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First hunt of 2014 ...a nice Ronson Lighter!

REVIER

REVIER

Well-known member
Yesterday I went up into the woods again looking for more silver coins, the only place that isn't frozen over, but I only found a couple of 60's nickels and a whole bunch of aluminum foil from campers going back into the 20's.
I also did get a nice high tone kinda dime signal and I hoped it was going to be a silver dime but this Ronson lighter came up out of the ground instead.
I did a ton of research on vintage lighter and collector sites trying to nail down a manufacture date on this thing and that is one of the best parts of this hobby as far as I am concerned.
You want to know about the Ronson Art Metal company just ask me because I learned a lot.

This company invented the very first first "automatic" type lighter and patented it in 1928 and held that patent till 1953.
"Press, it's lit...Release, it's out" was one of their tag lines.
The first factory to make Auermetal which we now call flints was opened in 1907 and eventually it led to this.

This one is called the Standard model and was made in 78 different styles from 1928 till 1953.
I determined that this particular style was probably made and sold between 1939 and 1948.

One of their lower priced models, although several people did have names or initials etched into that little diamond box shape that you can still make out near the top for a more personal look.

Here is a 1946 ad with the exact same lighter.

Not a silver coin but way cool and interesting and better than digging trash.
 
Nice man! :clapping: I wonder if you can get it working again? It looks pretty solid and in good enough shape maybe?
Mud
 
I was able to loosen the screw that holds the spring where you insert the flints but it is rusted up near the top and won't come out and the mechanism is jammed and won't press down anymore.
I guess I could get it repaired but I prefer using Zippo's so I will just throw this in the display case for now.
 
Now thats a really cool find.....Nice!!
 
I found several of those over the years, plus some Zippo's. When I find the plastic throw away lighters I bring them home and take the flint out to use in my pipe lighter. Yea, I'm cheap.
 
jabbo said:
I found several of those over the years, plus some Zippo's. When I find the plastic throw away lighters I bring them home and take the flint out to use in my pipe lighter. Yea, I'm cheap.
Click to expand...

I do that too and throw them in my Zippos after cutting them down a bit because Bic lighter flints are a little long.
Not cheap...frugal!

I haven't bought a pack of flints for a very long time.
 
Frugal. I like that better. I save brass nuts and washers too. Plus any other things that I can use at my work bench.
 
Now thats cheap! :rofl:

I bet you guys save little slivers of bars of soap, probably even made yourself a soap press out of some 2x4's and an old strap hinge? Bet you even save the tops off of soup cans in case you ever want to shingle a house with them? I bet you both have a coffee can of bent nails you plan on straightening someday too..:rofl:
Mud.
 
Mud, Yes to all of that. Plus, picked up hubcaps from the side of the road, nailed them all over the front of my house, looks really cool.
 
Nice find :clapping:

That was a really expensive lighter in it's time. $5.50 in 1946 is equal to $69 in todays dollars.
 
mudpuppy said:
Now thats cheap! :rofl:

I bet you guys save little slivers of bars of soap, probably even made yourself a soap press out of some 2x4's and an old strap hinge? Bet you even save the tops off of soup cans in case you ever want to shingle a house with them? I bet you both have a coffee can of bent nails you plan on straightening someday too..:rofl:
Mud.
Click to expand...

Laugh if you will but lots of this money I save I just put towards the only sure thing I know of that will double or triple my money...slot machines!
Or at least I will get all this money back one day because I am due. :rofl:
 
Larry (IL) said:
Nice find :clapping:

That was a really expensive lighter in it's time. $5.50 in 1946 is equal to $69 in todays dollars.
Click to expand...

Yes, remarkable, isn't it?
There is a reason these things were known to be high quality and tough and last so long.
Unless you bury them in the dirt for 60 years, anyway.
 
Larry (IL) said:
Nice find :clapping:

That was a really expensive lighter in it's time. $5.50 in 1946 is equal to $69 in todays dollars.
Click to expand...

Did you notice in the ad that they started at $5.50 and went all the way to $200!! I'll have to do some searching and find out what the $200 ones looked like and what they were made from......must have been solid gold!

Since you did so much research, you might find these of interest:



This is a WWI Trench lighter, a new Ronson Camel Lighter (in a Winston box), and a tiny little key chain lighter of unknown origin.



This is a pack of Lucky Strike Greens from WWII....unopened! I imagine they would burst into flames if someone tried to smoke them!!

Nice finds, congrats. I have found a few Zippos, but, never a Ronson and I don't count the Bics!
 
Nice lighter REVIER! One like that would be a first for me. Found a few ZIPPOS one with the likes of one of the early dreadnought battleships on it, don't recall which one but It sure sold fast at a garage sale. :rage:

Roland: I remember when that type of tiny key chain lighter was one of many different prizes a kid could win out of coin operated dispensers, much like the type that dispenses a handful of peanuts, gum or some other candy. All the small toy prizes were dispensed inside small near round plastic shells. I never did win a lighter for myself, in order to get my hands on one I had to do some horse trading at school.
 
I remember back in the day, My father had one of them... Nice find,,, KEN
 
knarfj said:
<snip>
Roland: I remember when that type of tiny key chain lighter was one of many different prizes a kid could win out of coin operated dispensers, much like the type that dispenses a handful of peanuts, gum or some other candy. All the small toy prizes were dispensed inside small near round plastic shells. I never did win a lighter for myself, in order to get my hands on one I had to do some horse trading at school.
Click to expand...

Now that you mention it, that may be where it came from! I seem to recall seeing those in the nickel gumball machines along with the giant jawbreaker gumballs. That had to be in the early 50's. They don't put good stuff like that in gumball machines now. As I recall again, there were even little pocket knives in there, too! (I have one of those, also!!) Thanks for reminding me, I had forgotten all about that. :confused:
 
That Camel lighter reminds me that I have one of those around here somewhere, not new though, but workable if I remember right. :biggrin:
 
Back up into the low 50's tomorrow, heading out to this same site for another hunt.
The object is to find old coins but there seems to be a bunch of interesting targets at this site in certain areas so I am excited to see what else I can find.
 
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