wwii axis reenactment forum

Just got one of three I bought. Original unused brass lighters. Ill post a pic when i can. Round tube,knurled cap. Remove the top to reveal the striking wheel,remove the bottom to fill. Amazing this thing was built 70+ years ago waiting for someone to use it. Lit on the first try..made the after work smoke a little more special

Thats great mate, you are starting to get the hang of it
Good luck, Pipes

Thanks Pipes ,I love functional items like these. Deffinately stamped then milled. You can see the turn marks in the inside of the end caps. No manufacturers marks unfortunately..would love to know who manufactured these. Was worried about weather modern flints would fit,but the original is the same size as any made nowadays. Its about the size of a lipstick tube. Being a cigarette smoker,this is a must have and a nice touch. Nothing would be worse than breaking out a Bic at an event lol..I have to say your personal kit is what inspired me..when i saw this I just had to have it,and when I saw he had two others,all unused i got the other two. One im going to use daily. One for my kit. And one as a spare in reserve.

RZM wrote:Thanks Pipes ,I love functional items like these. Deffinately stamped then milled. You can see the turn marks in the inside of the end caps. No manufacturers marks unfortunately..would love to know who manufactured these. Was worried about weather modern flints would fit,but the original is the same size as any made nowadays. Its about the size of a lipstick tube. Being a cigarette smoker,this is a must have and a nice touch. Nothing would be worse than breaking out a Bic at an event lol..I have to say your personal kit is what inspired me..when i saw this I just had to have it,and when I saw he had two others,all unused i got the other two. One im going to use daily. One for my kit. And one as a spare in reserve.

Some lighters you find which have been made especially for Army use ive found don't have maker marks, just the adler
mark, they were sold in camp shops (similar to the US Army PX shops or British Army NAAFI shops), the items were sold
at reduced prices and paid for by Army issue pay notes

a pic of the lighters.

They all were unused. The one to the far left is the one I use daily now. That one had some storage damage. They were listed as brass,but now I think they are not. If you look close at the machined parts,like the inside of the lid,was clearly routed,(other parts milled on a lathe) you can see silver. I think they are steel that was electroplated.Which makes perfect sense..any brass available would have been used for munitions casings,not frivolous items like lighters..and it also explains the storage wear..looks like minor rust. Plus the fact as to how quickly these tarnish from use. (about 3 days!) Brass takes a bit to tarnish like my lighter to the left did.At anyrate I'm thinking of painting my daily lighter to better preserve it seeing as I use it 20 times a day.. I've seen aluminum lighters from that era painted. (black usually)
It will prevent further rust from handling.

If they were skilled enough,they made thier own,here is a "trench art " piece made from a flare casing.Its marked "Hergestellt in Russland am 4.2.43 and on the back "Zur erinnerung an die Mius front".John

Wow great piece! Mine are mass produced lol. I love the trench art lighters for sure. Nice Luftwaffe lighter...

i have a lovely 'round' (bullet) , shaped german one, need to buy some flint and fire it up! will post a pic when i get a moment.

Would love to see it. Being a smoker and an affinity for antiques,I love old lighters..I've spent hours looking at the various models and makes of these. Every one is unique and has an interesting background.