Almost all BNIB Dupont lighters on ebay are fake. A real one is is quite precious and would certainly have a decent reserve or quite a high start price. If you own a lighter that retails for £500+ and is brand new, why on earth would you sell it for £40 on ebay!!

I have a small collection of Dupont lighters & recently bought a fake (£38!!) to see the differances for myself. If you have never handled a real one then I'm sure a fake would seem quite nice. Its heavy, works OK, and looks OK from a distance. In reality they are poor quality, unreliable and the 'ping' sounds awful!

Things to look out for:

1. If there is NO  photo of the bottom of the lighter then its probably fake. If there is a photo then heres what to look for: The words 'Lacque de Chine' - on an all metal lighter, obvious fake. The words 'Laque de Chine' refer to the laquering used on some duponts. The serial number: Real Dupont serial numbers are hand stamped into the base, as such the spacing and allignment of the characters is always slightly differant. The fakes are stamped in one operation before they are plated and so the characters are very even and  not  very sharp.

2. The Hinge - If there  is a small gap around the semi-circle of the hinge when it is closed then it is a fake. On a real Dupont the hinge line is virtually invisible when its closed.

3. The design: Compare the design with those on any official Dupont website.

The biggest givaway is the price - How can you expect to buy a brand new £500 lighter for £40! These lighters are sought after pieces of jewellery that are sold in some of the worlds most exclusive shops. My advice would be to buy a vintage Dupont which are available on ebay for similar money. It might be 20-30 years old but probably still be in perfect working order and give its new owner years of pleasure.

I hope this guide is useful and helps get these awful fakes off the market.

Thanks for reading