Misc_real_and

Tobacco “Jars” that look like boxes

Other fraudulent items involving depictions of negro-Americans include these tobacco humidors, frequently and erroneously called cigar boxes because they’re made in the shape of cigar boxes. These porcelain treasures are of 19th century manufacture, with a good many varieties pictured in Joe Horowitz’s outstanding FIGURAL TOBACCO JARS (Baltimore: FTJ Publications, 1994). These tobacco humidor boxes are found with white guys, black guys, pixies and animals sitting on, lying on or pulling them. They are after-market (gift-shop and tobacconists) items made to hold smoking tobacco, not cigars. Good ones run in the many hundreds of dollars but BEWARE as what you’re most likely to find is a modern cast iron reproduction of a black guy with a snuff box. If your box is wood lined cast iron, it’s a fake. Bright enamel paint should alert the wise buyer to the fact it’s new.

LEFT: Cast iron modern reproduction;

RIGHT: 19th century porcelain: note the delicacy of color in the real humidor box.

Strange LIME KILN CLUB item

Another mystery item similar to the previous can is this LIME KILN CLUB whatchamacallit. There’s no ID, no tax notice, no tax stamp, no caution notice and no R.D. Farmister Tobacco Co. registered in North Carolina in the 30’s or any other time. During the Depression, a lot of cigars and other home made items got sold out of the back of pick-up trucks at farmer’s markets to avoid taxes and government interference. That was illegal and subjected the families doing so to substantial fines so you would be a fool to put your name and address on what you were selling. Though the “maker’s name” and back-box line have been added, the basic label is an 1883 image, part of a large find of this label discovered in the late 1940’s in a Western New York chicken coop being used as wall insulation along with tens of thousands of other labels. This item has no characteristic of a cigar package other than the word cigars. Experts say, “stay away” unless you know what you’re buying and don’t care if it’s a fraud. I’d stay away.

Real tobacco cutters don’t cut cigars

Highly collectible, some quite valuable, but these are NOT cigar cutters. You’d destroy just about any cigar you tried to cut with one. Until the 1930’s these tools sat atop the counter wherever plug (chewing) tobacco was sold. Plug was shipped in 8, 12 and 16 ounce long strips, and merchants used these to cut off ounce and half ounce pieces to order. They became obsolete after the introduction of cellophane, when manufacturers began “sanitary wrapping” each ounce of chaw. More than one million cutters were made in more than 100 known styles. The ones illustrated are highly polished and over-restored, a controversial practice amateurs should never attempt. The imp upper left was originally painted.

Unreal crock that MAY be Real...

This mystery crock is 6” across, 4.5” high and unmarked on the bottom. The text refers to one of the top dozen cigar label printers, but what it was used for is not known for certain. Best guess is that it held some sort of glue to paste the labels and other trim onto a cigar box.

Since the two that have sold on ebay are the only two known, there is no absolute certainty of their authenticity or age. I took a chance as it’s probably old. It’s included here to encourage debate. Opinions are welcome. Knowledge even more so.

Opinions are welcome. Knowledge even more so.

[10449]

Real girlie cigarette, not cigar, cards by Trinidad y Hno

Cuban cigarette companies were the first to have used collectibles as purchase-inducements and as protection against counterfeiters. Two NCM exhibits trace the earliest (mid 19th century) made-to-be-collectible cigarette labels and the story behind them.

In the early 1900’s, the world’s biggest user of cigarette cards was TRINIDAD Y HNO (Trinidad and Brother). Their wildly popular cards were produced in more than one size, and covered a wide range of subjects. By far, the most popular were actresses and nudie cuties like seen here. The tiny 1 3/4” x 2 1/2” card (left) is numbered 296 so you can get an idea of how many were in this one series.

These are often called “cigar insert cards” (sometimes by ebay sellers who should know better) because [1] the Trinidad name is confused with the modern cigar company that has revived that name and [2] the Cuban word “cigarros” (cigarettes) is mistranslated. [11921]

Lower card not in the NCM collection. An exhibit of these is scheduled.

Unreal King Edward belt buckle

Want a heavy metal belt buckle? This may do.

Want a cigar collectible from the Swisher Cigar Co. and their famous nickel smoke? Stay away. This is as fake as the “Tiffany” and “Wells-Fargo” buckles that have flooded the market in recent years.

This is not old, not cigar, not advertising.

It’s a modern belt buckle.

This exhibit highlights various items offered for sale on ebay. Included are two kinds of items: real and unreal.

Real items are those that are old and originally created by the cigar or tobacco industry, but often incorrectly named or described on ebay.

Unreal items are modern attempts to deceive.

Home Frauds-Fakes-Fantasies

Real and Unreal tobacco humidors look like cigar boxes

These tobacco humidors are frequently and erroneously called cigar boxes because the base is made in the shape of a cigar box. These porcelain boxes were made 1870-1920 with white men, black men, pixies or animals sitting on, lying on, or pulling them. A selection is pictured in Joe Horowitz’s outstanding FIGURAL HUMIDORS: MOSTLY VICTORIAN (Baltimore: FTJ Publications, 1997). They are after-market (gift-shop and tobacconists) items made to hold smoking tobacco, not cigars. Good ones run in the many hundreds of dollars but BEWARE as what you’re most likely to find is a cast iron black guy with a snuff box. If your box is wood-lined cast iron, it’s a fake. Bright enamel paint should alert the wise buyer to the fact it’s new.

LEFT: 19th century porcelain: note the delicacy of color in the real humidor box.

RIGHT: Cast iron modern reproduction.

Unreal or a rule breaker?

A genuine mystery is this LIME KILN CLUB whatchamacallit. There’s no ID, no tax notice, no tax stamp, no caution notice and no R.D. Farmister Tobacco Co. registered in North Carolina in the 30’s or any other time. During the Depression, a lot of cigars and other home made items got sold out of the back of pick-up trucks at farmer’s markets to avoid taxes and government interference. That was illegal and subjected the families doing so to substantial fines so you would be a fool to put your name and address on what you were selling. Though the “maker’s name” and back-box line have been added, the basic label is an 1883 image, part of a large find of this label discovered in the late 1940’s in a Western New York chicken coop being used as wall insulation along with tens of thousands of other labels. This item has no characteristic of a cigar package other than the word cigars. Experts say, “stay away” unless you know what you’re buying or don’t care if it’s a fraud.

I stayed away all three times it’s been offered on ebay.

Real AND Unreal cigar jars

Beware glass jars with paper labels.

Real ones exist, but are very rare. Most of them, like this, are marriages of old glass cigar jars and a cigar box end label, slapped together by a greedy dealer hoping to get rid of two items he or she was having a hard time selling. The jar is real; the label is real; it’s the marriage that’s fraudulent. Provenance means nothing as the jar seen here, like many others, was offered by a big-name auction house.

It’s easy to tell the Real from the Unreal. A Real cigar jar should have 3 and possibly 4 pieces of paper glued on: a label, a caution notice, a tax stamp and, if after WWI, a tax class notice. This jar like nearly all fakes has only a label. It’s true that jars before WWI don’t have tax classes, and yes, it’s possible that a tax stamp might have been applied with a different glue and come off or been washed off without a trace remaining...but if there’s an advertising label there better be a Caution Notice. Jars don’t realistically survive with one and not the other. A glass cigar jar with a label and no Caution Notice is almost certainly a marriage. If there is a Notice, check its authenticity: match the factory, state and tax district printed on the Notice with what’s embossed on the bottom of the jar; that prevents the faker from gluing any old left-over Notice onto the jar. If they don’t match, odds are 99% it’s a fake. Why buy a fake?