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Vintage and Antique Gifts
Size: 9" x 6 1/4"
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Size: 9" x 6 1/4" ~ Some very slight rippling and edge wear.
Amazing Gold embossed label. The whole sheet is printed to look like a polished orange wood cigar box, grain and all, and right in the middle sits a big gold-embossed oval with El Principal in white on a black band, MILD above and QUALITY below, framed in gold filigree and a beaded rim. Most companies at the time used gold leaf or bronze flakes in the embossing.
There isn't a lot of info left out there about this company, unfortunately. You can still find their strip label out there, but these large ones are not available anymore. A great addition to any collection while I have them available! I do not have a lot of them. This has some very slight rippling/edgewear. Never see it in a frame but please see pictures and judge for yourself.
The back is blank cream paper with the oval embossed through in reverse.
It's printed to look just like the polished wood of a fine cigar box. Gold embossing was a whole trade of its own: in the late 1800s cigar labels were embossed and gilded with gold leaf or bronzing, and in 1889 Weidman Bros. & Moyer went into business as cigar box makers specializing in gold embossing on wood as well as printing cigar labels, with factories in Womelsdorf and Sinking Spring, Pennsylvania by 1909. By 1905 there were 70,000 small cigar factories registered, every one of them needing labels just like this.
Imagine hanging this antique advertising on your wall as home decor in any room! Cigar labels show you what antique advertising is all about with the wonderful graphics that Lithography provided that modern printing just can't reproduce. This was a lost art after the 1920s unfortunately.
My pictures seriously don't do it justice. These had to be done on heavy paper stock which makes them stay vibrant and new looking for a long time.
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.
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Take your time — you've got a full six months. If a piece isn't right for you, send it back the way it reached you and we're good.
In the first 30 days your money goes straight back the way you paid. After that it's store credit, so you can put it toward something you'd rather have.
Return shipping we sort out between us, case by case. I don't make this difficult.
If something arrives damaged, or it isn't what I said it was, send me a photo within 48 hours and I'll make it right.
Email info@vintageantiquesgifts.com or call 802-356-9872 — that's me answering, not a call center.
The only things I can't take back are custom or special-order pieces and gift cards.
Preserving History: Authentic Objects Across Eras
