American Eagle Tobacco Works

[John V]

This tin box sold quickly on Ebay last night for about $50. Is anyone familiar with this item? My first impression was a fantasy piece, but the embossed lid may indicate otherwise. Thoughts?

[autograf]

My money's on good box, faux graphics........regardless very nice. There's a trade card for the company that's baseball but I don't think it looks exactly like this. Might be real. If so, that was an amazing bargain.

[steve B]

If that's fake it's a really great job. Paper label over rusted steel with the rust showing through and stains that look "right" I'm not sure if there's any way to do that quickly. I have stuff I've put in my garage which is damp and it hasn't aged like that after maybe ten years.

Someone who could do that sort of aging should sell it for far more as art.

Steve B

[khkco4bls]

I'll tell you what it looks good to me and there are similar American Eagle tobacco tins you can look up. That would be a tough one to fake like that

[1880nonsports]

I'm going with a real label. I own the trade card (different) which was later offered as a US stamp. I have seen the tin before but never with a label. I have never seen that image before. While it really isn't that difficult to "distress" something (I worked at the Metropolitan Opera next to the scenic shop where my friend distressed things) - and without it in hand - it looks pretty good. One main test would be to loupe it - but lacking that as the chromolithography would be difficult to replicate - when tilting it at an angle there should be what seem to be thin "patches" of raised ink as a result of the transfer........

no guarantees whether written or implied.

[khkco4bls]

Now I'm not so sure the image looks to washed out to be a nineteenth-century lithograph