Smoking was an important part of the life of a well-to-do gentleman in the 19th century. A cigar after dinner was routine. Smoking paraphernalia was created not only to be useful but also to show off wealth.
Collectors today still search for all kinds of tobacco-related items, although smoking has lost favor. Pipes, ashtrays, cigar holders, lighters, cigarette or cigar cases, cigarette or cigar boxes, cigarette dispensers and smoking stands are collected.
Some collectors want commercial packaging and advertising, including cigar box labels and wooden boxes, packs of matches, cigar bands, cigarettes packs, trade cards for tobacco products, cut-out newspaper and magazine ads, large posters and other store ads, and store cigar lighters and cabinets.
Many items sell for under $50, but some “tobacciana” collectibles are very expensive. Chrome, plastic, glass or porcelain match and cigarette urns, jewel-studded gold or silver cigarette cases, sterling cigarette boxes for the table and bronze ashtrays by famous makers sell to collectors of fine arts.
One unusual piece from about 1860 is a silver cigar lighter and holder made by Tiffany &Co. The top part is an urn-shaped cigar lighter held by two figures of Hercules. Below that is a pierced tray made to hold cigars.
Chains, embossed heads and other decorations make the 10 1/2-inch-high lighter an impressive table ornament. It was a gift to New York banker Charles Christmas from his partner, August Belmont, who became chairman of the Democratic National Committee in 1860.
Probably because it is a “crossover” collectible wanted by buyers of four types of collections — tobacco, political, unusual silver and work by Tiffany &Co. — it sold for $13,750 at a Sotheby’s auction.
Q: Can you give me some information about an old chair I own? The tag on the bottom says it was made by the Royal Furniture Mfg. Co. of Gardner, Mass.
A: We can tell you your chair is not an antique. Royal Furniture Mfg. Co. was founded in 1934. It’s a small manufacturing firm still in business on Main Street in Gardner. The company makes wooden household furniture.
Q: I own a pair of oval “butterfly mirrors.” They’re mounted in double wooden frames attached to each other on a decorative wrought-iron hinge. Each mirror can pivot up and down and side to side. I have learned the mirrors were patented in 1868 by a black American inventor named Samuel Scottron. I mounted the mirrors in the corner of a room. Are they rare?
A: Samuel Scottron (1843-1905) patented several inventions, including your mirrors. Scottron was in the Union Army during the Civil War, then opened a barbershop in Springfield, Mass. His double adjustable mirrors were invented so his customers could examine their haircuts from every angle.
A customer could also view a reflection of his reflection, giving him an idea of what he looked like in real life — rather than as a reversed “mirror image.” The mirrors originally were sold mounted on a floor-standing cast-iron support so the mirrors could be swiveled much farther than when they’re mounted in the corner of a room.
A complete and restored Scottron mirror is on display at the Campbell House Museum in St. Louis. Scottron’s mirrors sold well in the late 1800s, but that doesn’t mean they’re not rare today.
We have never seen one. By the way, Samuel Scottron is the maternal grandfather of Lena Horne, the famous singer and actress.
Q: My Rookwood vase has a hole drilled in the bottom. It seems to have been done at the factory because the edges of the hole and the bottom of the vase are covered with the same glaze. Does this lower the value of the vase?
A: In the 1930s, lamps were often made from vases, figurines and other objects. The piece was put on a small wooden stand, then a hole was drilled through the wood and, if possible, into the vase or object. A hollow rod went through the vase to hold the light bulb and the cord.
Lamps with colored pottery vases used as the base were especially popular. Some companies made special vases that were drilled at the factory. Your vase is worth less than the identical Rookwood vase without the hole.
Pottery companies also used figurines to make lamps. Figurines couldn’t be drilled, so the lamp was made with a small stand that held the figurine and a tall rod that went over the figurine and held the light bulb. The cord went into the base and out again to be plugged in the wall.
Write to Kovels, The Herald, King Features Syndicate, 300 W. 57th St., New York, NY 10019.
&Copy; 2009 by Cowles Syndicate Inc.
On the block
Current prices are recorded from antiques shows, flea markets, sales and auctions throughout the United States. Prices vary in different locations because of local economic conditions.
Automobile hood ornament, 1951-55 Nash, art-deco woman, chrome, 11 inches, $110.
Official Alan Ladd wallet, leather, image of Ladd in starry background, fan-club identification card plus photo, Brownlee, 1940s, 3 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches, $125.
Brooklyn Ball Club pocket mirror, pictures VP Edward J. McKeever and 2nd VP Stephen W. McKeever, celluloid, black and white, 1912, 2 3/4 inches, $460.
Fenton glass water set, Coin Dot pattern, cranberry opalescent, ice-lip jug, 6 barrel-shaped tumblers, 1940s, $515.
Patchwork quilt, Mariner’s Compass pattern, red, green, blue, brown, pink and white, signed, 1844, 99 x 100 inches, $660.
Coca-Cola Westinghouse Junior soda cooler, embossed letters, hinged lid, bottle-cap catcher, holds 51 bottles, mid-1940s, 25 x 34 x 18 inches, $805.
Mochaware mug, pearlware with molded base, ocher band with blue, white and brown earthworm and cat’s-eye design, c.1830, 4 7/8 inches, $945.
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