Lighters to collect that were used in movies

[VonMagnum]

I managed to get a Ronson "Minton" lighter (1962) (China base with picture painted on it with a lighter insert by Ronson). These were made in England and harder to find over here and it seems like most UK eBay owners won't ship here.

This one has the jumping fish in a lake scene I liked best (there's another with a pheasant and field and a 3rd with blue bell flowers on it). The china itself is in perfect condition, but the top of the buttons on the lighter had some chrome pitting. The button cleaned off reasonably well (just a little bumpy; the chrome isn't off on it there) and I had an extra identical snuffer from a pocket lighter I disassembled for parts and so I changed it out and got it all sparking great and it looks GREAT now.

There's just one problem. I can't get the darn fuel cap off (once again). It's like it's welded on the thing despite on a mark on the lighter underneath (perfect chrome mirror shine). I'm soaking it in WD40, but I'm not holding my breath. I still have a wood veneer "Senator" lighter that's ready to go except for the fuel cap being stuck too.... UGH.

This is an example (I didn't photograph mine yet and it's sitting upside down with WD40 soaking in the fuel cap area right now so I don't want to disturb it at the moment). What a PITA.

 

[VonMagnum]

Here's a new one. I was waiting on an auction for a Ronson Spartan lighter. It's a heavily chromed lighter and most of the ones I've seen have scratches galore on the finish. This one looked brand new. I marked it to watch for auction. I didn't even realize it had a "best offer" on it. Someone offered them $14.99 for it (the opening bid amount) and they took it (worth at least $40-60 or more).... Unbelievable. I guess that shows you should always lay down an opening bid on an item like that to kick it out of Best Offer mode (or offer something yourself). I would have paid over 3x that. The seller only cheated himself and I have to keep on looking....

Meanwhile, I just won an auction for another Banjo Table Lighter (this one looks to be working and already cleaned up, but it's missing its leather (if it ever had any). I was thinking of ordering some exotic or perhaps different color leather and applying it myself. I don't know if that'd technically hurt the value or help it, but the lighter would look awesome in deep blue, red or purple leather.... (two existing ones I have already have ostrich leather in black. I've seen rattlesnake as an original leather available along with alligator and Moroccan cow leather. Obviously, the rattlesnake one was a standout in appearance, but given my aversion to snakes (Indy! The floor is moving!), it's akin to having a tarantula leather....)

 

[VonMagnum]

I managed to get the fuel cap off the bass lighter somehow (a miracle of sorts; wouldn't budge for nothing and then suddenly it opened like it was nothing!) It was definitely the rubber o-ring (broke apart when it finally opened). So....

Ronson Minton Lighter (1962) (Jumping Bass/Scenic Lake is 1 of 3 pictures this model lighter featured on china with a lighter insert. The other two are Pheasant/Meadow and Bluebells/Field). I believe these were only made in England. I had to clear a flint, adjust the clutch mechanism, tug the wick upward and I swapped the snuffer for one without corrosion on it. And of course, somehow got the stuck fuel screw to come off. It's not perfect (lighter has little chrome pits here and there and what not, but the china is in excellent condition.

Side 1: Jumping Bass

Side 2: Scenic Lake

Lit

 

[VonMagnum]

Three more lighters on the way.... (Banjo #3 I plan to add metallic blue leather to, a never used Spartan and a mint Whirlwind with coats of arms on it).

 

[VonMagnum]

Ronson Whirlwind (late '40s or early '50s). The pocket lighter with a pull-up shield for the wind outside. This one is a newer one in that it has the pull/twist mechanism on the bottom of the lighter to fill the lighter (which then fills like a Zippo from below) rather than a fill screw. It's simpler, yes, but I think it evaporates faster than a fill screw. This particular one has a coat of arms design with brushed metal I thought was cool looking so I bid on it an won.

Click for slideshow.

 

[VonMagnum]

Ronson Spartan Table Lighter (1950). To me, it looks like a 3 story chromed building with blacked out windows. This one is in pretty good shape on the outside, with no major scratches, just a bit around the screws on the lighter mechanism. Unfortunately, the internals weren't as great. It had no spark. It wasn't blocked. No amount of fiddling would get it to move the spark wheel. So I changed the spark wheel and clutch/pawl with a set from another lighter and presto, instant sparks. I changed the flint spring (loose screw from spring that are a royal PITA to re-attach) and stretched it to get a lot more pressure (the key to getting it to light "every" time). It works like a champ now.

 

[VonMagnum]

I bought another Ronson Banjo Table lighter in working condition (1927) and already mostly cleaned up, but this one has no leather on it unlike my other two (one of those is Ostrich Leather and the other Moroccan (cow) leather, both in black leather. This one may have had it, but came off and they cleaned it up at some point, although the book I have suggests some may have been sold without it, but the metal on the sides hints otherwise to me.

In any case, I thought it might be a fun project to attach some new leather to it and instead of trying for an imitation of one of the original leather styles (It supposedly came in Red, Green and Black leather in Moroccan leather, Alligator leather, Ostrich leather and Rattlesnake leather), maybe I'd try something a bit different, more modern and in a color it never came in. I had a hard time deciding between blue and purple (red looked great too). It's a metallic leather finish, but real leather. I decided on metallic blue. I've made my pattern cut and now I just need to cut the two leather pieces and glue it....(no pressure)

Compare previous two:

Banjo (Ostrich)

De-Light (Moroccan)

 

[VonMagnum]

Once again annoyed at stupid eBay buyers.... There's a few lighters I'm waiting patiently for the auction. But no no, they just keep bid warring the prices up up up up up up 2-5 days before the actual freaking auction. I'm sure the sellers LOVE it!

There's a Ronson "golf ball" lighter coming up and the book value is $125-200. OK, it's on my list of table lighters I still don't have and they don't come up that often so of course I at least want a chance of obtaining it. Of the previous three listed checking with Avaluers, two of them sold for under $100! The other one sold for around $200.

This one with two days still to go until the auction ends is already at $218.50 and rising and it's NOT in perfect condition by any means. Do people just go nuts when the seller lists "working" or something (assuming most collectors have no freaking clue how to change a wick, clear a flint or adjust the spark wheel gears? Based on the condition of most items, I'd say they've never heard of metal polish or even a Q-Tip with some water or vinegar to clean the dirt and tobacco stains off them). That's my only guess why this one is already so high that I'm forced to abandon bidding on it before the auction even comes up because you can't possibly get your money back (let alone make a profit) when you OVERPAY by so darn much! That's just one example. There are many that go like that. I've seen people bidding $250 for a lighter and another one comes up "Buy It Now" in better condition for $100 and I just go and buy it.... That's happened many times. They're so caught up with "auction fever" that they don't realize they're paying 2x-3x what the darn thing is worth in some cases.

Hmmm, I'm looking closer at the "bidders" list and it stinks like garbage. One of the automatic bidders has a 77% bid activity on that seller and a whopping 5 bid retractions in the past 12 months! I'd bet my last dollar that's the seller using a 2nd account to shill bid his own items to drive the price up.

 

[joberg]

Ronson Spartan Table Lighter (1950). To me, it looks like a 3 story chromed building with blacked out windows. This one is in pretty good shape on the outside, with no major scratches, just a bit around the screws on the lighter mechanism. Unfortunately, the internals weren't as great. It had no spark. It wasn't blocked. No amount of fiddling would get it to move the spark wheel. So I changed the spark wheel and clutch/pawl with a set from another lighter and presto, instant sparks. I changed the flint spring (loose screw from spring that are a royal PITA to re-attach) and stretched it to get a lot more pressure (the key to getting it to light "every" time). It works like a champ now.

View attachment 1668543

View attachment 1668545

View attachment 1668544

Ohhh...that one would just feel right at home in an Art Deco set-up

 

[VonMagnum]

I couldn't help but pick up another Ronson Banjo pocket lighter (this one is a 1980s retro-remake of the 1926/1927 model, which all seem to come from England so perhaps they were all made there; the other one is a newer Japan remake by Ronson Japan) given several of these are selling for £300-450 , £100 sounded almost reasonable in brand new unused condition in the original box (I offered £90 and he took it). Other than the 2-screw design for the set pin as opposed to the 1 screw original and the different writing on the fill screw (to indicate it's a remake), this one otherwise looks identical to the original 1926/27 design (with monogram plate that the Japan ones seem to lack and instead usually say "Ronson" with some jibber about Made in New Jersey since 1896 or whatever (this one says that on the box, but not the lighter). Mine says Peugeot (French motor company) on it instead which still seemed less tacky than some rambling bits about Ronson. It was also new.

 

[VonMagnum]

This is wild. I just bought a Ronson G-8 Drug Store display case in excellent condition with the original instructions/advice for selling more lighters, etc. on it.... I guess I'll have a little bit more room to store a few more lighters now....

 

[VonMagnum]

The above Banjo Pocket lighter lit with the Banjo Table lighter waiting for its leather application in the background and Banjo Pocket lighter box in the foreground.

 

[VonMagnum]

I got the Ronson Display Case already (bloody fast from California since I bought it on Saturday and it got here Monday via USPS, especially since they aren't using air transport anymore). I loaded it up with some lighters (changed a couple from the suggested default for now) and it put it in the only room I had room to display it at the moment... the guest bedroom (walls used to be pink; I painted over purple when I moved here).

Sales in the guest bedroom?

A different angle....

Traded out some lighters for more interesting ones....

 

[VonMagnum]

RONSON BANJO BLUES​

This is my first attempt to add new leather to a Ronson Banjo Table lighter (from 1927) that probably once had it, but was lost, cleaned and sold without it. I decided to go with a modern leather that wasn't available in 1927 on this lighter to make it unique and frankly, metallic blue leather is just awesome looking....

I made a paper cut out and then a leather cut-out and refined it and used it backwards to create the other side. It still took a lot of fine trimming. It's not perfect, but I still think it came out pretty cool looking. I used Contact Cement to apply the leather to the metal surface as I've had good luck with it before touching up loose leather.


Getting started

Blue Leather Applied Facing Left

Blue Leather Applied Facing Right

Comparison to Factory Ronson Black Ostrich Leather on a previous lighter I obtained

 

[joberg]

Love that display case with all the different types of lighters

 

[VonMagnum]

I re-glued a little edge on the Ronson Banjo Table Lighter (1927) that didn't get sealed down on the leather and polished the metal parts with Flitz and inserted a new wick and cotton packing. I think it's ready to be used.

Polished and shiny!

Ready to light some cancer sticks, incense or other things....

 

[VonMagnum]

Unbelievable. I ordered a Mastercase lighter for the display case (the one shown above is part of my trio of same design lighters for Bullets or Ballots (although not the one shown in the movie) and I received a whiskey flask instead....

 

[VonMagnum]

Unbelievable. I ordered a Mastercase lighter for the display case (the one shown above is part of my trio of same design lighters for Bullets or Ballots (although not the one shown in the movie) and I received a whiskey flask instead....

They're sending the lighter and said to keep the flask...

 

[VonMagnum]

Ronson Gloria Table Lighter (1952). This uses the same lighter mechanism as the Ronson Juno and very similar to the Penciliter model with a larger depression button (i.e. It's a very small table lighter at about 3" tall as you can see by the size of my thumb and finger in the 3rd photo). Too bad they didn't rhodium plate these as it's hard to find one of these in truly excellent shape in terms of the plating for some odd reason. I thought this one looked better than most, but under the flash conditions, I can see it's got some spots too (didn't seem to see them at all polishing it).

Lit

 

[VonMagnum]

Ronson Carousel Lighter (1950)

Made in England (I had to buy one from someone in England to get one in this condition), this lighter looks like a wooden apple with a chrome insert. This one was in superb condition except for the button to depress to light it (and a bit of cleaning of the spark wheel area). It seemed to be missing a top or something was off (I could see a little screw and it just looked like it was missing something). Fortunately, I had a few extras from pocket lighters with the same button in excellent condition and swapped it out. It's now more or less mint (no scratches or marks anywhere but fingerprints) and works great.