Vintage Zippo Lighters

zippo — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 02:30:25 +0000

Vintage Zippo Lighters date back to 1933. The Zippo Lighter gained its popularity during World War 2 when the Zippo company started releasing lighters with all the insignias off all of the navy ships in its fleet. This was the beginning as to why these Zippo Lighters became such collectibles. These Navy Zippo Lighters are some of the most highly coveted vintage Zippo Lighters around. Many of the Navy personnel and there families still covet these lighters which makes it harder to find these vintage Zippo Lighters for sale.

There is a date code on the bottom of a Zippo and that tells you how old your vintage Zippo Lighter is. When looking for a vintage Zippo Lighter for sale you may want to know what codes the Zippo Lighter has on the bottom to ensure that you have a truly authentic Zippo Lighter.

Below is a complete chart of the Zippo date codes.

Year	Regular Lighter Left Side	Regular Lighter Right Side	Slim Lighter Left Side	Slim Lighter Right Side
1933	Patent Pending
1937	Patent 2032695
1942-1946	Black Crackle, Patent 203695 (This number was stamped in error, it should have been Patent 2032695.)
c.1949-c.1957	Patent 2517191 with patent pending
Zippo records indicate an overlap of bottom stamp configurations from 1949-1957. Also, some lighters produced between 1955-57 were date coded, however, specifics remain unclear. The date coding was fully in effect by 1959.
c.1951-c.1957	Patent 2517191
1957			. . . .	. . . .
1958	Patent . . . .	2517191 . . . .	. . . . . . . .	. . . . . . .
1959	. . . .	. . .	. . .	. . .
1960	. . .	. . .	. . .	. .
1961	. . .	. .	. .	. .
1962	. .	. .	. .	.
1963	. .	.	.	.
1964	.	.	.
1965	.
1966	\| \| \| \|	\| \| \| \|
1967	\| \| \| \|	\| \| \|
1968	\| \| \|	\| \| \|
1969	\| \| \|	\| \|
1970	\| \|	\| \|
1971	\| \|	\|
1972	\|	\|
1973	\|
1974	////	////
1975	////	///
1976	///	///
1977	///	//
1978	//	//
1979	An error was made in the date code. One of the slash marks was removed from the left of the Zippo trademark instead of being removed from the right; thus the code read: / //. This date code error was corrected within the same year to read: // /.
1980	/	/
1981	/
1982	\\\\	\\\\
1983	\\\\	\\\
1984	\\\	\\\
1985	\\\	\\
1986	\\	\\

Effective 7/1/86 the above
system was replaced by year/lot code. Year is noted with
Roman Numeral, the letter on the left designates lot month
(A=Jan., B=Feb., etc.)

Year	Regular & Slim Lighters Left Side	Regular & Slim Lighters Right Side
1986	G to L	II
1987	A to L	III
1988	A to L	IV
1989	A to L	V
1990	A to L	VI
1991	A to L	VII
1992	A to L	VIII
1993	A to L	IX
1994	A to L	X
1995	A to L	XI
1996	A to L	XII
1997	A to L	XIII
1998	A to L	XIV
1999	A to L	XV
2000	A to L	XVI

Year	Regular and Slim Lighters Left Side	Regular and Slim Lighters Right Side	Zippo Multi-Purpose Lighter
Year	Regular and Slim Lighters Left Side	Regular and Slim Lighters Right Side	Left Side	Right Side
2001	A to L	01
2002	A to L	02	D to L	02
2003	A to L	03	A to L	03
2004	A to L	04	A to L	04
2005	A to L	05	A to L	05
2006	A to L	06	A to L	06
2007	A to L	07	A to L	07
2008	A to L	08	A to L	08
2009	A to L	09	A to L	09
2010	A to L	10	A to L	10

Starting early in the year 2000, lighters produced feature the Zippo logo on the left, the month code in the center, and 2000 stamped above the Roman numeral XVI.

For 2001 and beyond, Zippo has introduced a new, easier to interpret date code. The letters A through L on the left of the Zippo logo still represent the month of manufacture. The year of manufacture, however, is now identified by the last two numbers of that year, stamped to the right of the Zippo logo.

The
Zippo MPL was first produced in February of 2002.The
MPL’s manufactured in late February and March 2002
had a blank adjustment knob. The first MPL’s to have
a date code were those produced in April 2002 and thereafter.

I would advise anyone looking for collectible Zippo Lighters for sale that they learn this list or just copy it to ensure that you are getting an authentic Zippo Lighter and that it truly is a vintage Zippo Lighter.

Zippo Lighter Depot » Vintage Zippo Lighters

Vintage Zippo Lighters