eBay: £7,100 for a Dunhill Aquarium Table Lighter

A rare Dunhill "Aquarium" Table Lighter was sold today on eBay (UK) for £7,100. The opening bid started at £1,000 on October 15th 2016. Ten days later the table lighter had received 21 bids from 5 bidders. The lighter itself had some condition issues although the scene with the beautiful Queen Mary ship made the lighter very desirable.

The Dunhill Aquarium lighters which were made in the early 1950s are for sure among collectors' favorites. They usually receive final eBay selling prices in the $3,500 to $5,000 range. The price though might be higher especially for examples in excellent condition featuring scenes like birds, outdoor pursuits, automobiles or ships. The scenes were hand-painted by Ben Shillingford which makes every lighter unique and thus very desirable.

RMS Queen Mary is a retired ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard Line. Queen Mary was the flagship of the Cunard Line from May 1936 until October 1946 when she was replaced in that role by Queen Elizabeth. Queen Mary sailed on her maiden voyage on 27 May 1936 and captured the Blue Riband in August of that year; she lost the title to SS Normandie in 1937 and recaptured it in 1938, holding it until 1952 when she was beaten by the new SS United States. With the outbreak of World War II, she was converted into a troopship and ferried Allied soldiers for the duration of the war. More information can be found on Wikipedia.

eBay: Early Tall 3 Barrel Outside Hinge Zippo Lighter

Zippo lighters attract a lot of collectors which are willing to pay top dollar for the rarest examples. Yesterday a rare Tall (2 7/16”) early 1933 Zippo with the three barrel outside hinge was sold for $12,807. The opening bid started at $9.99 on January 3th 2014. Ten days later (13/01/2014) the lighter received a total of 64 bids from 27 bidders. 

This Zippo has decorative diagonal lines. The high price can be explained by the very good condition of this lighter. It has its original hinge which unusual since the original hinges where rather of poor quality and often get broken. Some detailed pictures of the most expensive Zippo sold on eBay:

The second most expensive Zippo was sold on eBay approximately one year ago which was described here: eBay: $6,888.88 for a Tall 1933 Zippo

Speculation and long-term investment in vintage cigarette lighters

Lighters collectors are usually both buyers and sellers. Some of them collect lighters because of self-actualization, some of them think about their grandchildren and others perceive it as an investment or just as a alternative for paper money. Investing as well as speculation requires knowledge, luck and taste. It refers also to vintage cigarette lighters. You probably won't be a millionaire though you can benefit on your unique knowledge on lighters. How? What kind of profit do we talk about?

Let's consider you have bought a Dunhill ‘Aquarium’ lighter on a garage sale for $20 in excellent condition five years ago. The previous owners did not know that this table lighter was something special - they even did not know where to find any information about it. It would help to know that this lighter was manufactured in relatively small amounts in England in the 1950's and that it was hand-painted by Ben Shillingford.


So you have made a fantastic deal from todays perspective. Such bargains happen also today though the future will change it. The main reason for it is the wide-spreading Internet and easy accessible sources on vintage lighters. Additionally there number of people who find collecting lighters amusing rises. The limited supply and rising demand causes that the prices of particular examples of lighters will go up.

Going back to our story, three years ago you decided to sell it on ebay as the prices for it was astonishing high - average price for it (excellent condition) was at $1700-1900. You sold it though you still have monitored the market for the Aquarium Dunhills just for curiosity. You are not happy anymore, because since than the dissonance of your decision rose. Why? Because the price you could get was also rising and now you would get for it more than $3300. There are more examples of lighters that experienced such astonishing value appreciation.

The highest increase of value can be registered particularly in some luxury niche brands like Dunhill or DuPont. The time will probably also come to some lighters from more popular brands like Evans, like the Phinney Walker Evans lighter alarm clock. To a higher demand for particular lighters do contribute museums, galleries, antique guides, cigarette lighter books, movies etc. The more a lighter is showed, described, admired the higher value might can expect...