Thoughts on this Vietnam Zippo?

[EJINPA]

I'm curious what your thoughts are on this lighter on Ebay?

[danimal03]

Hello,

I do not at all specialize in these.  I remember seeing Vietnam Zippos for sale in the early 1990's.  So, I have only stood on the sidelines on these.  That being said, Vietnam stuff is so heavily faked.  Look at the patch and flag market.  The original machines were simply left behind, and the fakers are still churning out stuff to this day.

 

I remember when the Zippo book came out some years ago.  And it turned out the book was loaded with fakes.  Unless there is a specific 'airtight' provenance, I would assume that a 'Vietnam' Zippo is a fake, unless proven otherwise.  

 

Plus, the fakes often have this 'patriotic' type verbiage.  So, from a faker's perspective; this one should fetch a few dollars as it has patriotic verbiage, a collectible Snoopy character, a booze theme, and is non-attributed (meaning unsearchable), etc.

 

I will defer to Zippo specialists here, but this is my 'on the sidelines' two cents. 

 

I dislike when people chime in who have no clue on an item, so again I apologize if I am wrong, but my experience from what I have seen this indicates this is more likely than not, a fake.  cheers!

[Cobra 6 Actual]

Unfortunately, EJINPA, this is a fake. And danimal03’s comments are right on the mark. Please take a look at this fairly comprehensive discussion of Vietnam fakes: