A lighter used by the likes of Winston Churchill from the 50s has sold at auction for over £16,000.

Chiswick Auctions has sold a 'Fox Hunting' Dunhill Aquarium Lighter for £16,875 on 9 April from its Design & Modern Contemporary collection.

The lighter features four lucite panels, each deeply engraved and hand-painted to create a three-dimensional effect; a front panel depicting a hound at the scent and a mounted huntsman, the reverse with a mounted huntsman in a rural landscape, base stamped ‘DUNHILL LIGHTER’.

Dunhill Aquarium Lighters are miniature works of art that first appeared in 1949 and were made until 1959.

Aimed at the wealthy, notable owners of Dunhill Aquarium Lighters were Sir Winston Churchill, the IT couple of post-war Britain Norah Docker and husband Sir Bernard and most recently Timothy Oulton.

Notable owners of Dunhill lighters include ex PM, Winston Churchill (credit: Chiswick Auctions).

The auction house says: "The lighters were made from lucite, characterised by its transparency, durability, and resistance to yellowing.

"The panels that formed the lighters were hand carved with reverse intaglios using dentist tools and drills.

Each lighter was uniquely hand carved and painted. Ben Shillingford led the artistic design on many of the initial pieces, succeeded later by the husband-and-wife duo, Margaret and Allan Bennett.

Operating from their south coast home, they produced roughly twelve lighters weekly.

Margaret would create designs using watercolor and pencil, which she submitted to Dunhill for approval. Allan would then intricately carve these designs using dental tools, after which Margaret would paint them.

Chiswick Auctions add: "The vast majority of designs featured either fresh or salt water fish (never mixing the two), but this example is a rare exception, and is therefore highly collectable."

To find out more about this lighter and Chiswick Auctions, click here.

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