Great deal at half the price

[the_goren_show]

 In a thrift store Friday after noon to drop off the first of many loads of clothes and household crap that will not be making the move with us, I noticed a few Zippo and Zippo type lighters in the display case.  Zippo lighters are an old passion of mine recently rediscovered so I had a look at them and wasn't really considering buying one until I picked up the slim line Zippo and flipped it over to see if it was actually a Zippo.

On the bottom was the Zippo logo with the correct date stamps that told me it was in fact a Zippo that had been made in Niagara Falls, Ontario, not in Bradford, PA like the majority of Zippo lighters out there.  The insert also bore the Niagara Falls stamp so I decided to purchase the thing since the Canadian Zippo plant stopped manufacturing lighters in 2002.  I asked how much since nothing was priced and the owner of the store said "They're 20 bucks for everyone else... but for you, five bucks."

 

 

SOLD!  Except I only had about three bucks and change on me... like most Canadians, I'm a debit card user.  She looked at me and shrugged, taking all the change and shooing me out of the store with my purchase.

 

Upon further inspection at home today, I discovered that this particular lighter was manufactured in 1995 and that the insert was also original to the date of manufacture.  It doesn't appear to have been used much, there's only one ding on it and the chrome is still shiny perfection with few scratches.  The lid closes cleanly and with no wiggle and I'm pretty chuffed by this little purchase.  I won't be using this one, it's a little small and light to my hand so it will join the other two on the shelf beside all the watches, tie bars and cufflinks that are a symptom of my joy in being a well-dressed man.