Posted 13 years ago
peachieking
(3 items)
This belonged to my husband's grandfather who was from Italy.It is from his collection.I do not know where he got it.It has Japan on the bottom of it and I believe it is gold-plated..not sure on that.Any other info. would be appreciated.
it looks like you are missing the spark wheel.it should be just to the rt. of the whickwhen holding the outer part of coin in your left hand.also the part with the whick should pull up out of the base.that is where you install new flints & fill with lighter fliud.But it may not pull out very easy this is why your wheel is gone.they tend to break off when your hand slips off trying to open it.it could also have been placed inside after being broken.so by all means try to open it.i have one just like yours but mine has a large eagle on it.i bought mine at a second hand store in a place called Kimswhick,Mo.it's a old time town (a settlers town)i paid .50cents back in1983. what it might be worth today, not much the gold, if it is gold platted it's so thin it's almost worthless.maybe someone that collects lighters might give you around $5.00 are so. good luck.
I have one just like it but not as tarnished and mines has the spark wheel, I'm glad I found your article because I had no idea were it came from. I got mines from an apartment I moved into and had no clue where start looking. thank you