Dull Tool Dim Bulb: Two Million Dollars of Folk Art Cigar Store Indians Trade Store Figures Real Photo Postcard (And a Favorite Photograph)

The June 8, 2010 auction at Heritage Auction Galleries which set a record for a Cigar Store Indian (over $200,000 for the splendid figure here) may mean what you are seeing above is a few million dollars worth of wood. A Real Photo Postcard, circa 1940, of a most extraordinary collection of carved trade store figures. Quite a group. The piece sold above had exceptional original paint, and often these figures have had repaints over the years. The last photograph, a particular favorite of mine, shows my father and a friend, circa 1935, likely in upstate New York.
Anonymous Real Photo Postcard (Group of Carved Trade Figures and Cigar Store Indians) circa 1940 Kodak "EKC" logo on reverse Collection Jim Linderman

4 comments:

JoeyFebruary 15, 2011 at 5:12 PM
GREAT photo! I wonder what the grouping was for? I see at least a couple that are likely Samuel Robb.
Dull Tool Dim BulbFebruary 15, 2011 at 5:36 PM
The folks I bought it from said the collection was dispersed in the early 1950s but I couldn't verify that...I left most of the big books in New York!
AnnieFebruary 17, 2011 at 2:08 PM
The next best thing to owning a cigar store Indian might be having a great old photo of your dad with one! There must be a neat story behind that photo.
AnonymousJuly 18, 2011 at 5:00 PM
visit www.cigarstorefigure.com