Zippo Manufacturing Co. and W.R. Case & Sons Cutlery Co.
hosted a record number of participants at the 2006 International
Zippo/Case Collector’s Auction.

Zippo’s Retail Marketing Manager Kathy Jones said Thursday
before the main event, more than 850 people attended the auction,
compared to the 700 who attended the last bi-annual event in
2004.

Jones said the auction and bi-annual Zippo/Case International
Swap Meet are like reunions for collectors and club members from
all over the world. Those attending Thursday’s events came from 40
states and 14 foreign countries, Zippo President and Chief
Executive Officer Greg Booth said while welcoming the crowd at the
start of the auction.

Zippo and Case officials alike said the turn-out for the auction
was great and the food -ðby the Old Library restaurant in Olean,
N.Y. -ðwas wonderful, making for the perfect start for the
much-anticipated Swap Meet extravaganza today and Saturday.

Twenty pieces were sold during the auction. The highest selling
piece overall was a Case knife set of 20 knives in a Rainbow
Trapper Collection. The one-of-a-kind collection features prototype
trappers in every color of the rainbow from bubble gum pink to key
lime green, purple and antique brown, and sold for $7,000.

The highest-selling Zippo item Thursday was a 24-lighter Zippo
lighter-shaped retail display case by Korean distributor Shin Myung
Glovix with six prototypes made here in Bradford. The display went
for $2,100.

Some of the proceeds from Thursday’s sales will benefit the
Blaisdell Foundation, as well as the McKean County SPCA -ðSarah
Dorn’s favorite charity, Jones said before the auction.

Dorn is a daughter of George G. Blaisdell, founder of Zippo
Manufacturing Co.

Blaisdell’s grandson, Zippo co-owner and Chairman of the Board
George Duke took a minute to talk with the audience just prior to
the auction.

“You are our grand ambassadors,” Duke said to the collectors on
hand at the auction. “When you all leave here and go home and still
tell the stories about your time here, you are our grand
ambassadors.”

“If my grandfather were here, he would not believe how far
(Zippo) has come,” Duke said. “And we would be nothing without you
and your love and support.”

“I’m delighted to see all the collectors,” Booth said before the
auction. “It’s so incredible that these two small companies in
Bradford, Pennsylvania, command such a position in the global
market. It’s just absolutely phenomenal.”

Case President and Chief Executive Officer Tom Arrowsmith said
before the auction that Wednesday’s historical tour for member of
the Case Collectors Club was a “rousing success.” More than 500
people have already toured the plant, as well, he said.

Tom Walicki of Albuquerque, N.M., who had donned a flame-adorned
top hat for the auction Thursday, said it was his second Zippo/Case
Swap Meet event and that “each one gets better.”

“There is a great sense of camaraderie here,” Walicki said,
adding he drove three days from New Mexico to Bradford for the
weekend festivities.

Greg Harmon of Shirley, Ill., said this was the fourth trip to
Bradford for Zippo/Case events, accompanied by is son, Toby Harmon
of Jasper, Ind. Between the two of them, they said, they own 300 to
400 Case knives.

Kenji Fukuhara of Japan, who is a Zippo representative there,
talked about how huge Zippo is in his country, adding he donated
two lighters – the Yokohama Swap Meet 2005 Treasure collection –
for Thursday’s auction. The Yokohama set sold for $500.

All totaled, the pieces auctioned off Thursday brought in
$50,500.