Ronson Mastercase Delight Combination Lighter & Cigarette Case, Black Enamel

There was a moment in the late 1930s when a man could walk into a cocktail party, produce a single object from his breast pocket, and do two things in one unhurried gesture — offer a cigarette, then light it — without ever fumbling for a second piece. The Ronson Mastercase Delight was that object. Art Metal Works, Inc. of Newark, N.J. — the firm founded by Louis V. Aronson, rebranded Ronson Corporation only in 1943, meaning this "Art Metal Works" stamp places the piece squarely in the pre-Depression peak — built the Mastercase Delight around Aronson's patented Touch-Tip mechanism: press the lever, the arm lifts, the wick ignites. One motion. The engineering trick was getting both units — full-capacity cigarette case below, flip lighter above — into a package no thicker than a conventional case. They pulled it off.

This example wears the full dress: glossy black enamel over genuine chromium plate, the lighter head stamped Ronson across its arched wick guard, a knurled fuel screw marked "FILL HERE" centered in the tapered black shoulder. The front face carries a stylized cut-metal Art Deco surround — two flanking towers, a central drop — framing an engraved Old English "L" in gold-toned script. That monogram surround is not a catalog option; it's a personalization upgrade, and it's what separates this piece from the plain-face production run. Open it: both interior halves are engine-turned in a guilloche sunburst pattern, the cigarette half held by a pierced Ronson-marked spring retaining bar. The reverse patent plate reads Ronson Delight / U.S. Pat. 1,673,727 — the patent granted June 19, 1928, the design's birth certificate pressed right into the metal.

CONDITION

Good with honest signs of use. Scratches to the black enamel faces, most concentrated on the reverse; light wear to the chrome and minor enamel edge loss at the corners and shoulder. Interior engine-turning and the cut-metal monogram surround are intact. Empty of lighter fluid; lighter mechanism function not confirmed.

DIMENSIONS / SPECIFICATIONS

• Overall: 4 1/4" H × 2 1/2" W × 1/2" D
• Maker: Ronson / Art Metal Works, Inc., Newark, N.J. (pre-1943)
• Model: Ronson Mastercase Delight
• Patent: U.S. Pat. 1,673,727 (granted June 19, 1928)
• Finish: Black enamel over genuine chromium plate
• Monogram: Engraved Old English "L" with cut-metal Art Deco surround
• Interior: Engine-turned guilloche sunburst finish, both halves
• Retaining Bar: Pierced Ronson-marked spring bar, cigarette half
• Campbell's Soup Can (4" H) Shown for Scale — Not Included