Interesting old tobacco lighter found at estate sale

[oregano]

In southern Oregon the estate sale companies have bought small warehouses to show their stuff so residents don't scream at people parking cars in front of driveways for estate sales. I went to one company's last sale of the year at their showroom in west Medford. They had trays full of stuff, they had Morgan silver dollars and one guy had a jeweler's magnifier and was examining them, he obviously knew what he was doing. One tray had old tobacco lighters. I'm always on the lookout for old advertising items with logos of local businesses, so I pawed through the lighters. The ones that had ads were mainly logos of cigarette companies that gave away lighters as promotional items. There was one with the 1950s era logo of Harrah's Casino in Reno, but I'm usually not interested in casino items unless they're unusual and/or from small local dive bars in Reno. I did find this one, which I took home for $20:

Every boomer knows Copacabana (The hottest spot north of Havana, well until Communist revolutionaries toppled Batista and shut down the American-Cuban Mob). I also noted the date, it's unusual to find dated advertising items. This must have been given out as a souvenir of a Christmas party held for Americans serving on the military bases on Okinawa.

 

[TBRS1]

It's unfortunate that tabletop lighters have gone out of style - they are cool, and many are very decorative.

Good idea for collectors looking for something fun & unusual to collect!

 

[velociraptor]

It's unfortunate that tabletop lighters have gone out of style

They haven't exactly.

Malisseladi- Permanent Match, Ten Thousand Match Lighter, The Forever Lighter, Matchstick Fire Starter Kerosene Refillable Lighter, Great Gift for Father Husband Boyfriend, No Oil (Black) : Amazon.ca: Sports & Outdoors

I have this on our coffee table for lighting candles around the house. It's rechargable. I also take it camping with me.

That's a cool find @oregano

 

[oregano]

I tend to grab anything that has an unusual and/or local ad on it. At this same sale I found an old 3-in-1 bottle/can opener from a long ago HVAC company. No city on the ad, just a phone number without an area code, since in the old days few people dialed area codes regularly, and a single code could encompass an entire state. I also have an old metal index card box full of pens and pencils from long ago companies, even a pencil from Siskiyou General Hospital which closed in the 1980s and became Fairchild Medical Center. I found that at another sale.