Antique 1900s - 1920s Pennsy Gold Embossed Cigar Label Tampa 🚬 FL, Classic!

Who Made Pennsy Cigars in Tampa? 🚬 Pennsy Gold Embossed Cigar Label, Tampa, Florida

Size: 8 1/2" x 6 1/2" ~ Little to no wear.

This is a very neat label. "Virtue," "Liberty" and "Independence" have a great seal and heavy gold embossing on this classic. It's an antique Pennsy cigar box label from Tampa, Florida, 1900s to 1920s, never used, and it's a 5¢ cigar label that looks like it belongs on a state document.

🔍 What's on it

At the top, the coat of arms of Pennsylvania: an eagle over a shield with a sailing ship, a plow and sheaves of wheat, two rearing horses on either side, and the ribbon reading VIRTUE LIBERTY INDEPENDENCE. Below it, PENNSY on a white ruled panel, flanked by black shields lettered P and four gold coin medallions, all on an oval yellow sunburst, with a red 5¢ triangle in the upper corner. The gold is embossed, raised right up off the paper, and the back is plain with the embossing showing through in reverse.

🦅 Virtue, Liberty and Independence

"Pennsy" is the old nickname for Pennsylvania, and the label borrows the state's own arms. Pennsylvania adopted that coat of arms in 1778: the bald eagle, the two horses, a ship for the state's commerce, a plow, three golden sheaves of wheat, and an olive branch and cornstalk crossed beneath, with the motto "Virtue, Liberty and Independence." That's a lot of dignity for a nickel cigar!

🌴 Tampa, the Cigar City

Tampa became the cigar capital almost overnight. In October 1885 cigar maker Don Vicente Martinez Ybor contracted with the Tampa Board of Trade to move his business there from Key West, and Ybor City grew up around his factory. Cuban, Spanish, Italian and other immigrant cigar makers poured in, and by 1910 more than two hundred cigar factories in Tampa were turning out over a million cigars a day. That's the world a label like this one came from.

✨ The gold and the artists

Amazing gold embossed label. Most companies at the time used real gold flakes in the embossing. Cigar labels show you what antique advertising is all about, with the wonderful graphics that lithography and embossing provided that modern printing just can't reproduce. This was mostly a lost art after the 1920s, unfortunately. These had to be done on heavy paper stock, which makes them stay vibrant and new-looking for a long time, and my pictures seriously don't do it justice.

Most of these artists were very good but desperate for work during that era, and got paid very little and received no recognition for their work. Unfortunately, the majority of these artists will remain unknown, but we can keep their art alive forever.

🏡 Display

Imagine hanging this over-100-year-old antique advertising on your wall as home decor in any room! It's a great gift for a cigar smoker, anybody from Pennsylvania, or anybody from Tampa.

Cigar labels are a reminder of a bygone era, and the lithography on them is unparalleled even to this day, in my opinion. Museums and art institutes have galleries dedicated to them, and more and more collectors are seeking them out to preserve their history. Once the limited supply for sale is gone and on display with collectors or in galleries, they will be very difficult to acquire.