By Ronson Art Metal Works
Located in Miami, FL
Art Deco mechanical dispenser box with lighter made by Ronson.
An exceptional and very decorative mechanical desk box, created in the city of Newark, New Jersey United States by The Ronson Metal Works Co. during the Art Deco period, back in the 1938. This is a very rare box designed by Frederick Kaupmann with geometric machine age patterns. It was crafted with parts made up in solid steel and chromed steel. Embellished with semicircular linear knob to lid on gunmetal base with black lacquer enamel, creating a great contrast to the brilliant steel and the interiors are finished with round brushed Fiorentine patterns.
This is the variation which is mounted in four squared sabbots, the touch tip is cylindrical, the knob is semicircular and the lighter part is decorated with lines instead plain.
This piece is extremely well made with a solid construction and with very nice attention to all details. This surely is a very decorative collectors piece and a great conversation item.
Weight: 2,267 Grams, (5 Pounds).
Measurements: 205 mm by 120 mm by 104 mm (8.07 x 4.75 x 4.10 Inches).
Marks: Stamped with the maker's mark and signed, "FASHIONED BY Ronson NEWARK NJ Ronson TOUCH-TIP-US PATS 1.986.754-DESIGN PAT .97.247-BRITISH PAT APPL'D FOR-CANADA PAT 349.148 ART METAL WORKS INC-NEWARK NJ USA"
The Ronson lighter company started as The Art Metal Works in 1897 and was incorporated on July 20, 1898, by Max Hecht, Louis Vincent Aronson and Leopold Herzig, in Newark, New Jersey. Louis V. Aronson was a huge creative driving force for the company; and, with a few business adjustments, including the addition of Alexander Harris (1910–11) as Business Manager, the company soon became World Famous. In the 1910s The Art Metal Works were producing very good quality Hood Ornaments and gained a reputation as a dependable supplier of same. All accounts state that Louis Aronson was a gifted man, who at 16 years old set up a money-making shop in his parent's home - before receiving a U.S. patent for a commercially valuable metal-plating process he developed when he was 24 years old, and he sold half the rights while retaining the Right to Use. "His experiments, which he has been conducting since his early youth, resulted in 1893 in the discovery of a process for electrically producing tinplate. Much money was expended upon improving the process. and has been of great practical value to the whole industry. Retaining its rights, he sold half the patent rights, and later used part of the proceeds to open the Art Metal Works in Newark, N.J. Soon the company was producing a variety of high-quality Lamps, Book ends, Art Statues and other decorative items, prized today for their detail in the collector marketplace.
Literature: Urban K. Cummings, Ronson, the World's Greatest Lighter : Wick Lighters 1913-1966 Bird Dog Books, California. 1992. For this exact model Illustrated.
Note: This model was produced in two colors, black or brown with geometric variants at the touch tip lighter...
Category
1930s North American Art Deco Vintage Lacquer Cigar Boxes and Humidors
