Cigarette Lighter

[almyjmoore]

In my search for pocket knives, I ran across an older cigarette lighter in its original box with a lifetime certificate [bond]. The lighter is not marked but the box is marked as "Lifetimer" By Thore'. It also says, Made In These United States. The guarantee bond inside the box says Thore' Manufacturing Co., General sales Offices, 220 S. State St., Chicago 4, Ill.
The lighter is aluminum and in the Art Deco style. I have googled it, checked E-bay past & present auctons and written to every lighter collecting club I can locate. So far nothing. Not a single hit on google or E-Bay. Normally I can make up a word then spell it incorrectly and still come up with 80,000 hits on google. I tried googling it again this morning and came up with two hits - both were from me contacting clubs with a question on the lighter. If you can point me in the right direction [or any direction], I would appreciate it. Thanks, Al

[jerryd6818]

One thing you know for sure is the age range of the lighter - 1943 - 1963

For those who are too young to remember the postal zones, the United States Post Office Department (USPOD) implemented postal zones for large cities in 1943.
Example: Chicago 4, Illinois

On July 1, 1963, non-mandatory ZIP codes were announced for the whole country.

[tjmurphy]

I don't have any information on "Thore" lighters but I do have this one which is considered WWII Trench Art. These lighters are purportedly made from aluminum removed from downed aircraft. This one appears, based on the art work, to be from the African(?) Campaign. Not sure though. You can make you own judgement. This one has a little different striking mechinism than the Thore.

MVC-061F.JPG (46.94 KiB) Viewed 654 times

MVC-062F.JPG (35.92 KiB) Viewed 654 times

[garddogg56]

Differant must have been tough striking that flint.

[tjmurphy]

Actually it's not. Strikes very easily, after the initial stike. But then, they're all like that.

[almyjmoore]

Thanks Jerry, I didn't know about that 1943 and 1963 trick. That will be helpful in dating a lot of things. If only I can remember it.
TJ, your lighter is so similar to the Thore I wonder if the Thore could be a later manufactured verson.
I spent a week digging for information on this lighter. Like I said , I tried googling it and even went to a couple of lighter collection clubs and have gotten no response. As a last resort, I went to a knife collectors club to get the information on a cigarette lighter. Thanks again Al

[tjmurphy]

On Ebay you can search WWII Trench Art Lighter and get some hits, no "Thore" though. They're also referred to as "lift arm" lighters.