Stogie News: Cigar Cutter Sells for $60,500 at Auction
15 May 2007
After poking fun at the futility of fancy cigar gadgets and even recommending wooden matches over expensive butane torches, I couldn’t help but bring the following story to your attention.
A rare cigar cutter sold for an astonishing $60,500 on Sunday at an auction in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The item was part of the Jim Cate collection, an estate consisting of antiques and advertising items he acquired from a museum/penny store in Idaho.
Dubbed “the mother of all cigar-tip cutters,†the piece features a Marshall Fey Slot Machine Book that gets set into motion each time a stogie is placed into the top to be clipped.
In this fashion, the device is not only a cigar cutter; it’s also a trade stimulator. Popular in saloons in the late nineteenth century, trade stimulators were miniature gambling devices that were legal because instead of offering money, they bestowed chewing gum, stamps, and – you guessed it – cigars upon winners.
Often set beside a cash register or near check-out counters, these machines encouraged (or “stimulatedâ€) customers to take their chance and spend some of their spare change before leaving. After inserting a coin, a handle was depressed or cranked to set into motion a roulette wheel, playing cards, or dice. When the machine stopped, the patron read his “winnings†on the dial; these were dispensed by the clerk rather than spilling out of the machine itself.
The device sold at auction requires a cigar head, not a coin, spin a roulette wheel. According to Showtime Auction Services, only two other cigar cutter/trade stimulators are known to exist.
No word yet on whether any gum, stamps, or cigars were included in the steep sale price.
Tags: cigars
The whole yard sale concept becomes clear to me now. People and their junk. 60 grand on that?? Who says— I gotta have that? It's like Uncle Rico with his ship model to get people to buy plastic bowls.
Wasn't Uncle Rico also from Idaho? Coinsidence? I think not.
The price is way outta my league…but in the dream bar/cigar lounge I am building in my head, this would look awfully good next to the cigar store Indian and vintage Wurlitzer jukebox.
I know, it's a bit ridiculous but I can't help but agree with Scott- it'd be a lot of fun to have in your own personal cigar bar.
My wife is really into antiques, you'd be surprised what people will pay for things. If a train-shaped weathervane can fetch 1.2 million, I think it's reasonable that a cool cigar gadget would get 60 grand! 🙂
Given the current restrictions on good living, the idea of my own personal cigar bar/lounge is something I get lost in frequently. I find myself walking around the city looking at vacant property, thinking “Now that’s a good place for a cigar bar…exposed brick…space for a walk in humidor…yes, leather couches…”
And yes, everyone here is invited…haha