Vintage Charles The Great Commodores CIGAR BOX Havanas! - (eBay item 310002949696 end time Dec-05-07 18:15:00 PST)

Vintage Charles The Great Commodores CIGAR BOX Havanas! - (eBay item 310002949696 end time Dec-05-07 18:15:00 PST)

This one shows a drawing of a three-story factory on the lid and says, "Product of Charles the Great Factory, Havana Wrapper, Havana Filler, Salvador Rodriguez, Inc., Commodores." The box ends says, "Charles the Great Factory Commodores." Inside the lid is the same design as the outer lid. The front is marked, "Commodores" and has the remnants of an engraved paper tax stamp on it that still shows an "S" and "50."

The box bottom has a printed and embossed seal that says, "City of Tampa Florida, Mascotte, Organized July 15 1887" and has an image of a sailing ship in the center. There's more writing: "Seal of the City of Tampa, Fla., Used by Special Permission of the Tampa City Council, (signed) 'Jus. M. Henderson, City Clerk', Fact. No. 409, Coll. Dist. Fla. 50.

There are two rectangles on the bottom. The big one has "Fact. No. 409 District of Florida" and a small print Notice that the cigar makers have complied with all regulations, etc. The other one says, "The Cigars herein contained were manufactured to retail at not more than Five Cents each and are so tax-paid." Between those rectangles are two blank lines marked Packer and Bander, but no one ever filled in their names. A hand-stamp says, "Claro."

I don't know the age of this box, but it's earlier than 1962 as these were real Havana cigars. The box has dovetail joints on all four corners and the bottom is attached with six nails. The hinges are good. There's no hint of tobacco smell, in fact, no smell at all.

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