Lot 84
  • 84

Oscar Peterson

Estimate
10,000 - 15,000 GBP
bidding is closed

Description

  • Dunhill Rollagas lighter given to Oscar Peterson by Ella Fitzgerald
  • Gold
18K two-tone gold braided Dunhill rollagas lighter, engraved on the underside with the initials "OP", 66 x 25 x 13mm.

Catalogue Note

Since their first manufacture in the mid-1950s, Dunhill Rollagas lighters have achieved a legendary status. Former owners range from Elvis Presley to Harpo Marx and from Noel Coward to Ronnie Kray. Even James Bond’s lighter of choice is a Dunhill.

The present example was a gift to Oscar Peterson from Ella Fitzgerald for his birthday. Ella had Oscar’s initials engraved in the lighter before presenting it to him. The gift probably dates sometime from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s since the album Ella and Oscar was released in 1975 and Oscar quit smoking in the mid-1980s.

Oscar was known as an exemplary gentleman. As Kelly Peterson recalls "...during one of his many nightclub performances with his Trio of Ray Brown and Ed Thigpen, Oscar was playing a lightning-fast solo when he noticed a woman at the front table take a cigarette from the package and search for a lighter. Without losing a beat and maintaining the solo (and speed) with his left hand, he reached into his right-hand pocket, removed his lighter, smiled, and lit the woman’s cigarette. In the background Ray Brown just shook his head... which made Oscar smile even more broadly as he proceeded to finish the tune."