges me to buy one because it looks IDENTICAL to the Victor I already have. I guess I'll wait some more....
VonMagnum
Sr Member
Ronson Touch Tip Lighter and Cigarette Box (1936-1940) that was featured in The Maltese Falcon (1941) in Miss Wonderly's (Mary Astor) apartment. It could use a little polishing, but it's in quite good shape overall for its age and fully functional with the lighter. The middle divider in the box can be removed to hold cigars and left it place for two types of non-filtered cigarettes.
Similar threads
