Garcia & Co. Humidor, ca. 1865
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GUEST:
This is from my dad and mother, and my husband and I got it because he saw it in our garage and he said, "Becky, ask your – ask your mom and dad for that." And so my dad said, "Yes, you can have it." And my husband had to rework a few things, and… we've had it ever since.
APPRAISER:
Wonderful. So what's so unusual about this is quite simply the size. You know, actually when I was talking to a couple of colleagues, I said, "Come look at this great humidor." And they walked straight past it.
GUEST:
Oh!
APPRAISER:
They thought I was going to show them this little tabletop thing.
GUEST:
Uh-huh.
APPRAISER:
To see something this big is just incredibly unusual. They were used as promotional and advertising pieces.
GUEST:
Mm-hmm.
APPRAISER:
And from the research I was able to do, you had to sell 5,000 cigars to get one of these in your store. So you were really selling cigars.
GUEST:
Oh, goodness.
APPRAISER:
It's a really cool piece, dates from the third quarter of the 19th century. And I can only imagine the smell, the wonderful smell you got when you opened up the back and the smell of these fresh cigars would come out. I think a collector would just die to have something this big. If I saw this come up in a well-publicized auction, I'd expect to see an auction estimate of around $4,000 to $6,000.
GUEST:
Oh, wonderful! Wonderful, thank you.
Appraisal Details
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