CLARK Company History and Highlights
By Crina & Andrei Gandila
Clark Lighter Company and the Art Deco spirit of the Roaring Twenties
The Clark Lighter Company based in Attleboro, MA made some of the most attractive and reliable lighters of the Art Deco period. The more you learn about their lighters the more you appreciate the innovative style and avant-garde designs that make Clark so desirable among collectors today.
Clark produced lighters for less than a decade and yet it is not the company’s meteoric existence that draws collectors’ attention. It is the impressive high-quality that occasionally rivaled the best known makers of luxury smoking accessories of the time. At its peak in 1928-1929, the quality of Clark had no rival in the United States. Their showroom was located on Fifth Ave., which gave them direct access to the New York City’s finest. On the guide to NYC’s companies selling smoking accessories Clark is listed as no. 1 in the registry, which perhaps is not just a coincidence (Fig. 1).
Since Clark operated only between c. 1926 and 1933 the evolution of the company becomes of crucial importance for understanding the driving force behind the production of their lighters. The mind-blowing variety of shapes and designs employed by Clark certainly justifies this approach. Unfortunately, very little official information survives, aside from patents, already well-known to the collecting community. We are, however, lucky to be able to rely on a wealth of contemporary ads published in a handful of period magazines such as Collier’s, Delineator, Good Housekeeping, Liberty, Saturday Evening Post, Haberdasher & Clothier, Retail Tobacconist, and Jeweler’s Circular. During our research in the NY Public Library we were able to explore this goldmine of information and find precious evidence regarding the activity of Clark and the way they marketed their products. The story of Clark is also the story of the lighter market itself and the way it skyrocketed in the mid-1920s and sank after the stock market crash of 1929.
At the same time, the story of Clark is a story of the 1920s when the world was plunging head-on into the “Machine Age.” In artistic language this translated into the most spectacular and dynamic phase of human creativity, the Art Deco (1920s-1940s). Vintage lighters are not just objects from an age when smoking was incredibly popular. They constitute a unique combination of technology, functionality, and artwork. Indeed, some of them are true masterpieces and more than a few have the name Clark stamped on them.
Why Clark?
Before analyzing the chronological evolution of the company, let’s clarify what made Clark special. Judging by magazine ads and the lighters themselves, the 1920s in the United States was a decade dominated by lighters like Evans, Ronson, Clark, Marathon, Golden Wheel, Carlton, and Douglass. The market was incredibly fragmented as demand grew exponentially every year and we are only mentioning the more influential brands, as there are at least a dozen more that collectors know about. Few would survive the Great Depression (Fig 2).
So, again, what made Clark special? Evans had nice Art Deco designs, but low quality build materials and catered to the tastes of the common man. Low prices ensured Evans would weather the Depression. While it did make solid silver lighters in partnership with Blackinton, it was never their main selling point. Douglass made luxury lighters in silver and gold but their designs do not come close to the variety and ingenuity of Clark. Ronson’s genius can be seen in their automatic lighter whose patent led to a bitter dispute in the 1930s, but its story of fame is different because essentially Ronson produced massively during and after the Great Depression. Their earliest models are beautiful and high quality, but the artistic value is more limited in our opinion. All other companies, while they made beautiful lighters highly collectible today, such as the Marathon Windlite, were essentially lighters produced by stealing the Clark patent. It is the result of fraud during those crazy years when patents were more difficult to enforce. More discussion about this will follow below.
Clark, on the other hand, while producing lighters that anyone could afford, targeted the upper class, the high society of the Roaring Twenties. Their lighters in solid gold, solid silver, and lighter-watch combo, as well as the fabulous Namiki versions obviously catered to the tastes of the upper crust. Their tennis, golf, and hunting designs betray the life of leisure enjoyed by the rich people of the day. In an ad from Sept. 22, 1928 in The Saturday Evening Post, Clark boasted that “Clark Lighters sell from $7.50 to as many hundreds of dollars or thousands as you care to pay for exclusive designs.”
Clark’s original contributions
And this was not just idle marketing language. Those lighters exist and themselves sell today for thousands of dollars, in the collectibles market. Clark worked closely with Attleboro-based jewelers Webster and Blackinton as well as with other workshops where they produced solid silver lighters, often decorated with porcelain enamelwork. Not only the precious metal used makes the Clark an exceptional lighter. As we have seen, there were others who produced lighters in silver & gold. It is the innovative shapes and the designs that make Clarks unique. Clark stole the liftarm concept from Dunhill (Greenwood & Wise) but everything else they did to their lighters was original and shamelessly copied by others. Clark complained in their ads countless times; one from January 14, 1928 in the New York Times is particularly suggestive: “What flattering imitators the beauty of Clark Lighter has inspired! How they try to capture and imprison in their mechanical monstrosities the lure of the lighter that is a Clark.”
Clark introduced the Petite, a smaller-size lighter for ladies; the Windodger, a beautiful windshield lighter promptly copied by Marathon and Golden Wheel, and an innovative automatic horizontal push mechanism. But nothing brought Clark eternal fame as their “Pillow” and “5-sided” lighters. In our view – and it may be a subjective one – the modernistic asymmetrical 5-sided is the quintessential Art Deco lighter, the most exquisite and attractive design of the Golden Age of smoking, one that surpasses any shape produced in the United States or Europe. They were made by Blackinton in solid gold, solid silver and gold plate. The “lightning bolt” design, which we find the most attractive, captures the essence of the Art Deco spirit like no other lighter
By Crina & Andrei Gandila
Clark Lighter Company and the Art Deco spirit of the Roaring Twenties
The Clark Lighter Company based in Attleboro, MA made some of the most attractive and reliable lighters of the Art Deco period. The more you learn about their lighters the more you appreciate the innovative style and avant-garde designs that make Clark so desirable among collectors today.
Clark produced lighters for less than a decade and yet it is not the company’s meteoric existence that draws collectors’ attention. It is the impressive high-quality that occasionally rivaled the best known makers of luxury smoking accessories of the time. At its peak in 1928-1929, the quality of Clark had no rival in the United States. Their showroom was located on Fifth Ave., which gave them direct access to the New York City’s finest. On the guide to NYC’s companies selling smoking accessories Clark is listed as no. 1 in the registry, which perhaps is not just a coincidence (Fig. 1).
Since Clark operated only between c. 1926 and 1933 the evolution of the company becomes of crucial importance for understanding the driving force behind the production of their lighters. The mind-blowing variety of shapes and designs employed by Clark certainly justifies this approach. Unfortunately, very little official information survives, aside from patents, already well-known to the collecting community. We are, however, lucky to be able to rely on a wealth of contemporary ads published in a handful of period magazines such as Collier’s, Delineator, Good Housekeeping, Liberty, Saturday Evening Post, Haberdasher & Clothier, Retail Tobacconist, and Jeweler’s Circular. During our research in the NY Public Library we were able to explore this goldmine of information and find precious evidence regarding the activity of Clark and the way they marketed their products. The story of Clark is also the story of the lighter market itself and the way it skyrocketed in the mid-1920s and sank after the stock market crash of 1929.
At the same time, the story of Clark is a story of the 1920s when the world was plunging head-on into the “Machine Age.” In artistic language this translated into the most spectacular and dynamic phase of human creativity, the Art Deco (1920s-1940s). Vintage lighters are not just objects from an age when smoking was incredibly popular. They constitute a unique combination of technology, functionality, and artwork. Indeed, some of them are true masterpieces and more than a few have the name Clark stamped on them.
Why Clark?
Before analyzing the chronological evolution of the company, let’s clarify what made Clark special. Judging by magazine ads and the lighters themselves, the 1920s in the United States was a decade dominated by lighters like Evans, Ronson, Clark, Marathon, Golden Wheel, Carlton, and Douglass. The market was incredibly fragmented as demand grew exponentially every year and we are only mentioning the more influential brands, as there are at least a dozen more that collectors know about. Few would survive the Great Depression (Fig 2).
So, again, what made Clark special? Evans had nice Art Deco designs, but low quality build materials and catered to the tastes of the common man. Low prices ensured Evans would weather the Depression. While it did make solid silver lighters in partnership with Blackinton, it was never their main selling point. Douglass made luxury lighters in silver and gold but their designs do not come close to the variety and ingenuity of Clark. Ronson’s genius can be seen in their automatic lighter whose patent led to a bitter dispute in the 1930s, but its story of fame is different because essentially Ronson produced massively during and after the Great Depression. Their earliest models are beautiful and high quality, but the artistic value is more limited in our opinion. All other companies, while they made beautiful lighters highly collectible today, such as the Marathon Windlite, were essentially lighters produced by stealing the Clark patent. It is the result of fraud during those crazy years when patents were more difficult to enforce. More discussion about this will follow below.
Clark, on the other hand, while producing lighters that anyone could afford, targeted the upper class, the high society of the Roaring Twenties. Their lighters in solid gold, solid silver, and lighter-watch combo, as well as the fabulous Namiki versions obviously catered to the tastes of the upper crust. Their tennis, golf, and hunting designs betray the life of leisure enjoyed by the rich people of the day. In an ad from Sept. 22, 1928 in The Saturday Evening Post, Clark boasted that “Clark Lighters sell from $7.50 to as many hundreds of dollars or thousands as you care to pay for exclusive designs.”
Clark’s original contributions
And this was not just idle marketing language. Those lighters exist and themselves sell today for thousands of dollars, in the collectibles market. Clark worked closely with Attleboro-based jewelers Webster and Blackinton as well as with other workshops where they produced solid silver lighters, often decorated with porcelain enamelwork. Not only the precious metal used makes the Clark an exceptional lighter. As we have seen, there were others who produced lighters in silver & gold. It is the innovative shapes and the designs that make Clarks unique. Clark stole the liftarm concept from Dunhill (Greenwood & Wise) but everything else they did to their lighters was original and shamelessly copied by others. Clark complained in their ads countless times; one from January 14, 1928 in the New York Times is particularly suggestive: “What flattering imitators the beauty of Clark Lighter has inspired! How they try to capture and imprison in their mechanical monstrosities the lure of the lighter that is a Clark.”
Clark introduced the Petite, a smaller-size lighter for ladies; the Windodger, a beautiful windshield lighter promptly copied by Marathon and Golden Wheel, and an innovative automatic horizontal push mechanism. But nothing brought Clark eternal fame as their “Pillow” and “5-sided” lighters. In our view – and it may be a subjective one – the modernistic asymmetrical 5-sided is the quintessential Art Deco lighter, the most exquisite and attractive design of the Golden Age of smoking, one that surpasses any shape produced in the United States or Europe. They were made by Blackinton in solid gold, solid silver and gold plate. The “lightning bolt” design, which we find the most attractive, captures the essence of the Art Deco spirit like no other lighter