Many hundred-year-old puns and jests are easy to decipher and appreciate
today. But some of the old jokes, perhaps referring to a popular turn of phrase,
a stage role, a contemporary stereotype, or local characters, are tantalizingly
opaque to modern students of the vintage cigar box.
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BERLIN OLD BOYS
Trimmed nailed wood box (25)
Factory 21 IRD 32
W. M. Schliemann, Berlin, Ont.
CMC 2001.185.25 Tony Hyman Collection
Some versions of this cigar box label place a rectangle of
mirrored silver between the donkeys, to make clear just who the third member
of "we three" is.
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MANNESS'S CUT-OFF
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 16 IRD 32
Sam. R. Manness, London, Ont.
CMC 2001.185.14 Tony Hyman Collection |
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DON'T ARGUE
Trimmed Wood cigar box lid
Con Jones, Vancouver, B.C.
CNC 2001.185.37 Tony Hyman Collection
Sports entrepreneur Con Jones came to Vancouver, B.C. from
Australia in the early 1900s. He opened a successful chain of pool halls and
tobacco shops. His slogan, "Don't Argue! Con Jones Sells Fresh
Tobacco", and his trademark image, reminiscent of a vaudeville comedy
team, were featured on all his tobacco products and comprised Vancouver's
first neon advertising sign.
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HAROLD H.
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 1 IRD 32 Series of 1897
Brener Bros., London, Ont.
CMC 2003.46.47
Harold H. and Ace are virtually the same images, used by two different London, Ontario cigar
makers. One claims that the horse pictured is his own. Were these brands a
bantering conversation between the two men? Not a wild presumption for the
collegial world of 19th-century London cigar makers.
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CAPADURA
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 3 Port 20D Series of 1915
Brener Bros., London, Ont.
CMC 2004.122.1 |
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WHO'S BEEN HERE?
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 2 IRD 14 Series of 1897
Possibly J. M. Fortier Ltd., Joliette, Que.
CMC 2003.46.84
A Victorian domestic drama on a cigar box label: cigars are missing, and a husband knows it was not he who smoked them. Missing cigars could only constitute evidence of a trystor at least an undisclosed male guestin a society where it was conventionally men who smoked the cigars.
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CONDUCTOR'S PUNCH
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 9 IRD 28 Series of 1897
Fred Keil, Waterloo, Ont.
CMC 2001.185.18 Tony Hyman Collection
Presumably manufacturer Fred Keil's pun on the
Punch brand
cigars made by his London, Ontario neighbour, George Kelly. Besides a picture
of himself, Mr. Keil also includes one of his horse, "Dalmoor"perhaps
a response to the horse-inspired brands of fellow London manufacturers, Brener Bros. and Hy Simon?
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NO MATCH
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 13 IRD 32
B. F. Honsinger, St. Thomas, Ont. ca. 1897
CMC 2003.116.7 |
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ON HAND
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 3 IRD 6 Series of 1897
A. Isaacs, St. John, N.B.
CMC 2004.122.15 |
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OUR PRESCRIPTION
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 4 IRD 32 Series of 1883
Possibly J. Payne or H. Simon, London, Ont.
CMC 2004.216.13 |
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QUAIL ON TOAST
Trimmed nailed wood box (50)
Factory 3 IRD 34
O'Brien Bros. Chatham, Ont. ca. 1897
CMC D-13662 |
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