In 1950s America cigarette smoking was the epitome of cool and glamour. Hollywood icons such as James Dean and Humphrey Bogart were never without one. Screen beauties such as Audrey Hepburn and Marlene Dietrich made smoking look sensual and sophisticated. Even a future president - Ronald Reagan - was handed free packs of Chesterfield during his B-movie days.

This lot includes four butane lighters that all feature the Presidential Seal, except for Harry Truman’s which depicts an image of the White house.  All these elegant and highly collectible lighters were given to the White House Barber Steve Martini as keepsakes.  The first lighter in the group is silver with a flip top and is embossed with the date of Christmas Day “12-25-62” and reads “JFK-JBK”.  This Zippo lighter is in exceptional condition having never been used and was a token given out by John F. Kennedy on his final Christmas on earth before being assassinated in November of 1963.  The second lighter is a slim gold Zippo lighter with the Presidential seal embedded to the front and features an engraved Lyndon B. Johnson signature on the bottom of the front.  The lighter is also 10K Gold and is in unused condition.  The third lighter in the collection is the oldest dating back to Harry Truman’s presidency.  The lighter is a Miller lighter made by Ritepoint Co and features an image of the Whitehouse encased inside the clear plastic base.  The fourth lighter in the collection is one that does not identify with any president specifically, but we can say that it was sourced from the White house Barber.  The collection of lighters is accompanied by a letter of provenance from Steve Martini Jr.

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