Stogie News: Cigar Cutter Sells for $60,500 at Auction

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 “stimulated”) 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.

-Patrick A

Tags: cigars