Vintage View: Table lighters

Kya deLongchamps says while smoking may be a bad habit, she has a sneaking regard for classic table-lighters.

The Dunhill Aquarium table lighter —from €3,500-€6,000 depending on condition and design. Courtesy of Idhome.co.uk, specialist dealers in this iconic lighter.

APART from the odd Honeyrose herbal cigarette, held theatrically in a pinch of extended fingers to fit in at college, I can thank my mother that I have remained too terrified to smoke.

“Every cigarette is another nail in your coffin my Lady Jane — bang-bang!”

You don’t forget a spirited delivery like that, cowering in the back of the family Rover in 1978. Still, I would eagerly lick out a dozen ashtrays in return for one of my oddest desires — the Dunhill Aquarium table-lighter.

Designed and hand-made by Ben Shillingford, it is high 1950s coffee table opulence, its tiny sea or fresh water fish frozen against an unlikely reverse-carved setting, the intaglio entombed in a polished brick of Perspex.

Dr O’Reilly may be determined to snuff out our smoking culture by 2025, but a century of vintage smoking paraphernalia offers rich pickings to the collector. Pocket and table lighters are small, affordable pieces, key servants in the intimate ritual of a lethal weakness. In the 1920s, smoking was still perceived as a positively healthy, and certainly an elegant habit. Trimming down the job of lighting cigarettes to the smart ‘snap’, lit up a market in American Zippos, (from 1933 to today), personalised with witty advertising and commemorative motifs, to exquisite plated (even bejewelled), tapers to waft under the powdered nose.

It was seen as courtly to light a woman’s cigarette. An engine cut Swiss Thorens or Cartier, drawn in a single gallant motion from the breast pocket, cut a better dash than fumbling about in the moonlight with matches like Jerry Lewis. Flint lighters, developed from the flintlock pistol, were largely overtaken by butane models in the period after WWII, as they were less smelly, featured a safer, controllable flame and didn’t demand the trouble of a wick.

The one-handed mechanism with lift arm was introduced by Alfred Dunhill, in 1919 under the scorching title of The Unique. It performed with the elegance of a fine watch, was given to 007 by Felix in License to Kill, and amazingly, it is still made today. Ronson developed that push down start we all know in the table-mounted model for its ground breaking Banjo lighter in 1926.

If you are thinking about starting a collection, first look for a dedicated club or reverent meeting ground online, for lighter collectors. Notice boards, features, classifieds and discussion groups will set a tinder-dry interest alight. Some collect by brand, others by materials, some prefer flint to butane, love one theme or relish the intricacies of a particular mechanism. Most are interested in all thing lighter-related and the more unusual the better. Lighters with extras, such as an integrated watch, cigarette case or a small mirror, are highly prized. Lighters were used heavily and knocked around in the house, pocket and car. Condition is key to their value.

Every smoking household had a lighter, often several lighters. Even at a half century old with historically interesting workings, not all lighters are rare or sought after. Rather uninspiring, plated Ronson, (Banjo), table lighters from the 1960s and 70s in Grecian classical shapes start at just €15-€20. Expect to pay more for a rarer model in Mad Men styling by Italian maker Colibri in working order (still available at colibri.com). A mid-range buy such as a 1970’s lacquered and silver plated Dunhill Rollagas pocket lighter, with its signature Swiss-made, flick-start drum, are priced around €120, working, with a year’s guarantee. As for the Dunhill Aquarium? Well inhale deeply. You won’t table one for less than €3,500 in good condition, and that’s having trampled over me.

On the Lighter Side is one of the best know international lighter collectors’ clubs, www.otls.com, but there are plenty of others, including The Lighter Club of Great Britain who have their own magazine, Blaze. www.lighterclub.co.uk.