LighterGallery.com displays images of rare and vintage Zippo lighters from a private collection. The images illustrate how Zippo lighters have been used for advertising and as gifts and keepsakes, personalized not only by presidents, astronauts, movie stars and the military, and also by churches, schools, scout clubs, hospitals, and all kinds of businesses. We can think of Zippo lighters as small canvases upon which impressions of our history, culture and art since 1933 have been left. The Zippo lighter's simplicity, functionality, reliability, durability, its life time guarantee, its unique sounds it makes when flicking open and shut, and its perfect fit in the palm of ones hand and the story it tells makes it a highly treasured icon of American ingenuity and enterprise.
The lighters on this website are organized by theme. Since there are countless thousands of different designs on Zippos, most Zippo lighter collectors have to limit their collecting to certain types of designs, topics or themes.
This is a unique Town & Country 1951 Zippo with the red button logo "Drink Coca-Cola" introduced in 1947 hand engraved by George Hutton, an employee of Zippo Mfg. Co .
Rare 1953 black enamel TV-looking Zippo advertising GE's Black Daylite TV with Ultra-Vision
Rare 1953 black enamel TV-looking Zippo advertising GE's Black Daylite TV with Ultra-Vision
This Zippo is dated 1947 and has a metallique Anheuser-Bush Budweiser logo, unusual for a post World War II Zippo.
1942-45 World War II period Zippo with the US Navy logo.
Rare 1969 Town & Country process Zippo with the Zodiac sign of Aquarius, the water carrier
Rare 1936 Zippo with Scotty Dog Metallique
1938 Chrome-plated Belle Kogan Zippo, Model No K-2. Belle Kogan (1902-2000), was one of the very first American female industrial designers. She was commissioned by Zippo to develop designs which were produced in 1938. She is also known for having made designs for ceramics, silver, bakelite, clocks and other media.
This is a 1956 prototype Zippo with an aluminum case and hinge with Alcoa name and logo. Only one known in existence
Rare 1953 Zippo made to look like a Kelvinator refrigerator
1981 Zippo with the image of a Campbell Soup can, an image made famous in the art world byAndy Warhol. The Campbell Soup Company traces its origins back to 1869.
1959 Town & Country Zippo with a hand-painted leaping deer
1969 Zippo for the American Embassy in Saigon, Vietnam with the crossed American and South Vietnamese flags
1955 Zippo. with a graphic of the famous Goodyear Blimp in a cloud
Rare 1956 Town & Country Zippo with "The Pelican"
1967 factory-engraved Zippo with Snoopy for the US Air Force Aerospace Rescue and Recovery Squadron in Vietnam
1960 Zippo with an engraved image of a Pepsi-Cola bottle cap
This very unusual 1950's Zippo manufactured in Canada depicts a dog sledding team pulling the sled through a snowy wilderness which brings to mind the famous Iditarod race. The attached nugget and the sledding team are made of gold
1960-61 Town & Country Zippo with a hand-painted Beechcraft Bonanza 56. The Beechcraft Bonanza is an American general aviation aircraft introduced in 1947 The six-seater, single-engine aircraft is still being produced by Beechcraft and has been in continuous production longer than any other airplane in history
1946-49 Zippo with an engraving of the Zippo Car. The Zippo Car built in 1947was a Chrysler Saratoga with two gigantic lighters sporting neon flames. It was was used for promotions at fairs, expos and parades but mysteriously disappeared sometime in the 1950's. In 1996, Zippo Mfg. Co. commissioned a replica of the original Zippo Car
1954 Zippo for Warner Brothers 25th Anniversary with a graphic of Bugs Bunny, a cocky, wisecracking, good-hearted hare who battled Elmer Fudd, Daffy Duck and other slapstick opponents. It is also engraved with the name of Norman H. Moray who was involved in the production of Loney Tunes' Rocket Squad featuring Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. Mr. Moray was a key executive of Warner Bros' Vitaphone short subject division, most famous for Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies