Bottom stamp an introduction

As with most collectibles, the date of manufacture of a Zippo lighter often affects its value. Valuable information on the bottom of every Zippo lighter can help you determine its date of manufacture. Most lighters fabricated between 1933 and 1957 can be identified by style and model and the patent-pending marks.

Starting in the mid 50's date codes were stamped on the bottom. The original purpose was for quality control. The date codes have since become an invaluable tool for Zippo collectors.

The appearance of the word "Zippo" in the bottom stamp provides another clue to dating. There have been three major changes, from 1933 to the mid 50's the word Zippo was stamped in block letters. The Zippo script logo was developed in the late 40's and was phased in on the lighter bottom stamp around 1955. In the late 70's the logo was redesigned. It was incorporated into the bottom stamp in 1980

Slim Lighter Identification Codes

Slim lighters were first introduced in 1956, with flat bottom and no date code. The first markings were added in 1957 and overlapped into 1958. From 1957 - 1965 the code configuration on the slim lighters differed from the regular lighters. From 1966 on, the configuration has been the same.

Regular Lighter Identification Codes

Zippo records indicate an overlap of the bottom stamp configurations from 1949 - 1957. Also some lighters produced between 1955-57 were date coded; however, specifics remain unclear.

In 1979 an error was made in the date code. One of the slash marks was removed from the left of the Zippo trademark instead of being removed from the right; thus the code read: / //. This date code error was corrected within the same year to read: // /

Regular Lighter Identification Codes

Effective July 1 1986 the dot and slash system was replaced by year / month code. Year is noted with Roman Numeral; letter designates month (A=Jan., B=Feb., etc.)

Beginning in 2001, the Roman numerals indicating the year were replaced with numbers corresponding to the last digits of the year of manufacture.