Maltese Falcon Ronson Touch Tip Lighter

[SteveStarkiller]

Glad to see someone was able to find my research useful. Can't wait to see the final room.

here's a teaser for that project, there are a few gray blocks where I still have to build out the models. You can see one for the Ronson Touch Tip next to Spade's inkstand.

this thread has been immensely helpful IDing these great props!

 

[JamesM242]

Looking good! Maybe I can 3D print that baby, 1:1 and just slide into my home office!

 

[SteveStarkiller]

haha it could be arranged, but know the last time I went down that road Sofaking01 started making an entire 1:1 Millennium Falcon and we've been at it since 2012... careful what you wish for.

 

[JamesM242]

Great point! I look forward to your continued progress!

 

[VonMagnum]

I've finally located and purchased "The Gutman Lighter." It'll be here soon.

Now 93 years old (soon 94) it was featured in both The Maltese Falcon and Bullets or Ballots. Bogart used it in both movies. The New Yorker Lighter with Baronet tray and cigarette/cigar box was only made in 1929 and is probably more rare than the Touch Tip with watch used in the Maltese Falcon on Sam's desk. I've seen over a half dozen matching Touch Tips in the past 3+ years in various states of condition (and purchased a near mint one myself for my display), but no Baronet sets until now.

I've seen two other colors (golden orange and black and green and black). This one is silver and black as below. Only the lighter was in both movies. The accompanying box and tray were nowhere to be seen.

 

[joberg]

A beauty

 

[VonMagnum]

A beauty

Actually, the "skycraper" facade is just a cover for a rather ordinary "cylinder" lighter Ronson used in any number of "art" lighters and it's interchangeable with them (they also used the "Rondelight Ball" lighters in many metal art displays. Thus, while this lighter apparently has a little wear on the top chrome, if I could find a mint one in some other junk lighter setup, they could easily be swapped without affecting the design at all.

Here's the "bakelight" version that came out the same year and is much easier to find, but still tends to sell for $250-500 depending on condition. The base came in several different colors. It obviously doesn't look the same as the baronet version so I had little interest at those prices. But notice the lighter removed from the jacket. It's the same lighter.

 

[joberg]

Bakelight...you mean Bakelite.

 

[VonMagnum]

Yeah, English is full of odd contradictions, particularly when "lite" wasn't originally a word, but a marketing thing from what I read. I guess I should have looked it up first.

 

[joberg]

Yeah, English is full of odd contradictions, particularly when "lite" wasn't originally a word, but a marketing thing from what I read. I guess I should have looked it up first.

Well, since I'm Belgian, I couldn't left it as is since Bakelite is a Belgian invention

 

[VonMagnum]

Well, since I'm Belgian, I couldn't left it as is since Bakelite is a Belgian invention

I was in Bruges Belgium in 2016. The King passed by with his motorcade that day. Great waffles and beer. I got to try my German out from college, although the waffle lady was using the Dutch words for raspberry and chocolate, but I buy Belgium beer all the time. Belgium makes the only fruit beers I like for that matter. My favorite Belgium beer is Delerium Nocturnum, though. We can get around 30 or so Belgium beers available in the USA (rough guess) that I've tried. There were 800+ at the store I visited. Wow.

I'm not sure about the default condiment for Belgium fries of mayonnaise, though.

 

[joberg]

I was in Bruges Belgium in 2016. The King passed by with his motorcade that day. Great waffles and beer. I got to try my German out from college, although the waffle lady was using the Dutch words for raspberry and chocolate, but I buy Belgium beer all the time. Belgium makes the only fruit beers I like for that matter. My favorite Belgium beer is Delerium Nocturnum, though. We can get around 30 or so Belgium beers available in the USA (rough guess) that I've tried. There were 800+ at the store I visited. Wow.

I'm not sure about the default condiment for Belgium fries of mayonnaise, though.

Yep, German and Dutch are kinda similar but, as you know, they can speak English with no problem You've probably went to that store that sells lots of different beer in Bruges 's Center...3000 kinds of beers in Belgium; you'll have to return many times to taste them!
As for my fries; I like Tartar sauce, no mayo

 

[VonMagnum]

Yep, German and Dutch are kinda similar but, as you know, they can speak English with no problem You've probably went to that store that sells lots of different beer in Bruges 's Center...3000 kinds of beers in Belgium; you'll have to return many times to taste them!
As for my fries; I like Tartar sauce, no mayo

What was funny was I faked a German accent and the lady at the waffle stand might have thought I was German and this lady from Texas from our cruise ship walks up (We were supposed to be in France that day, but the dock workers were on strike.... It seems like they're always on strike in France. My niece just wanted to go up in the Eiffel Tower when she was there a year earlier and of course it was closed due to a strike so she never got to) and with a Texas drawl says, "Excuse me ma'am, do you know what time it is?" and you're right, she immediately said in English, "Yes, it is 11:30." The cruise tour person said everyone there speaks at least 4 languages (French, German, Dutch and one optional and most choose English for business reasons), but I figured at worst, I'd have to admit I was a tourist.

Fortunately, the waffle lady didn't start a conversation due to the lady from Texas or else she might have wandered out of my vocabulary memory (It had been 23 years since I had it in college and my memory isn't that good when you never get to use it (Spanish is all that's helpful to know in the USA unless you're going to Quebec and even the French have a hard time there because they're speaking a branch that broke off in the 16th Century from France and has some fair differences these days. I'd probably have trouble in 16th Century England with English for that matter.

Frankly, if I didn't watch so much British television, I'd have had trouble in 2016 with the accents and different slang. God knows it was hard to understand people in the deep South of the United States the first time I was in Georgia when I was 9 years old. I had an engineering professor from Tennessee in college for two years in various classes so I can fake a Southern accent pretty convincing now. Actually, I can fake most accents I've heard and a few dozen voices for that matter from Sir Sean Connery to Bill Clinton and Yogi Bear.

 

[VonMagnum]

The Maltese Falcon Gutman Lighter (also seen with Bogart using it in Bullets & or Ballots). It's a 1929 Ronson New Yorker Lighter part of the Ronson Baronet Set. The one I received today looks to be in pretty decent shape for 93 years old, but the first thing I have to do is figure out how to remove the lighter from the tray. It's mounted pretty solid on there at the moment. I don't know if paint could be stuck or it slides onto a groove holder or what.

The Gutman Lighter as seen in The Maltese Falcon:

In Scenes from The Maltese Falcon:

The one I purchased that just arrived:

 

[VonMagnum]

I'm not sure if the lighter is supposed to separate from the cigarette box tray or not. It seems stuck on there pretty good. Maybe they once sold this lighter separately from the tray? Maybe it's just stuck? I dunno, but the lighter itself comes out of the jacket easy enough. It did have an ancient flint in it and another stored in the fuel lid along with what looks like an extra snuffer internal cap (don't see one missing on the lighter).

Fuel cap sans ancient flint and what seems to be an extra internal snuffer cap?

For a 93-year old lighter, it wasn't hard to get it working. I drilled out the flint, ran a brush through it and across the spark wheel and filled it up. It sparks like a champ still.


Yee-haw! The Gutman is BACK IN SERVICE baby! Smoke 'em if you got 'em!

 

[RafalFett]

I'm glad I found this thread, as I was also researching (among other things) the wall calendar and came to the same conclusion as Lightning: it's a TWA wall calendar from March, 1940. While I assumed the photo might be from the Grand Canyon, I think Lightning nailed it with the location. You can read some of my research and replicas in this Free Paper Props thread ==> Maltese Falcon, The. Here's a bit of teaser:

 

[VonMagnum]

I'm glad I found this thread, as I was also researching (among other things) the wall calendar and came to the same conclusion as Lightning: it's a TWA wall calendar from March, 1940. While I assumed the photo might be from the Grand Canyon, I think Lightning nailed it with the location. You can read some of my research and replicas in this Free Paper Props thread ==> Maltese Falcon, The. Here's a bit of teaser:
View attachment 1730763 View attachment 1730764 View attachment 1730765 View attachment 1730766 View attachment 1730767

I don't follow. What location does he think it is? I don't see March on that page for the TWA calendar. It sure looks like the Grand Canyon to me for March. I've been there four times. I think I have a photo at or near that location even.

 

[VonMagnum]

TWA Grand Canyon....

 

[RafalFett]

I don't follow. What location does he think it is? I don't see March on that page for the TWA calendar. It sure looks like the Grand Canyon to me for March. I've been there four times. I think I have a photo at or near that location even.

From this post ==> Maltese Falcon Ronson Touch Tip Lighter.

Also, here's a better screencap from a 4K print:

 

[VonMagnum]

I dunno if I'm 100% convinced as the right side seems a lot darker on the photos in places it shouldn't be (compared to Lightning's suggested photo) from the movie on the right side than the suggested one and there's a lot of rock angles when you're there to take (blurry) photos of (e.g. The one above I posted looks quite similar too other than the light daggers, which could be time of day related and more so on the right side, yet it doesn't seem to match exactly either. The middle rock light dagger shadow does look similar, though so it could be it (the time of day could affect the shadows greatly and who knows if any forest growth has since perished since 1940).

Regardless, it shouldn't be that hard to find the calendar in question over time if one keeps an eye out for it (I certainly haven't been looking). There's a partial 1940 TWA calendar on eBay right now, but it's only got November. Oddly, I found the TWA1939 calendar without any difficulty (girls getting out of an airplane in March).