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World War II era Zippo


coastie
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Found this lighter at my local Goodwill in the display case. I looked at it first and thought how odd looking it was. Now I know that later Zippos have marks on them and such and was a bit confused by this one. Then it dawned on me that this is made of steel and not brass. My wife said buy it, so I asked how much and they sold it by weight which came to a wopping 22 cents.

 

There is no original crackle paint to it except on the insert. The flint wheel has the horizontal grinds (don't know what else to call it). It's in sad shape as far as functionality goes. I'm considering sending it off to Zippo to have them tighten the lid, clean it up and such.

 

Now here is the oh no part. Once I get it back do I put the crackle paint back on it? This lighter has no provenance other than it's a war time Zippo and they were painted with crackle paint. I've been wanting one to put in my display about do not want to pay $100+ plus for one.

 

One more thing - there are no marks, engraving that make it unique.

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you should silver solder a jump wing on one side and engrave the other with some nonsense 101st stuff and sell it on ebay for a thousand bucks.

 

just kidding , I would just leave it as is , you can probably get it to work with some fluid and a flint.

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  • 4 months later...

Coastie, You say that Your considering sending it off to Zippo to have them tighten the lid, clean it up and such.

 

Plus when you get it back,you may paint with the Black Crackle coating.

 

If you do send it to Zippo you MUST inform them of exactly what work you would like done. On any Zippo, you have as they may replace the hinge, and at most times replace the inner for a modern one. Yes you do get the inner you posted to them back also.

 

As for the paint i personally, would not paint it. It is always wise to keep it authentic. I do see some listed on e-bay that have been restored in great detail,and this is fine if this is what you want in your collection.

 

But I feel promotion of this practice only brings on problems. It entices unscrupulous people to start 'doctoring up' Zippos to try and pass them off as near mint originals. In the end, this hurts us all.

 

Gary (Zippo Grunt)

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Coastie, You say that Your considering sending it off to Zippo to have them tighten the lid, clean it up and such.

 

Plus when you get it back,you may paint with the Black Crackle coating.

 

If you do send it to Zippo you MUST inform them of exactly what work you would like done. On any Zippo, you have as they may replace the hinge, and at most times replace the inner for a modern one. Yes you do get the inner you posted to them back also.

 

As for the paint i personally, would not paint it. It is always wise to keep it authentic. I do see some listed on e-bay that have been restored in great detail,and this is fine if this is what you want in your collection.

 

But I feel promotion of this practice only brings on problems. It entices unscrupulous people to start 'doctoring up' Zippos to try and pass them off as near mint originals. In the end, this hurts us all.

 

Gary (Zippo Grunt)

 

I did send it off to Zippo and all they had to do was tighten up the hinge and they replace the core with a new one. (there was really nothing wrong with the old one except it was dirty,

 

I haven't done anything with the case yet.

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Cool lighter mate! I'm a bit of a collector myself. Not really, i just kind of went crazy for a while, but i stopped at 13 of them :P I would leave it as is, time/history, and the things they do to an item is irreplaceable, and can never be put back. i would never want to refinish something original. just personal preference

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