 Sensational cigar gifts on auction . . . if you can afford them!
Los Angeles, December 6 – One of the wonderful things about cigars is the vast array of memorabilia which has grown up around them.
Cigar boxes . . . bands . . . lighters . . . cutters . . . store figures.
They’re on the block on eBay, if you can stand the prices:
• Authentic 19th Century cigar figurines, including an Indian, an Indian maiden, a Turk and a soldier, all offered at opening bids of $10,000 each and each expected to go for between $20-30,000!
• A cigars-in-resin sculpture called “Waiting to Exhale” by the artist Arman, created in 1997 in 100 editions. It’s 16 1/2-inches tall and 9 3/4-inches wide and offered with a starting bod of $6,500.
• A 14-karat gold Tiffany & Co. cigar box from the 1930s, with elegant legs, a shell-type clasp and cherrywood interior, offered at a starting bid of $5,900.
• A magnificent 1930s Cuban El Rey del Mundo humidor with four compartments that swing out and a fifth, bottom compartment which lifts out. Each compartment was meant to store cigars, perhaps of a different size. Bids start at $1,250.
• Perhaps the most fascinating of all is a tin sign advertising “Hans Wagner” cigars by the Freeman Cigar Company of Pittsburgh (shown above). One of baseball’s greatest players, Honus Wagner was a Hall of Fame shortstop for the Pirates from 1900 to 1917 and famously refused to endorse either tobacco products or alcoholic beverages.
His stance caused the Sweet Caporal Cigarette Co. to stop the issuance of what is now the most famous baseball card in history around 1911. In 1989, Joe Davidson, writing in his classic “The Art of the Cigar Label” noted that only 38 specimens of the card were known to exist (others have estimated that between 50 and 200 cards still exist). The last sale, in 2000, of a Wagner card in excellent condition, brought $1.265 million in an eBay auction.
Davidson noted that he knew of only 18 specimens of the Wagner cigar brand label and that the Freeman Cigar Co. tried to get around the star’s refusal to endorse tobacco by calling the brand “Hans Wagner” rather than “Honus Wagner.” This sign may be even rarer, who knows?
In any case, it’s up for sale, starting at $22,000. The condition appears to be good but now perfect and the auction ends on December 12.
Jar Stars:
The holiday auction season is heating up on eBay, especially for collectible items like our favorite, the cigar jar:
• A near-perfect Partagas Humijar from the 1920s or 30s is up, following up on the sale of a similar – but not as nice – Humijar that went for $655 in October. This is a seven-inch-high bakelite container with a marbleized green-and-brown color and an interior humidifier to keep the cigars fresh. The auction ends next Sunday, but the item has drawn 39 bidders since Thursday and the price is up to $300 already, but still short of the reserve price!
• Another post-Revolution Partagas (Havana) Sevilla Humijar is up, this time from a seller in New York. An identical jar went for $676 last week and this one is starting off well. It started at $49.99 and had reached $202 by Sunday evening from 11 bidders. The auction ends next Saturday.
• A Montecristo (Havana) Millennium Robustos jar is available in an auction that will end next Sunday. It’s a heavy porcelain jar in the original box (but without the cigars) that was one of three that was issued for the Millennium Reserve series of Cohiba, Montecristo and Cuaba. Bidding started at $9.99 and has drawn one bid by Sunday night.
• A Cohiba Piramides jar from the same Millennium series is up from Australia. It also comes with the original box and starts at $116.60 ($150 Australian). There are no bids so far and the auction ends on Friday. Will it sell? The same item went for $105 last week.
• A Montecristo (Dominican) Delacroix jar that did not draw much interest last week is up again, starting at $9.95. It appears to be in good condition and the auction also ends on Saturday.
• A marvelous mahogany humidor made by the Cuban H. Upmann factory, possibly from the 1940s, includes gorgeous inlays, a widened base, key lock and an all-cedar interior. It’s personalized on the interior for a fellow named Eduardo Penedo Camaguey. It’s eight inches deep and 16 ½ inches wide. The bidding started at $285 and it’s drawn three bids so far and is up to $330 with the bidding ending on Tuesday.
We Wuz Wrong:
We had an error in our story a couple of weeks ago about the primary of machine-made cigars in the American market. The Royal Blunts series, including the stunning “Wet Mango” flavor, are made by Swedish Match, not by Swisher International.
My thanks to Jeff Wagner for pointing out our error; we promise to do better the next time we profile cigars flavored with any tropical fruit!
~ Rich Perelman
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