Ok reader, this is one of my best eBay secrets, but I’m in a giving mood so strap in for a history lesson. Snoopy—Charlie Brown’s beloved beagle—was a cultural symbol during the Vietnam War. People back home, as well as some servicemen, used him as a WWI fighter pilot to criticize our involvement in Vietnam. (Snoopy fighting the Red Baron was seen as a more just war.) But, some servicemen used him as a symbol of the war effort.
Either way, the result is there are a bunch of Snoopy-engraved Zippo lighters floating around in the world. Some are crude—think Snoopy with a thought bubble that just says “Sex.” Some are sweet—think Snoopy with a thought bubble that has the name of a serviceman’s wife. Some are sad—think Snoopy saying “I wanna go home.” They are all incredibly fucking cool and relatively well priced for vintage ephemera.
Some people think it’s morbid to own one of these, but history is full of contradictions. Scour eBay, ask your grandfather, or go to a local antique market. One of those three will probably have a vintage Snoopy Zippo.