Posted By:
Hal LewisThis is from the National Cigar Museum website:
"In 1900, anyone could order any cigar packed in any type box with any words or pictures they wanted on the label. Wholesalers routinely ordered custom brands and exotic boxes, as did retailers of all sizes, from fancy big city tobacconists to small town cafes. It was possible for a cigar company to make two cigars, usually a domestic five center and a Havana blend for a dime, yet offer hundreds of brands for sale, frequently competing against itself in the same counter."
(This 1900 information conforms precisely with the pricing information on my 1897-99 card. One would think that by 1920 or so, the prices of cigars would NOT still be at those 1899 levels.)
"The cigar industry was unique in the ease with which such brand and packaging customization was possible. Ever since the Civil War, anyone could contact their favorite tobacconist or wholesaler and through them order custom cigar labels. But the use of personalized labels didn't become commonplace until the mid 1890's, when changes in printing and photo technology made it possible to turn any photograph into a cigar box label with the utmost ease, and very little expense. Suddenly, not only manufacturers, wholesalers and retailers, but smokers themselves could order their house, business or children to be pictured on a cigar label for a surcharge as little as two cents. Customers responded to the opportunity to design their own labels with humor and imagination.
(This shows that by 1897, the technology was certainly in place to manufacture my card. It also shows how EASY it would have been for anyone else besides Reccius to also manufactire "Honus Wagner" cigars - as someone else obviously did.)
"Labels which include screened printed black and white photographs were called 'vanity labels' by the cigar box trade and now by collectors. They were particularly popular between 1898 and 1925, though a few vanities could be seen in cigar counters for a quarter century thereafter."
(Again, this shows that Reccius could have made my card and his packaging as early as 1898)
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According to the Museum, Reccius was a "small fish" in a big pond of cigar makers back in 1900... so it is very unlikely that his cigars were ever distributed OUTSIDE of Louisville.
This is consistent with the fact that my card was found inside a scrapbook that had also NEVER left Louisville and which contained items from circa 1900.
Again, just seems likely that Reccius JUMPED on the popularity of "Hans" Wagner in 1898 since he was trying to sell cigars IN LOUISVILLE.
After all... Wagner was not FROM Louisville... and never returned there after leaving for Pittsburgh and becoming a big shot there. So why use his image to sell cigars in LOUISVILLE after Wagner was a distant memory?