Cool Mecca Cigarettes Item on eBay - Ever so slightly O/T

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Posted By: Jon Canfield

Not sure if any of you saw the auction that ended last night for the Mecca cigarette pack. The final price was slightly over $50.00 and not needing a Mecca cigarette pack for my collection, I did not bid. However, this pack had sort of an interestig twist to it and I truly hope I don't come to regret not bidding later on. Regardless, I thought the board might enjoy the story, so I decided to post it...

We often wonder and discuss the history of our cardboard treasures, who owned them, how were they obtained, etc (just look at the Gilliam Squires post below to understand what I mean). However, it appears the cardboard packages these cards once came in also have interesting stories. The Mecca cigarette pack on eBay was the correct year for double-folder distribution, but that isn't the interesting part of the story or why I posted. What was interesting was the hand written notation on the inner slide. It read "This was found in the head of the Statue of Liberty New York Harbor. We climbed to the head of her. MT. - Sightseers: David Evans, Thomas Jennings, Margaret Jennings - July 26, 1912".

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Posted By: dstudeba

Yes, I enoyed the story and thought about how someone kept a commone cigarette pack they found for all these years.

Kind of like the 2 rocks I have that some forgotten player threw out of a sandtrap in the 1988 US Open.

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Posted By: Jeff Shepherd

And they're related to the great Hughie Jennings, making it even more interesting. Ok, maybe not, but still a cool piece.

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Posted By: 1880nonsports

because it's the 5/6th pack I've seen or come across with writing on it that tells a story from the same time period. Sort of a record from a specific moment in time. Intesting too because it's always hidden on the inside where it would only be found by someone examining all the contents of the pack. When I BUY a pack from that time period I rarely look through it as I fear damaging it. I have a couple such DATED packs in my collection. It brings to mind the story of a "pocket" tin found in a store that was rusted shut. It made a noise when you shook it. It went unsold in an antique store for 10+ years. When finally purchased and opened it contained pieces of gold nuggets.....

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Posted By: leon

Jon- cool story..thanks for sharing and not off topic one bit. When we made the forum focus (at the top of the page) I had packs in mind...and related items....So this is very much ON topic, imo.

Henry- I agree about not always looking on the inside of the packs. When I bought my Gypsy Queen pack from ebay, in a group of packs, the Gypsy Queen was the only one that didn't have an overprint date stamp on it. I asked the seller, before the auctio ended, if the GQ pack had a stamp or date on it. He said no. When I got the pack and looked at it the stamp was on the inside.