A nice Ronson lighter circa 1940's....

DIGGER27 · Jan 4, 2014

First hunt of 2014.
Had to get out today because it is about to get super cold around here.
The only place to hunt that is not frozen is the woods so I headed there to look for more silver.
As far as coins all I found were a couple of early 60's nickels, so this was the prize of the day...a Ronson pocket lighter.

Did lots of research on the Ronson Art Metal Co. trying to track down its age and manufacture date and I narrowed it down to between 1939 and 1948.

This one is called the "Standard", a pretty popular line made in 78 different styles over the years starting in 1928 and discontinued in 1953.
The ad with this exact one is from 1946.

Ronson invented the very first "Automatic" lighter called the "Banjo" because of its shape in 1928 and using Auermetal, something we now call flints, and it quickly led to this style.
"Press, it's lit...Release, it's out" was one of their tag lines.

All I ask is one cool thing to bring back from my hunts if I can and this qualifies.

ScubaDetective · Jan 4, 2014

Well that works. I like old lighters. Hopefully you will find some old coins out there since you know at least one person walked through there. GL

ks coyote · Jan 4, 2014

You're right about the urgency. Congrats on the lighter.

DIGGER27 · Jan 5, 2014

ks coyote said:
You're right about the urgency. Congrats on the lighter.

Thanks!
Going to about 10 below zero tonight which is a little cold and will probably freeze up any areas that are not frozen to this point.

JDH · Jan 5, 2014

Pretty cool find and cleaned up nice as well.

We, too, are in the freeze down here with 15 degrees and wind howling around 30 mph. Might be awhile before mother nature allows us back out to pursue the treasures that await.

coin whisperer · Jan 5, 2014

Neat find! When I go in the woods to hunt I never find coins or anything. How do you pick the woods your going to hunt?

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DIGGER27 · Jan 5, 2014

coin whisperer said:
Neat find! When I go in the woods to hunt I never find coins or anything. How do you pick the woods your going to hunt?

Sent from my LG-LS840 using Tapatalk

I really only have one park that has a large area for doing this.
On one side of a street, the side I hunted here, there is a huge area where people used to ride horses and camp out going back to the 20's and where others in my club have found some old stuff including Barber coins.

The other side of the street has another small mountain that rises up even higher and is also a very large area.
This side has been used for just about as long and is a site that scouts of all kinds have spent a lot of time camping and I also believe was used by the army for training and maneuvers way back in the day.
I have found a few things up on this side including a very old full size boy scout pocket knife.
This side is not so easy to hunt because I have to ford a little stream to get there and then climb up at a severe angle to get near the top where it levels out.
The top is actually higher than the other side and rises to about 800 feet and has some severe issues with heavy EMI if you are near the top because every tower for miles around hit this area with their non obstructed signals.

I am very lucky to live in an area of the country with lots of history and I do know of another site near me with a park and woods that is right next to a main stop on the Sante Fe trail and also the jumping off point for just about every trader or anyone else to camp at before they headed out anywhere west to lands unknown and people have been hanging around here since about 1812.

If I am destined to find a cache the best shot I have is to search the woods near this campsite at this park so maybe I will give that a try next.

coin whisperer · Jan 5, 2014

DIGGER27 said:
I really only have one park that has a large area for doing this.
On one side of a street, the side I hunted here, there is a huge area where people used to ride horses and camp out going back to the 20's and where others in my club have found some old stuff including Barber coins.

The other side of the street has another small mountain that rises up even higher and is also a very large area.
This side has been used for just about as long and is a site that scouts of all kinds have spent a lot of time camping and I also believe was used by the army for training and maneuvers way back in the day.
I have found a few things up on this side including a very old full size boy scout pocket knife.
This side is not so easy to hunt because I have to ford a little stream to get there and then climb up at a severe angle to get near the top where it levels out.
The top is actually higher than the other side and rises to about 800 feet and has some severe issues with heavy EMI if you are near the top because every tower for miles around hit this area with their non obstructed signals.

I am very lucky to live in an area of the country with lots of history and I do know of another site near me with a park and woods that is right next to a main stop on the Sante Fe trail and also the jumping off point for just about every trader or anyone else to camp at before they headed out anywhere west to lands unknown and people have been hanging around here since about 1812.

If I am destined to find a cache the best shot I have is to search the woods near this campsite at this park so maybe I will give that a try next.

Wow sounds like you have a very nice area to hunt!

Sent from my LG-LS840 using Tapatalk

DIGGER27 · Jan 5, 2014

coin whisperer said:
Wow sounds like you have a very nice area to hunt!

Sent from my LG-LS840 using Tapatalk

When I lived in Birmingham Ala. we had some history, mostly civil war stuff, but nothing as rich and varied as what we have here in Kansas.
Also that devil soil pretty much put a throttle on most detectors and major depth to find the old stuff was pretty much out of the question no matter what you swung.

Here the soil is mild and beautiful and with all that is possible to find added to this great soil and major depth I can reach I, for one, am truly thankful for all the opportunities that this situation presents.

Having started in one of the worse areas of the country to hunt and then moving to one of the best, dirt wise, I believe I am as close to heaven here as I can get.

DIGGER27 · Jan 5, 2014

By the way....
If you notice in the ad this lighter was probably one of their lowest price models and I assume sold for close to that $5.50 price stated in the range near the bottom.

That was in 1946 dollars.

At today's rate this same lighter would sell for about $65.
I guess there is a reason these things were known to be great quality and tough and lasted so long.

Unless you buried them in the dirt for 60 years, that is.

Rather-B-Huntin · Jan 5, 2014

Cool find! Looking forward to finding my first vintage lighter.

Skwerly · Jan 5, 2014

Yes, that definitely qualifies as a COOL find!

A nice Ronson lighter circa 1940's....

DIGGER27

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