with which the art of sparking is brought up to date
Around the turn of the century, mustachioed men-about-town were puffing on cigarillos, small cigars about the size of today's king-size cigarettes. They carried them in heavy silver or gold plated French enameled cases (like these from a private collection), embellished, by skilled French miniaturists, with the full-blown form of a famous actress or the inamorata of the moment. Originally costing anywhere from $5 to $50, the cases can still be hunted up in antique shops--at current prices: $100 to $300 each.
Lucifers, of course, are still fine for the open fire, but no knowing urbanite would think of lighting his or his lady's smokes with anything save one of these flame-at-a-fingersnap lighters. 1 Gold finish Elgin American with alligator panels; $9.95. 2 Extra-lightweight precision lighter with built-in jeweled Swiss watch, Le Briquet et Cie.; $35. 3 Silver plate Rollagas butane lighter by Dunhill; $35. 4 The Woodsman, a Colibri by Kreisler, walnut wood with gold finish; $12.50. 5 Lackritz of Chicago's 14K gold lighter with Florentine finish; $100. 6 Dupont's butane lighter, imported from France in lustrous black enamel and gold trim; $39.50. (concluded on next page) Additional timely tinderboxes for today's tobacconalian: 7 Ronson's Varaflame butane lighter with adjustable flame, wrapped in genuine pigskin; $16.50. 8 The Schick Nassau, a butane lighter with cartridge refills and a variable control for the flame, gold plate and white lacquer; $19.95. 9 Executive by Nimrod, a windproof down-draft pipe lighter, gold plated with lizard skin grip; $4.95. 10 Slim-lighter by Zippo, engine-turned 14K gold; $150. 11 Dupont, a French import in gold, uses conventional lighter fluid; $35. 12 Mysterious, a lighter by New York's Van Cleef and Arpels, features an all-gold mechanism, unconventionally fills from the top; $275. 13 Echo "8" camera-lighter has a coated 3-element, fixed focus, f/3.5 lens and shutter speeds to 1/50 second; uses 8 mm film and comes equipped with an ultraviolet filter; $19.95. 14 The flintless Magna electric lighter is ignited by a diminutive battery and includes an equally diminutive flash-light for finding elusive keyholes; $6.95. 15 Beanie's pigskin covered Jet lighter for pipe and cigarette smokers; $8.95.
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
