S.T. Dupont Ligne 2 Grand Modèle — Real Wood, With Box
A vintage S.T. Dupont Ligne 2 in the full-size Grand Modèle, panelled in figured burl wood with gold-plated trim, offered in its original S.T. Dupont box.
S.T. Dupont produced its first luxury lighter in 1941, and the Ligne 2 introduced in 1977 became the model the maison is known for. Wood is the rarest of the materials it put on that case. Nearly everything else in the range — the engine-turned metals, the Chinese lacquers — is a surface Dupont controlled completely, applied the same way across a production run. Wood is not: the grain arrives as it grew, so the panels on this lighter exist on no other.
These panels are burl rather than straight grain, which is the more difficult choice. Burl is the knotted, swirling growth from the base of a tree, and it figures in tight whorls and eyes instead of parallel lines. Cut thin enough to panel a lighter and set into a gold frame, it reads almost like a hardstone — the colour moving from pale honey through to dark chocolate across a single face.
The lighter is in excellent condition. The wood is intact on every face with no lifting at the edges or cracks across the grain, which is where an old wood panel fails first, and the gold-plated frame, roller and base are bright. It is photographed lit: it lights and holds a flame.
It comes in its original S.T. Dupont box with the tan interior. The box shows honest shelf wear; no papers or guarantee card with this one.