S.T. Dupont Ligne 2 Pipe Lighter — Gold Vertical Stripes, With Box and Certificate
A vintage S.T. Dupont Ligne 2 pipe lighter, gold plated with fine vertical striping, offered with its navy S.T. Dupont box, the service-centre booklet and a numbered certificate tag.
S.T. Dupont produced its first luxury lighter in 1941, and the Ligne 2 arrived in 1977. The pipe version is a quietly different object. A pipe cannot be lit from a flame that rises straight out of the top of the case — the bowl is in the way and the smoker's hand is above it — so the burner on this model is angled, throwing the flame out and away from the body at a slant. Everything else is the Ligne 2 you know: the same case, the same fluted roller, the same cap. It is only when you light it that the difference shows.
The vertical striping runs the full height of the case and carries on across the roller, which on the pipe model matters more than usual, because the lighter is held at an angle in use and the lines are what the eye follows.
The set is complete and datable. The gold certificate tag is numbered 17704 L, and the Réseau International Centres de Service booklet in the box is marked as updated 1 December 1976 — which places this set right at the launch of the Ligne 2, among the earliest of them.
The lighter is in good vintage condition, with the striping crisp and the light, even wear to the gold plate that a carried lighter acquires. It is photographed lit: it lights and holds a flame.