digger27
Bronze Member
- May 18, 2011
- 1,506
- 3,225
A nice Ronson lighter circa 1940's....
Happy New Year, everyone!
Yesterday I went up into the woods again looking for more silver coins on my first hunt of 2014, 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 and most interesting 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 called the "Banjo" because of its shape and patented it and started manufacturing it in 1928 and held that patent till 1953.
The same year they evidently refined the shape and also started selling this style and the first model they sold was called the "D-Light".
"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.
Happy New Year, everyone!
Yesterday I went up into the woods again looking for more silver coins on my first hunt of 2014, 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 and most interesting 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 called the "Banjo" because of its shape and patented it and started manufacturing it in 1928 and held that patent till 1953.
The same year they evidently refined the shape and also started selling this style and the first model they sold was called the "D-Light".
"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.
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