Posted 3 years ago
valentino97
(720 items)
Why not smoke to history's most famous ill-fated lovers? Marc Antony and Cleopatra. (or, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, 1963....or Thurston Hall and Theda Bara in the silent 1917) Such romance! Anyway this cardboard cigar box falls somewhere in the 1961-66 range. It has a fragment of the tax sticker and states: "these cigars are predominately natural tobacco with non-tobacco ingredients added". I wanted it because of the famous Egyptian lovers theme.
Lovely artwork on this box, cigar boxes were so great for storing special things
Jenni - yes very true. I use my 13 boxes for that very purpose :-) Thank you, I love the artwork too, it appeals to my love for advertising and graphic arts :-)
As matter of fact valentino, I have a much newer (ca. 1990's-ish, I suppose?) version of the exact same box, with most of the exact same graphics on it (- tax stamp, and +UPC code, gov't warnings, and other modern crap, that is) which I'm currently using to hold a handful of small 'special things' [nod @Newfld] that are still waiting for their own eventual pics/CW posts... :-) :-) :-) :-)
AnythingObscure - yes, when I did research online for this I saw that this brand has been around for quite awhile with only minor changes to the labels. I added the last photo for you, does your item have this info too? I love cigar boxes and their wonderful artwork. I'm not a smoker so I am not sure how to take the disclosure about using non-tobacco ingredients. :-)
The Burtons becoming as famous as Helen of Troy, Marc Anthony and Cleopatra and even Napoleon and Josephine, we were lucky to be in such good company. Great find, some cigar boxes making it into a few of the American Egyptomania books.
Nope valentino, that (nifty!) labeling on the bottom of my box has been replaced with a boring UPC barcode "proof of purchase seal", naming "Consolidated Cigar Corp., Ft. Lauderdale, FL". (and it also has a sharpie-marker written 50c price inside the lid, so apparently the cost of 'em didn't rise all that much between the 60's and 90's? <lol>) Mine still has that ominous "...with non-tobacco ingredients added" disclaimer on one side, though...? <eeek>
Phil - Thanks, this cigar box is not in your Egypt book LOL but I am sure it was popular because of the movie in 1963 with Liz and Richard.
AnythingObscure - thank you for adding more mystery to this brand! I think they loved the graphic Antonio Y Cleopatra labeling and kept it as time went by. Changed it a little here and there. While I've been on CW posting tonight, I'm watching PBS "Wendell Berry's Kentucky" which is about tobacco farmers and their struggles. That's quite a coincidence. It's a great film and worth watching.
Great Condition!!
T.
Thomas - thanks! I love old cigar boxes because of the graphics - and how useful they are - duh obviously!
That, that, and that, Mary, great post! :^)