Tobacco Tag with General Forrest Image Circa 1870 - 1900
Item #: WR735
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This is a plug tobacco tag with the image of General Nathan Bedford Forrest on it. Shortly after the Civil War ended the demand for southern tobacco went through the roof. At that time smoking and chewing tobacco were shipped in wooden crates called caddies. The crates would be marked by stencil or branded with the name of the tobacco company. But once the crates were opened the tobacco all looked the same. Unscrupulous retailers would take the empty caddies and refill them with their inferior products, and sell them as the higher quality brand tobacco. These small tin tags became popular in the mid 1870's. They were used to identify a particular brand of tobacco by being pinned directly to the tobacco itself. The small tin tags were inexpensive to manufacture, and thousands were produced for the different custom brands and retailors. There have been over 12000 different tobacco tags catalogued by collectors. Collecting of the tags became popular in the 1880's. They were collected not only for their intrinsic value, enterprising retailors started using them to redeem for popular household items. The first form of Green Stamps! The collecting of these small tin tags remained popular up to the 1920's, when machines began wrapping plug tobacco in cellophane wrappers. This small tin tobacco tag is 3/4" across. It has an image of Forrest in a Confederate General's frock coat in the center. Around the perimeter of the tag is a yellow ring, with laurel branches around the top section and GENL FORREST at the bottom. The tag is in very good condition, no bends or chipped or missing paint. These are pretty rare, and are collected by Civil War collectors as well as tobacco advertising.
Your Price $325.00 USD
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