Lighters to collect that were used in movies

[VonMagnum]

Unbelievably, after recently finding and obtaining a Man With The Golden Gun Colibri lighter, I just snagged this Colibri lighter from Blade Runner (Rachel's Lighter) for a similar price (first one I've seen for sale since I started collecting lighters so I bid HIGH and someone tried to snipe at the last second, but didn't bid high enough. )

 

[joberg]

Always loved that lighter...maybe I'm biased

 

[VonMagnum]

Rachel's Lighter (Colibri brand) from Blade Runner has arrived in almost mint condition.... Click for larger versions.

 

[VonMagnum]

Monogrammed version with Tyrell Corporate Logo and Rachel's Name

(early mockup of course; not sure I want to actually monogram it even if it looks cool as it would still probably hurt its value)

 

[VonMagnum]

I've got the adapter now to fill the Molectric 88 lighter (refilled one of my working ones OK) as the Colibri 300ml gas bottles come with several adapters including the one needed to fill it.

The problem, of course, is the Man With The Golden Gun lighter (Hobnail case) appears to leak gas. I don't know how many butane lighters shared common gas valves. I'm ordering a multi-tool (sadly from China) that has at least three adapters on it to remove "most" butane gas valves and some Ronson valves and tools while I'm at it (I have a few Varaflames I've been putting off getting the stuff to repair), but I could just swap the internal lighter bits with another Molectric 88 I have that is already working fine (gold one with a different case) if I knew how to remove the lighter internals. Removing the caps off the bottom and pulling doesn't seem to work (some butane lighters are held like that) unless it's really tight or something else I could just swap them for now and fix the valve when I get the stuff later.

Trying to find information on the Molectric 88 or any Colibri butane lighters for that matter on the Web is like pulling teeth, unfortunately. It's easy to find diagrams and parts for Dunhill, ST Dupons and Ronson, but everything else is another matter. Colibri made so many lighters, but there seems to be very little out there on them.

Even the Blade Runner lighter up there seems like it could use some tender loving care on the quartz igniter as it's unreliable at best. I hate to experiment with such a rare lighter, though.

 

[AlbertEinstein]

Wow Congrats on finding that Blade Runner lighter I´m looking myself for one allmoost 2 years now with no luck but as you collect lighters I´m sure you know exactly where to find these wonderfull and rare items. Greetings Heinz

 

[VonMagnum]

Wow Congrats on finding that Blade Runner lighter I´m looking myself for one allmoost 2 years now with no luck but as you collect lighters I´m sure you know exactly where to find these wonderfull and rare items. Greetings Heinz

eBay, believe it or not. There's no model name for that quartz lighter from Colibri so you have to search through ALL the Colibri lighters all the time. Even then, it took over two years to find this one.

There was only one other bidder that appeared to know what it was. The seller surely didn't or they would have advertised it as such to drive the price up. I tested the bidding waters with an increased bid about 12 minutes before the auction was to end from $28 to $42 to look not too interested or commit early. No response.

I suspected there might be a last second sniper, though so I increased my max bid to something much much higher (didn't want to wait another 2+ years). Sure enough, with about five seconds to go, the bidding price jumped to $72 and then again by the same guy to $132 or something around there. He then ran out of time and wasn't even in the same ball field as my max bid. So much for the theory of snipe bidding....

I paid about the same for the lighter that was the basis for the one from The Man With The Golden Gun, but had to wait over a year for another to appear as I lost the previous one by not bidding high enough. A similar thing happened with a Maltese Falcon lighter, which is by far the most expensive lighter I bought used (>$800 after tax and shipping), but in near mint condition.

 

[VonMagnum]

Another Dunhill Broadboy MK2 went up for auction (aka the same model lighter used in The Dr. No/Goldfinger Bond movies by Sean Connery)... Mislabeled as a Rollalite and in Sterling Silver (seller didn't appear to even know what the marks were) by the description leading me to hope the lighter might miss the eyes of overzealous collectors as a few other pricey lighters have over the years, it still ended up selling for over $2000 US. Too rich for my blood.

I'm afraid even a silver plated version usually sells for over $600, a price virtually no other lighter from the 1950s fetches in that finish, apparently showing the love of Sean Connery trumps any other possible point of value. The Connery lighter was not only plated silver, but purposely oxidized to make it a darker tarnished shade of grey/silver. So technically, this was a far better version being Sterling.

I just picked up a much older (1930s) precursor to the same model, apparently called a Dunhill Squareboy by some. It has a natural tarnish to it, even after cleaning oof much of the tobacco and flint powder stains and drilling out an ancient stuck flint to get it working again. But it definitely has a similar look and feel and cost me less than $200.

 

[Beery]

My favorite lighter is one from an anime: Haibane Renmei.

It's the IMCO 6600:

 

[mrwax]

Cool, I don't think I've noticed that as anything other than Marion's lighter in Raiders, nice to see it in something else too. I like it when animators pick very specific real world objects.

 

[VonMagnum]

Cool, I don't think I've noticed that as anything other than Marion's lighter in Raiders, nice to see it in something else too. I like it when animators pick very specific real world objects.

Those are two different lighters. The one from Raiders is the IMCO 6700. The one above is the IMCO 6600. They're similar. The 6700 has the adjustable flame height sliding mechanism.

 

[Beery]

Did they use an IMCO 6700 in Raiders? It should have been a 4700, which hit the market back in 1937, whereas the 6700 entered production in 1956 and was still in production when Raiders of the Lost Ark was being filmed. But given that the 6700 was very much easier to find in the '80s, I wouldn't be surprised if they used the more modern version (which looks pretty close to the 4700).

Actually, now I'm thinking about it, the 4700 was still an anachronism, since Raiders is supposed to have been set in 1936 - a year before the 4700 hit store shelves.

They probably should have used a 4200 "Safety" lighter, which came out in 1935, and is a very classy-looking lighter.

 

[VonMagnum]

Did they use an IMCO 6700 in Raiders? It should have been a 4700, which hit the market back in 1937, whereas the 6700 entered production in 1956 and was still in production when Raiders of the Lost Ark was being filmed. But given that the 6700 was very much easier to find in the '80s, I wouldn't be surprised if they used the more modern version (which looks pretty close to the 4700).

Actually, now I'm thinking about it, the 4700 was still an anachronism, since Raiders is supposed to have been set in 1936 - a year before the 4700 hit store shelves.

They probably should have used a 4200 "Safety" lighter, which came out in 1935, and is a very classy-looking lighter.

I'm not sure anymore. An older post of mine in this thread says 4700, but for my above post I quickly referenced a photo of one of the three I own and the cap said 6700 on it. Some sites say the 6700 was first made in 1936 and improved in the 50s and previous discussions centered on the Triplex Made In Austria cap so I'm surprised that my lighter says 6700, but one of the three is different from the other two.

It's unlikely Marion would have had access to the lighter in that remote location either way. The closeup doesn't appear to show the slider mechanism so it's hard to be certain which they used in the movie strictly from the movie footage.

I'll have to look again. The 4700 samples I've seen so far online look different from the 6700 which most people are showing on my props and other sites....

But either way, the 6600 above is different for certain.

 

[Beery]

I'm not sure anymore. An older post of mine in this thread says 4700, but for my above post I quickly referenced a photo of one of the three I own and the cap said 6700 on it. Some sites say the 6700 was first made in 1936 and improved in the 50s...

I think the reason they say that is because the original "Triplex" was the 4700. The 6700 was an upgrade - called the "Triplex Super", so that was the improvement they're talking about. It's the same basic design, but they removed the complicated central button design that triggered the spring that raised the flint compartment, and instead made the flint cover hinge upwards from the main cap hinge point. They also had a simpler version, the 6600 "Triplex Junior", without the flame adjustment.

Here's a website that shows the development of the IMCO lighters.

In my view, the IMCO lighters are the best petrol lighters ever made. They outperform Zippos, Ronsons, and every other petroleum lighter I've ever seen - and they're cheap.

 

[VonMagnum]

I think the reason they say that is because the original "Triplex" was the 4700. The 6700 was an upgrade - called the "Triplex Super", so that was the improvement they're talking about. It's the same basic design, but they removed the complicated central button design that triggered the spring that raised the flint compartment, and instead made the flint cover hinge upwards from the main cap hinge point. They also had a simpler version, the 6600 "Triplex Junior", without the flame adjustment.

Here's a website that shows the development of the IMCO lighters.

In my view, the IMCO lighters are the best petrol lighters ever made. They outperform Zippos, Ronsons, and every other petroleum lighter I've ever seen - and they're cheap.

Hmmmm. Here I bought a 6700 from Morocco that said it was from the 1940s.You can't trust anyone. It had a nice sand-worn finish that made it look a bit older than the other two. All three are 6700 models, however.

I guess the real question is which was used in the movie rather than what was realistic. It's probably impossible to tell. Everyone I talked to before made guesses as only the top was visible. I doubt even asking Karen Allen at a Comicon type event would help (too long ago). I might just pick up a 4700 to be sure, though.

 

[VonMagnum]

I just read on a website that the oldest version from 1936/1937 was just called the IMCO Triplex, not even the 4700....

 

[VonMagnum]

I have read all Imco Triplex lighters from 1939-1944 are marked Patent Made In Germany instead of Austria due to the WWII occupation.

I don't know if there's anything to distinguish a 1936 pre-patent model from a 1937-1938 made one from 1945-1954. I have seen one that's missing the Patent marking on the cap so it might be a 1936 one, but the body looks to be in awfully good condition for a 1936 rare pre-patent lighter. I don't trust sellers having correct years either. Just because it says it's 1937 doesn't mean it is. Where's the proof?

 

[VonMagnum]

Looking further, I see the 4700 has a couple of end cap variations that might help distinguish the years. There's a "Patent Austria" version and a "Patent Made In Austria" version. There's also the "Patent Germany" WWII version.

One that claims to be an early 1950s 4700 is the "Patent Austria".

One claiming to be from 1937 is the "Patent Made In Austria" variation.

All the 1939-1944 German marked ones I've seen examples of are marked "Patent Germany".

Then there's the one I saw with no patent mark on the cap, just Imco Triplex (no idea if it's worn as the photo is poor resolution but claims no patent mark).

 

[Beery]

Hmmmm. Here I bought a 6700 from Morocco that said it was from the 1940s.You can't trust anyone.

Yeah. I've seen lots of people claiming that early IMCOs were from WW1. It's almost an urban myth at this point, but the reality seems to be that there were no IMCO lighters produced before 1920.

On the other hand, just yesterday I saw a photo of an early IMCO marked with "Patent April 2, 1912", so I've no idea what that's all about.

 

[VonMagnum]

I just read a German lighter collectors forum discussion on trying to determine the age of a particular 4700 lighter. There were some theories, but nothing definitive, not even regarding the Patent Austria versus Made 8n Austria and Patent Germany markings.

Another site claimed the Patent Germany markings weren't necessarily war related, but for the German market in the 1930s. Somehow, I doubt that. If it just said Made In Germany, I could buy it, but the Patent Germany sounds exactly like what would expect the Nazis to force any Austrian made items to carry (as in it was always really Germany and never Austria to begin with).

My best guess based on numerous photo/date claims is that 1937-1938 are "Patent - Made In Austria" on the caps, 1939-1944 are "Patent Germany" and after that "Patent Austria". I don't know what 1936 models said, but given the patent wasn't issued yet, they probably don't have a patent marking on them (nowadays it would say Patent Pending, at least in the USA).

There was also some evidence that the 4700 was made up until at least 1961 and early 6700 models used some carry over 4700 parts later replaced (from the German lighter collector forum).