Aquarium 'Half-Giant' Lighter by Dunhill

An ‘Aquarium’ table lighter in ‘Half-Giant’ or table size, with gold-plated hardware, and four Perspex panels. These wonderfully designed and beautifully executed lighters are all unique, more often than not depicting an underwater scene featuring either fresh-water fish or sea-water (but never both) creating a unique work of art. The ‘Aquarium’ lighters were all designed and hand-made between 1950 and 1959, by Ben Shillingford (1904-2000) whose unique skills in designing, carving and hand-painting the Perspex panels could never be equaled. Upon his retirement, the skills necessary to continue to manufacture the ‘Aquarium’ lighter could not be found, and production ceased. The ‘Aquarium’ lighter was made in two sizes, the ‘Half-Giant’ and the smaller (and somewhat rarer) ‘Service’ size. They were available in three metal finishes, namely gold-plated, silver-plated and chromium-plated, and all were, of course, fuelled with petrol rather than butane, which came into common usage in the 1