They serve exactly the same purpose as lighters. Retailing At Christmas, they give away a few grams of gold, sapphires, emeralds, rubies and diamonds in the local bar or workshop, even if it is with a difference. In the fascinating and often wild universe of “ultra-luxury” lighters, there is much more than simple fire-producing devices. They are a status statement. Even million-dollar investment objects. Simply put, instead of buying a Da Vinci of dubious authorship, there are those who spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to buy lighters that do not depreciate the value of the best museums.

This of course spurred a mad race to design the most luxurious one.

The goal: to open fire… and the situation. Not all gadgets are created equal. So are houses, watches, or boats. The same goes for lighters. In the luxury sector, lighters are much more than simple fire-starting tools. They are presented as works of art, high-end jewelry, and jewelry made from the most luxurious materials, such as gold and precious stones.

A good example is ST Dupont’s Casino Complication, a pocket lighter featuring a high-precision mechanism, made to order in palladium and yellow or rose gold, according to the customer’s choice. Price: $65,000.

The fire between gold and ruby. Another example is the Gold Poodle lighter, designed by Jean Schlumberger and made of 14-karat gold, or the magnificent Casino Silver, also made by ST Dupont, which is palladium-plated and features an elaborate mechanism with 26 watchmakers’ rubies. There are many (many) more examples, and prices vary, but they all have one basic feature in common: they are “jewelry lighters” that are only available to the deepest pockets (and economies).

From luxury to ultra luxury. Going even further, there are lighters that compete in the price league of six or even seven figures. The market is the ultra-luxury market, where buyers are willing to spend the same amount on a lighter as a Lamborghini or a house, or even more. And to show off a button or lighter if you have one: the Montgolfière by ST Dupont is a luxurious piece of craftsmanship that exceeds $300,000, despite being much more than a lighter.

ST Dupont’s Ultra Exclusive Montgolfière is a handmade homage to the hot air balloon test conducted by the Montgolfier brothers in Annonay, southern France, in 1783. As such, the lighter features a gold-trimmed porcelain globe, a 24-karat gold DuPont L2, and a diamond-studded piece. Robb Report assures us that in addition to the $326,000 special unit, there are other limited edition replicas available for almost $200,000.

Costly? Depend. The ST Dupont Montgolfière may seem expensive, but it is not the leader in the ranking of the most luxurious and expensive lighters on the planet. For Guinness World Records, this value belongs to another piece of the Parisian firm ST Dupont, founded in the 19th century and specializing in pure luxury: the Louise XIII Fleur de Parme set, which sold in November 2013 for almost $678,000. dollars, about half a million euros.

The Montgolfi’ere is actually a two-piece design, consisting of a pocket lighter worth around €200,000 and a table lighter worth €300,000, but its features, magnificence and price have made it Louise’s unique piece in the most exclusive luxury market.

Delicate stones and gold. The most expensive piece, the table piece, includes a crown and is made of solid gold and approximately 40 sapphires between 9 and 13 carats. The crown alone contains 40 stones and the base contains over 70. The pocket piece is also made of solid gold and contains over 50 sapphires.

Specialist luxury website The Collectors explains that the piece was purchased by a wealthy Hong Kong businessman famous for his love of Dupont lighters and fountain pens, as well as his passion for French art and history. Behind the design will be Princess Tania Sofia of Bourbon-Parma, a member of the House of Bourbon-Parma and a designer of luxury goods including jewelry and tableware. It took around six months to make and required dozens of craftsmen.

A controversial record. Is Luise XIII Fleur de Parme the most expensive lighter in history? The Guinness World Records website introduces it this way – adding that this is not a unique piece, but a “set of lighters” and recalling that the title was won more than ten years ago, at the end of 2013.

In 2022, there was another company in the industry, El Septimo, a division of La Maison Younan, a division of Younan Corporation, which still claimed the title of “the world’s most luxurious lighters.” It did so during the PCA trade show in Las Vegas, boasting about its creation: tabletop lighters that stand 15 to 20 centimeters high and up to 15 centimeters wide, made of 18-karat gold and precious stones. Each piece will sell for around $5.5 million, Globe Newswire reported. “We wanted to create lighters that the world has never seen before,” company president Zaya S. Younan said at the time.

An exhibition of precious stonesHis works are made of 18-karat gold, rubies from Myanmar, diamonds, sapphires from Kashmir, emeralds from the Muzo mine and ornaments such as a picture of Emperor Napoleon. To get an idea of ​​what El Septimo had in mind, he mentioned table lighters filled with precious stones weighing up to 1,200 grams of gold in 2022.

Their price tag would eclipse the Louise XIII Fleur de Parme, but it wouldn’t be the first time the rankings of the world’s most luxurious lighters have been redrawn. In 2009, ST Dupont boasted of creating the “most expensive lighter,” the Ligne 2 Champange, for almost $80,000 in white gold and paved diamonds.

Images | El Septimo Geneva, ST Dupont and El Septimo Cigars (Instagram)

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