Collection RC0226 - Cigar label collection

374 lithographs of cigar labels with price lists, a cigar box and lid, notebook with cigar bands, and 4 collector guides.

This collection consists primarily of illustrative labels from cigar boxes manufactured by cigar companies in the United States in the last decade of the nineteenth century when cigar companies became aware of the importance of advertising their products to a large number of discriminating cigar smokers. The major companies were: Geo. S. Harris & Sons, Lith. Phila.; L.E. Neumann & Co.; Schumacher & Ettinger N.Y.; and Schmidt & Co. With regard to Canadian cigar companies, Adam Beck. London Ont. is represented, and there is also a box lid from Joseph Winterhalt of Berlin (now Kitchener), Ont. The labels were lithographed with original designs and often patriotic motifs: young women, historical figures, heroes of battles, native people, sports and leisure, Cuba and the Caribbean, and events of the day. For more information on the manufacture of cigar labels and their collecting, see Mark Trout’s “Essential Background Information for the Collector of Cigar-Label Art” in the 2007 edition of The Price Guide Book of Cigar Label Art.