RARE MAGLITES

[xo1tech]

willrx, I have a red 7d produced 11/3/81 with "paten pending" on the barrel.

Is it possible that Mag had several hundred or thousands pre-stamped with paten pending and used them up before stamping the new ones? Hopefully someone can find the actual patent dates and share that here? I'd also love to know how many were stamped with the incorrect spelling before it was caught.:thinking:

 

[GasganoFJ60]

willrx, I have a red 7d produced 11/3/81 with "paten pending" on the barrel.

Would you mind posting some pics?
ya know...for science

 

[xo1tech]

Would you mind posting some pics?
ya know...for science

I don't know how. I could e-mail you some.

 

[broadgage]

I was wondering what the part # was!! LOL j/k

In all seriousness, what the heck is RS? Radio Shack? (doubt it, but all I could come up with).

Thanks for any info on that beaut of a MagCharger :thumbsup:, yeah I'm envious.. I love me my MC's.....

RS are a large UK based supplier of electrical, electronic, and other technical parts and supplies. They used to sell Maglights especially branded or marked with the RS logo and part number. AFAIK the flashlights were otherwise standard items and not produced to any special specification.
RS still supply maglight products, but in standard format as sold elsewhere.

(see post 132 in this thread for a picture of an RS branded Maglight)

 

[Monocrom]

Would love to share with you guys a pic. of my first generation 2AA LED Mini-Mag.

But alas, I gave it away to a co-worker who needed a good light; and with whom I became friends with. He later confessed to losing it in a quite frankly idiotic manner.

 

[SnapperSchneider]

Nice old rare Maglites and great infomation. I did not know these were so collectable.

 

[broadgage]

Hey has anyone here ever head of maglite making a 1 C or 1D cell light factory?

The reason I ask is someone I talked to on the web claims to have some. He is not trying to sell them, to me but by the same token I have yet to see a picture either. He says his are factory 1C.

As others have posted, it seems unlikely that Mag ever made a single cell C or D flashlight, except perhaps as samples or prototypes. Even that seems a bit unlikely as a specially manufactured bulb would be needed, AFAIK no stock PR bulbs are made for a single alkaline or zinc carbon cell.
About the only application for such a light would be for any long term emergency when extreme economy in battery usage was needed.

A special PR base bulb of 1.4 volts and 0.15 amp would give 100 hours use on a single cell and enough light with dark adapted eyes to permit of essential movement in familiar surroundings. A 12 pack of D cells would have given many weeks of continual 24/7 light.
During the cold war, and before the LED age, there was more interest in low output, extreme run time incandescent flashlights and area lights. The main application being fallout shelters etc.

 

[magellan]

As others have posted, it seems unlikely that Mag ever made a single cell C or D flashlight, except perhaps as samples or prototypes. Even that seems a bit unlikely as a specially manufactured bulb would be needed, AFAIK no stock PR bulbs are made for a single alkaline or zinc carbon cell.
About the only application for such a light would be for any long term emergency when extreme economy in battery usage was needed.

A special PR base bulb of 1.4 volts and 0.15 amp would give 100 hours use on a single cell and enough light with dark adapted eyes to permit of essential movement in familiar surroundings. A 12 pack of D cells would have given many weeks of continual 24/7 light.
During the cold war, and before the LED age, there was more interest in low output, extreme run time incandescent flashlights and area lights. The main application being fallout shelters etc.

Great info, thanks. Also interesting point about the fallout shelters.

 

[Monocrom]

Nice old rare Maglites and great information. I did not know these were so collectable.

Keep in mind, you can collect anything. Just don't expect to flip even the rare Mag models for big profits. Some things are just fun to collect.

 

[angerdan]

There's a 24k gold plated Mini Maglite AA on eBay (for €180):
ebay.com/itm/Mini-Maglite-AA-original-24-Karat-vergoldet-/321744478100

It's from germany.
taschenlampen-forum.de/maglite/40776-maglite-aa-24-karat.html#post538827

 

[dadel]

Hi everybody, this is my first post here on CPF!

Does anyone else have a mini mag with the bezel engraving upside down?

In the photo, the upper one is my first mini mag from the early 90's. This has the bezel engraving upside down compared to all of my other (newer) minis. It was bought from an unquestionable store in unopened blister packaging, so I'm very confident it's a real maglite. The other one, which came bundled with a 3D made in 1996, has the engraving in the usual way.

The only thing I found on this matter is an old image posting longer back in this thread. However, the image link is broken, so not of much help. I also asked Maglite about this, but they said the engraving has always been the way it is now and referred to the Maglite distributor here in Finland for further questions.

Any thoughts about this? I guess it was a mistake at the factory, but is it a rare one?

 

[magellan]

Your photo didn't come thru.

Interesting question, though. I have an early Maglite with the white paint filled lettering, possibly the first Maglite AA? But anyway, from very early.

 

[magellan]

Since there hadn't been much action on this thread thought I'd post these photos of my collection, which show some of the rarer colors. These show most of my Vari-Beams, 3xD's, and AA lights.
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And finally my collection of Spectrum series, shown with some other incans:
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[dadel]

Your photo didn't come thru.

Ah, I just found out that Onedrive doesn't use static URL for picture sharing anymore, so that makes it kind of hard to use for forum posting purposes. I wasn't able to edit my old post (maybe cause it was my first post?), so here comes a new try with the picture, this time from Imgur:

 

[dadel]

Well, that's what I call a collection. Very impressive!
magellan, how many Maglites do you have in total?

 

[magellan]

Hi Dadel, here's a pretty complete list and descriptions of all my incans, Maglite incans, and a few LED modded Maglites. Note it has one or two HID (high intensity discharge lights) too like the Polarion PH40.

Incans: 47 different lights by 33 different makers/labels, 58 counting dupes

Mags: 69 mags, 90 including dupes


Incans:

Aimshot Xenon Illuminator Tactical aluminum, 2xCR123A, black
Blackhawk 75FL004 Night-Ops Legacy X6-P incandescent, black
Bianchi 1984 2xD B-Lite incandescent aluminum police tactical light w/forward clicky switch
Bianchi 1980s 2xD B-Lite incandescent aluminum police tactical light w/middle channeled switch
Brinkmann Legend LX incandescent, rubberized aluminum grip, 2xCR123A, blue
Brinkmann 2xC incandescent aluminum w/rubber grip, silver
Brinkmann Legend 3xD incandescent aluminum, black (2)
Browning 3xAAA LED/incandescent aluminum, camo
Coleman 2xD incandescent, aluminum, rubberized grip, black
Cyclops Model CYC-10X Xenon Micro Clip, 2xAAA, black plastic
Dorcy 2xD incandescent aluminum, silver
East-West Distibuting 2xD incandescent, black (probably a Dorcy clone as it's similar)
East-West Distibuting 2xAA incandescent aluminum, black
Gordon 3xD incandescent aluminum, blue
Gordon 3xD incandescent aluminum, purple
Gordon 2xAA incandescent aluminum, blue
Gordon 2xAA incandescent aluminum, purple
GreatLite 2xAA incandescent aluminum, blue
GreatLite 3xD incandescent aluminum, blue
GreatLite 4xD incandescent aluminum, black
HQ Power 2xD incandescent aluminum, camo w/strap
HQ Power 5xD incandescent aluminum, black w/strap
Hugsby S3 incandescent aluminum, black (2)
Hybridlight solar rechargeable, black plastic (4)
Lloytron D976 3xD incandescent, black impact plastic (2)
Lumilite 2xD incandescent aluminum, silver
Modamag Colossus, 8x18650, 15,000 lumens, (looks like HID but is bulb)
MegaBrite dynamo (hand-cranked light), probably cast pot metal, red
Mossy Oak 2xD incandescent aluminum, camo w/strap
Mossy Oak 2xD incandescent aluminum, black
NexTorch model T6A tactical incandescent aluminum, 2xCR123A, black
NexTorch model RT7 tactical incandescent aluminum, 2xCR123A, black
Oracle Light incandescent aluminum, 2xAA, black
Polarion PF40 HID (High Intensity Discharge), 4000 LM (my baby!)
Pelican Super PeliLite 2xC incandescent, fluorescent orange plastic
Pelican MityLites incandescent aluminum, 2xAA, (3) various colors, plastic
Powerblazer incandescent aluminum, 2xAA, white plastic (6)
Primos PH-6 incandescent aluminum hunting light, 6xAA, rubberized grip, green
Pro Light 3xD incandescent aluminum, black
Saddlebred 2xD incandescent aluminum, orange
Smith & Wessen 2xD incandescent aluminum, blue
Smith & Wessen 3xD incandescent aluminum, black
Smith & Wessen 4xD incandescent aluminum, black
Spiderfire 6P xenon aluminum, 1xCR123A, black
Ultrafire Xenon HID (high-intensity discharge) TH-1300, 3xCR123A, black
Umarex Walther Tactical incandescent aluminum, 1xCR123A, black
Westinghouse, 3xAAA incandescent aluminum, green


Maglites, including rare (all original incandescent except where noted as LED)

Maglite 2xAAA, silver
Maglite 2xAAA, dark green
Maglite 3xAAA, gold tone anodized
Maglite 2xAA, gold tone anodized
Maglite 2xAA, rare gold plate over brass, limited edition (3)
Maglite 2xAA, gold plate, modded by Fivemega (2)
Maglite 2xAA, purple (2)
Maglite 2xAA, teal, old bezel
Maglite 2xAA, teal, new style bezel
Maglite 2xAA, rare light teal
Maglite 2xAA, fuchsia or hot pink
Maglite 2xAA, rare light pink (2)
Maglite 2xAA, dark green
Maglite 2xAA, jade green, old bezel
Maglite 2xAA, jade green, new style bezel
Maglite 2xAA, blue (2)
Maglite 2xAA, rare shimmer blue
Maglite 2xAA, rare copper color, old bezel
Maglite 2xAA, rare copper color, new style bezel
Maglite 2xAA, red (2)
Maglite 2xAA, dark red
Maglite 2xAA, dark red/wine red/weinrot, 1980s Ontario bezel, top 3 rarest Maglites
Maglite 2xAA, rare light orange, new bezel
Maglite 2xAA, rare dark orange
Maglite 2xAA, rare dark orange, smooth, no knurling, "Cingular" logo
Maglite 2xAA, gunmetal gray
Maglite 2xAA, silver
Maglite 2xAA, rare charcoal
Maglite 2xAA, pewter
Maglite 2xAA, rare bronze (2)
Maglite 2xAA, black & white racing flag design
Maglite 2xAA, red, white, & blue American flag
Maglite 2xAA, red, silver, & blue American flag variation (2)
Maglite 2xAA, rare bead blasted finish, Ferrari logo
Maglite 2xAA, woodland camo (2)
Maglite 2xAA, woodland camo, LED version
Maglite 2xAA, universal camo pattern
Maglite 2xAA, camo, 1980's Ontario bezel, 1st camo ever made, top 3 rarest Maglites
Maglite 2xAA, w/Nitecore LED conversion, black (2)
Maglite 2xAA, rare brass
Maglite 2xAA, brass, 1980's Ontario bezel, "ROLLED BEZEL" inscription w/white paint filled lettering, 1st & oldest Maglite?, extremely rare
Maglite 6xAA, pewter (LED modded, originally 2xD)
Maglite 9xAA, pewter, Kiu stainless crenelated bezel w/glow powder inserts (LED modded, originally 3xD)
Maglite 2xC, black
Maglite 2xC, pewter, bored out w/deepened tail cap, LED modded
Maglite 2xD cut down to 1xD/1x26650, XM-L2 LED w/finned head, programmable, green, by Vesture of Blood
Maglite 2xD cut down to 1xD/1x26650, XM-L2 LED w/finned head, programmable, blue, by Vesture of Blood
Maglite 2xD cut down to 1xD/1x26650, XM-L2 LED w/finned head, programmable, red, by Vesture of Blood
Maglite 2xD, red
Maglite 2xD, purple
Maglite 3xD, rare Spectrum series (rainbow pattern) (5)
Maglite 3xD, rare jade green color (3)
Maglite 3xD, dark green
Maglite 3xD, brass, very rare
Maglite 3xD, bronze, very rare
Maglite 3xD, gray
Maglite 3xD, blue
Maglite 3xD, red
Maglite 3xD, silver
Maglite 4xD, red
Maglite 4xD, blue
Maglite 6xC, black
Maglite 7x26650, LED, modded by Vesture of Blood to 9xXM-L, black


Pre-Maglite VariBeams

VariBeam 2C pre-Mag, electric blue
VariBeam 3C pre-Mag, black
VariBeam 4C pre-Mag, electric blue
VariBeam 5C pre-Mag, electric blue
VariBeam 2D, pre-Mag, electric blue
VariBeam 3D, pre-Mag, electric blue

 

[Toohotruk]

Ah, I just found out that Onedrive doesn't use static URL for picture sharing anymore, so that makes it kind of hard to use for forum posting purposes. I wasn't able to edit my old post (maybe cause it was my first post?), so here comes a new try with the picture, this time from Imgur:

I would tend to think it's very rare...the only other time I've ever even heard of this happening was on this thread.

 

[magellan]

A few AA Mags that didn't make it into the last group photo.
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[bykfixer]

I would tend to think it's very rare...the only other time I've ever even heard of this happening was on this thread.

Quite possibly an error light.
Likely early, early production unit. Somebody saw it and said "stop production mr engraver", but being there was nothing wrong with them attached 'em and sent 'em out.

Or it could have been the engraver made say..100 and stopped...
Or it could be there are thousands out there but the typical Mag consumer doesn't give a flying flip about a flashlight forum so you have the only documented one.

But I'd guess you got an error one.
Either way it's a keeper like an upside down penny. May not be worth a lotta coin, but you have something very few (compared to the millions sold) people have.

I have an ancient beer bottle. Now those are valuable locally in general. Local brewer bottle from say Texas aint worth it's weight in salt to a guy in say New York.
This brewery in Richmond Va was fairly popular in say 1896. Old dumps are loaded with them.
Well at one point I dug up one in Petersburg. Eh, big deal, another Home Brewing bottle.
But wait, this one has Petersburg on it. Out of thousands owned by local collectors to this day it is the only one known. However, if they made 1, they certainly made more.

Like your upside down engraved mini mag it's considered 'priceless'. Not because it's so dang valuable and worth more dollars than sand on the beach...but because nobody knows what price to put on it, simply because it's the only one known to exist.

I have a 1975 Schwinn Collegiate camel back bike. That was a medium sized frame with a curved top tube to fit short adults. They made 500 in 1974. But because nobody bought them no more were known to be made. Yet my serial number indicates it's a 1975 model. I know there was more made, but again I have the only documented one. Because like Mag Light, they didn't keep very good records of serial numbers. Is it worth a lot? Not really. But I keep it in my living room. lol

 

[magellan]

Great post and story!