Lighters to collect that were used in movies

[VonMagnum]

Ronson Pipemaster (1957) - New In Box

This lighter is almost identical to a Ronson Whirlwind lighter (which has a moveable shield that pulls up to light outdoors), except it's quite a bit taller with larger fuel capacity. I had to remove a horribly stuck flint that must have shipped with it new (which took almost 2 hours to clear), but there's not a mark on the thing with a new wick so it's clearly New In Box (yes it came in the box with a tag on it even). As you can see in the comparison photo side-by-side with a regular Whirlwind, it's definitely larger in size. It's funny, though as it's called the Pipemaster on the box and matches the descriptions, but it still says "Whirlwind" on the bottom and the windshield. This one was made in England as well.

Click for full size slide-show

 

[VonMagnum]

Here's a rare one.... It's not even on most of the IMCO history sites, which is odd. It says Austria on it so I don't believe it's a US model.

IMCO 5800 (1947)

This seems to be a cross between an IMCO Dandy Lighter (which is similar to a Dunhill/Parker Trench Lighter, but with a removable tank, seen on previous pages here), while having an opposable flip lid from the spark wheel mechanism (like an IMCO 1000 original Trench Lighter) plus a grooved body and a new spring loaded flint loading mechanism. The disadvantage is you have to open the lid and strike the lighter separately instead of one motion. The advantage is the spark wheel works so much better than the Dandy's all-in-one mechanism which often results in a weak spark and several tries to light it whereas this one lights pretty darn reliably. Its fuel tank is similar to the 4700 except it just pops out. As you can see it's pretty easy to change the cotton packing and wick on it.

You can fill it up by putting the fluid in the tank and then dipping the wick/cotton part into it in one motion and then just insert it back into the lighter body (less complicated than the 4700, but not just unscrew the bottom cap and fill it like the 6700. There seems to be less things to break on it than the 6700, but I can't be sure of its reliability. It would have looked cooler in brass like the 2200, IMO, but it's a nice looking IMCO.

It wasn't cheap, but the only other one I saw for sale wanted over $600 from Germany so compared to that, this one was a bargain at less than half from someone in Canada. It's not in perfect condition, but still pretty decent. I think the Dandy was marketed for the US market, whereas this clearly says Patent Austria on the end cap (see photo).

Click for full size slideshow:

 

[VonMagnum]

Another very rare IMCO....

IMCO (aka JMCO) 3400 "Klips" Lighter (1934)

Similar to the Ronson "Vee" lighter, it seems designed for a woman's purse or perhaps a person's pocket and came with a tassel to make it easier to find, I assume. The lighter folds out from within the key-chain-like cover. The large screw is used to fill it and the smaller one accesses the flint tube/spring. A manual spark wheel lights it.

Click an image for full size slideshow (Front, Front With Fill Screw Removed, Back, Open and Lit):

 

[joberg]

Another very rare IMCO....

IMCO (aka JMCO) 3400 "Klips" Lighter (1934)

Similar to the Ronson "Vee" lighter, it seems designed for a woman's purse or perhaps a person's pocket and came with a tassel to make it easier to find, I assume. The lighter folds out from within the key-chain-like cover. The large screw is used to fill it and the smaller one accesses the flint tube/spring. A manual spark wheel lights it.

Click an image for full size slideshow (Front, Front With Fill Screw Removed, Back, Open and Lit):

View attachment 1679952 View attachment 1679951 View attachment 1679950 View attachment 1679949 View attachment 1679948

Most probably for women. Never saw that design before

 

[VonMagnum]

I just bought another IMCO 2200 lighter.... I've got an addiction.

 

[VonMagnum]

Nimrod Pipe Lighter (1946)

I got this as part of a lighter lot (some salvageable and some for parts). It's an interesting piece as the flame rises from the middle of the lighter upwards. I polished it up a bit with Flitz first. Then, I had to figure out how this thing works....

It almost looks like a spark plug with the cover on.

It still looks odd opened

Ye Old Cap

There we go.... Big flame

 

[VonMagnum]

Signal-U Manufacturing Company Fyre-Fly Lighter (1945)

OK, I bought the lighter lot because of this one as it was made In Youngstown, Ohio where I spent bits of my youth going to Idora Park amusement park then still there as well as the nearby fairgrounds and some family in the vicinity. This appears to be the company's only lighter that I can find on the lighter library site and it was made in 1945/46. It's a bit of a trench lighter style similar to an IMCO Dandy or a Dunhill Service Lighter, but the bottom and fuel tube are fully attached, making inserting a new wick a bit of a challenge since it's too small a hole for an IMCO wire-wick. I had to use the smallest wick size I got from a UK variety pack of three different size Dunhill compatible wicks. Getting it through without a wire was really fun, especially since I couldn't remove the fuel tube, which would have made it so much easier without the windshield in the way. In any case ,the spark wheel was still good and lo-and-behold, it actually works still.

 

[VonMagnum]

Continental Lift-Arm Lighter (NYC)(Made In Japan) (1940s?)

There's a lot of Continental/CMC information on one site (New York based company, but lighters were made in Japan), but this isn't the exact lift-arm model they describe (that was a "huge" one). This is rather small by comparison. But it's a nice looking miniature Dunhill rip-off and works rather well still.

 

[VonMagnum]

IMCO 1000 "Clone" (?) Harley Davidson branded Lighter. (1989)

This looks just like an IMCO 1000 variant, but IMCO isn't written on it anywhere and given how many companies have cloned this basic lighter over the years, I haven no idea if it was a Harley special made by IMCO or someone else entirely. It came with the lighter lot. A piece broke off that holds the wire that pulls the cap down (I'll try to JB Weld it later) and I fashioned my own wire to pull the cap down out of a paper clip (missing entirely). But with a new wick and packing, it works fine.

Edit: I found out this lighter was sold at select Harley Davidson dealerships in the late 1980s and was made in Taiwan (so not IMCO made despite identical design).

 

[VonMagnum]

Ronson Scandia Lighter (1955)

I cheated here a bit. The little snuffer part that is held in place by the clutch/pawl has its little bell holder thing broken so it just fell out (so much for "excellent" condition according to the eBay ad). It uses the same lighter insert as a Ronson Nordic, but I don't think it used the long handle. Until I can get the snuffer part from a junk lighter or something, I just borrowed a Nordic insert, which as you can clearly see fits/works fine in it (didn't feel like removing the long handle just for a photo and works just as well with it). I've got an extra Nordic lighter of one of the versions so the insert isn't needed for display right now anyway.

The lighter has a wooden base with a porcelain body and chrome lighter insert.

 

[VonMagnum]

IMCO 4500 Barrage Lighter (1938)

There's some question in my mind whether this is actually an IMCO lighter or a subsidiary version for a foreign country or a knockoff. I've seen the IMCO 4500 with the "Barrage" designation and without it (same lighter either way). This one has the "Barrage" insignia more or less the same as the IMCO with the Barrage markings with a few more flourishes on the body than the standard version from Austria. The design is pretty much the same by the looks of them. There was one IMCO marked one for sale on Etsy, but it has holes in the bottom, which didn't look good at all. This one needed cleaning up and I think maybe the flint tube isn't right (don't see how it could be broken-off inside and still have spring pressure, though), but I found a way to insert the flint by putting it on the spring plate and inserting the spark wheel over it (held in place by a one-way fulcrum that's easily removed). In any case, it works perfectly fine that way. I put in a new wick and packing and cleaned the outside up with Flitz metal polish which brought back most of the brass shine.

Barrage Cap on the lighter

IMCO Barrage Cap Seen Online

The Lighter on its side

Standing vertical

Top removed to access lighter

Lit

 

[joberg]

I just bought another IMCO 2200 lighter.... I've got an addiction.

The title of this thread is way past its "Best-before-date" Should be renamed: "My Lighter Addiction"

 

[VonMagnum]

Yeah, I've been buying more lighters than watching movies looking for them lately, but it's nice to have a written reference to check later (more proof for the insurance company if something happens as well).

The past 3 Bogart movies I watched had no lighters in them, but I just saw two Ronson Octet touch-tip lighters in Conflict (1945), one at Green street's house and one in Bogart's bedroom that he used the "match" (wand) to read an envelope. It's hard to tell in black and white the color, but Bogart's lighter was a 1930s style octet, perhaps in ivory color given the contrast and available colors. I was going to snapshot the scene, but forgot after it was over.

 

[VonMagnum]

My fault. It was actually Conflict (1945)(corrected above). Here's the Ronson Octet Touch Tip lighter Bogie uses in his bedroom to light a cigarette and then uses it to look at the key and later an envelope:

 

[VonMagnum]

Lenox Tuxedo Style Porcelain body with a Ronson lighter insert (golden wheat design here) (1950s)

It seems Lenox made quite a few porcelain lighter body and matching cigarette urns in the late 1950s and early 1960s that used the "Essex" Ronson lighter insert (wick version). This one had a missing flint screw, but fortunately I have a couple of extras for the Essex fitment and one in brass that matched it perfectly. It then worked like brand new. The body is in excellent condition and I think it's a pretty nice looking design. For $8 plus shipping, not a bad deal, IMO.

(Note: In the background is a really nice looking Ronson Cadet Table Lighter made in England. Sadly, the spring for the button is missing on it and so I have to find another cadet lighter (say pocket version) to get a spring as it's unusual and apparently just made for that lighter). My aunt from Denmark had similar plates and coffee/tea cups (Copeland Spode?) to that white porcelain with blue scenery design, that one being some famous bridge near Rome called the Bridge of Salaro).

 

[VonMagnum]

I bought a 2nd IMCO 2200 (1930) lighter (pre-cursor to the Raiders of the Lost Ark "Marion" 4700 (actual 1936 pre-patent lighter)/6700 (probably used in the movie as it looks pretty much the same with the handle covered). This one has the original fulcrum fully intact and a stronger spring (sparks a bit brighter than the other one, but both light easily). I polished the heavily tarnished fully brass lighter up with Flitz™ metal polish with a few coats of polish and some elbow grease, a silver cloth and some q-tips for the little parts and bits and it looks brand new again after about an hour of polishing.

So I then went back and polished the other one with Flitz (took about 8 more coats and a bit of sanding where it was rough on one side followed by polish there, but it now looks almost as mirror polished as this one after an hour or so too). Given most of these looks like they've seen better days and have been sitting in a ditch forever, this one looks like it was made yesterday and polished to the nines. Gotta love Flitz for both silver and brass!

Shown are the Before polishing photos (from the eBay listing I bought sitting on a workbench) and After polishing (my photos sitting on a placemat, not wood and rotated as it doesn't stand up well) with Flitz™ metal polish of the IMCO 2200 lighter followed by a photo of the polished lighter lit aflame.

Click for larger photo slideshow:

 

[cjunco1937]

Outstanding job dude

 

[VonMagnum]

I went back and Flitz™ polished the Signal-U Manufacturing Company of Youngstown, Ohio's "Fyre-Fly" lighter (1945/1946). I doubt it looked this shiny/good when it was brand new (it's solid aluminum from what I read). I also used some files to open up the wick hold a bit more to take an IMCO style wick as the last one I used didn't seem to be doing too well in performance for absorbing fluid and keeping a flame. I think the results are much much better now for actual use. I also tightened up the flint spring so it lights almost every time now. It's actually now a nice little lighter with a silvery mirror finish.

Comparison photos (Before/After for each view) (click for larger slidehow):

 

[VonMagnum]

Ronson Cupid lighter (1956)

This uses the smaller Essex fitment (e.g. Nordic or Scandia size) and was only made for two years. It has three Cupid adornments and came in black or white bodies.

 

[VonMagnum]

Ronson De-Light pocket lighter in red leather (1928)

I wanted a red leather version to complement my black leather standard and princess versions, but this one proved to be an issue. The lever was set too low so I moved it up, but had a hard time getting the fulcrum pin to line up with the other side.

Even when I finally figured out how to manipulate it into place, I discovered that side of the threads were damaged and it wouldn't tighten (the De-Light mechanism uses a single double threaded fulcrum pin. Newer Ronson lighters used a fulcrum that takes a screw from the other side that screws into it. It's easier to align because they meet in the middle. Shove 2nd screw into the hole until it partly shoves the fulcrum out and tighten).

I looked through my spare parts and I saw a newer fulcrum pin that looked to be the same size. I fit it in there and used a small screw to tighten it down. It works, but it's a little tight on the mechanism movement. I put some WD40 on the lever and gear edge and it now works OK, but sticks open once in awhile. Maybe it just needs to be worn in a bit. At least it works....

I glued the leather down in the bottom corner, but the top corner seems to have torn a bit.