April 11Apr 11 #1651 Here’s a Vietnam fake that I purchased years ago, before I knew anything about these common and ugly attempts to deceive: It would now be easily recognized as a fake.
April 15Apr 15 #1652 US Army / "B" Company 15th Transportation Corps Battalion (Aircraft Maintenance & Supply) 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile). RVN. Japanese-made "Penguin".
April 18Apr 18 #1655 2 hours ago, Cobra 6 Actual said: Extra tasty lighter! Thanks for posting it C6A. Ichi-Ban !!!
April 22Apr 22 #1657 Man, that crackle finish is pristine, Manky bandage! I’ll have to let yokota57 address your question, since it’s not my area of expertise.
April 23Apr 23 #1658 Ill have to wait until it arrives to see if I got lucky, if not then it will work its way into living history use so I wont be losing out. At one point id of felt that the crackle paint was redone but after finding a near mint Evans Spitfire maybe I got lucky again... Its funny how little of these are left over here, probably used abused and lost to time. Its becoming a case of, the most common overlooked items becoming thin on the ground.
April 23Apr 23 #1659 Pristine indeed! My lighter collecting interests commence with the Korean War, so I have no direct experience with WW2 "Black-Crackle" lighters. I have heard of fakers using "Rhino Liner" truck bed spray to approximate the WW2 finishes. On the plus side your Park-Sherman insert appears just as clean as the cases exterior. Follow up when you have it in-hand.
April 27Apr 27 #1661 picked up a few at the local show this weekend, (FIREFLY) 501 C/R GP NCO OPEN MESS ASA KOREA (PENGUIN) MILITARY AIR TRANSORT SERVICE U.S. AIR FORCE (MYFLAME ?) HQ SQ 10th TAC RECON WING 1 JUN 58 SPAGDAHLEM
April 27Apr 27 #1662 Cool ones, GAZOO. They could almost be the opening line to a joke … “So, two Penguins and a Mylflame walk into a bar, the one …”
April 27Apr 27 #1663 Here is one located within a lot of lighters I saw on a FB Mkt listing. Is this a VN era unit lighter or later?
April 27Apr 27 #1664 Well it arrived, not 100% mint but I doubt I’d find a better one, and at the price of it I’m very happy. I can’t find any branding on it though, maybe it got missed but who knows. Maybe a Park Sherman, maybe it isn’t.
April 28Apr 28 #1665 Huh, a little mystery as to why no manufacturer’s name, but perhaps during wartime that went “by the board”, Manky bandage. Still pretty danged close to mint! Nice score!
April 28Apr 28 #1666 I'm not sure what the production line of these looked like, probably one of millions made. I did notice that the ''Extra flint'' is rather light on the strike, so it could of actually worn off. Or another more plausible explanation is process elimination to speed up production. At the end of the day, I doubt anyone cared what brand was on it just as long as it did what it was designed to do.
April 28Apr 28 #1667 Exactly so. As long as you could use it to light your smokes the rest didn’t really count.
April 28Apr 28 #1668 Hi EE87, I’m sorry I missed your earlier post. If we could see the bottom of that Zippo better we could read the date code and know when it was produced.
April 28Apr 28 #1669 1 hour ago, Cobra 6 Actual said: Hi EE87, I’m sorry I missed your earlier post. If we could see the bottom of that Zippo better we could read the date code and know when it was produced. +1. The Patent # is present so it is no later than early 1967. If available clear pics of the engraving and the base would be helpful.
April 30Apr 30 #1670 On 4/28/2026 at 7:16 AM, yokota57 said: +1. The Patent # is present so it is no later than early 1967. If available clear pics of the engraving and the base would be helpful. I checked the listing and the seller had posted this information: • Military Commemorative Zippo (2001): Features the "Big Windy" 180th Assault Support Helicopter Co. insignia. Stamped with Zippo date code "A 01". Not an old one then?
April 30Apr 30 #1671 4 minutes ago, easterneagle87 said: I checked the listing and the seller had posted this information: • Military Commemorative Zippo (2001): Features the "Big Windy" 180th Assault Support Helicopter Co. insignia. Stamped with Zippo date code "A 01". Not an old one then? The photo of the 180th Zippo in your original post is no later than early 1967. The #251 Patent is clearly visible. The vast majority of sellers on Ebay couldn't correctly date a Zippo to save their lives. 2001 Zippo base stamp is entirely different. They are confused.
April 30Apr 30 #1672 1 minute ago, yokota57 said: The photo of the 180th Zippo in your original post is no later than early 1967. The #251 Patent is clearly visible. The vast majority of sellers on Ebay couldn't correctly date a Zippo to save their lives. 2001 Zippo base stamp is entirely different. They are confused.
May 9May 9 #1673 This is a little bit outside of the scope of this thread, but the lighter was too cool not to post: This lighter celebrates the space flight of Vietnam and Soviet Union astronauts. 1980 Soyuz 37 mission. “Lien Xo” translates as “Soviet Union” on the helmet of the astronaut on the right.
May 18May 18 #1674 US Army / 14th US Army Security Agency Field Station. Hakata, Japan. Japanese-made "Sharp" in the original cellophane.
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