Dunhill Unique Flip Arm lighter
Dunhill Unique Flip Arm Lighter – Silver, 1990s
A vintage Alfred Dunhill Unique flip arm lighter in silver, dating to the 1990s and in good working order — a design icon from one of London's most storied luxury houses.
Alfred Dunhill launched the Unique in 1927 as the world's first lighter designed to be operated with a single hand, a genuine breakthrough at a time when every other lighter needed two. Its signature flip arm — flicked open with the thumb to reveal the flint wheel and wick — became the model's defining feature and the reason collectors still call these "lift arm" or "flip arm" lighters today. When Dunhill reimagined the Unique as a butane lighter in 1985, the flip arm mechanism was kept as a deliberate nod to its Art Deco heritage. The model's profile was raised further in 1989, when James Bond receives a silver Dunhill Unique as a wedding gift and puts it to dramatic use in Licence to Kill.
This example is a silver Unique from the 1990s reissue era, carrying forward the same flip arm action that made the original famous. It has been serviced and is in perfect working order.