It all started during the 1850s Crimean War when British soldiers rolled pipe tobacco in newspaper. From there, Virginia businessman Frances Bonsack invented a device that gently machine-rolled cigarettes around 1880. Up until that time, White women had hand made them, one at a time, much like cigars. The first company to capitalize on that invention was the Peter H. Mayo & Bros. Tobacco Co., in Richmond, VA. Mayo, a slaveholder who had fought in the Confederate Army, was joined by others in machine-rolling their cigarettes, including the North Carolina Dukes who established the competing American Tobacco Company in 1890.

To compete with the aggressive Dukes, the Mayos came up with innovative marketing techniques. One was the insertion of advertising “trade” cards then popular with a variety of 1880s companies, either at point of sale or in products. The Mayos went one step further, producing the first set of collectible trade cards to feature only football players, the 1894 Mayo Cut Plug set (which are NOT for sale in this offer). As well, the Mayos sold their cut or chewing (plug) tobacco in eye-catching lithographed tin cans instead of in paper or bulk. Their brands were made for export and domestic trade with attractive names such as “Eglantine,” “Ivy,” “Holly,” “Banquet Sweet Chewing,” “Mayo’s Genuine TJ. S. Navy,” the first “navy plug” made in this country, and “Mayo’s Cut Plug,” the brand in this tin.

The Duke Brothers were not to be denied, and through mergers and purchases they eventually acquired control of virtually the entire American tobacco industry, some 150 factories in all.  Their American Tobacco Company became known as the “Tobacco Trust” and caught the attention of legislators and was forced to split into four smaller companies in 1914. That was too late for the Mayo Brothers however, who sold out around 1905. They all made good fortunes, especially Peter. He was involved in the “Lost Cause” movement in his hometown of Richmond in the years before he died in 1920, helping to pay for huge statues of traitorous Confederate soldiers like Robert E. Lee, just to make sure that African Americans, immigrants, and poor Whites knew their place in local society. The Mayo factory was torn down in 1924.

American Tobacco and its successors had a habit of producing their hundreds of tobacco products with the same names and in the same packaging as before their companies were subsumed, so there is a very good chance this tin dates to after 1905, when the Mayo Brothers were bought out. It certainly does not date back to 1878 as some others maintain. It is in very good to near New Old Stock condition with only the tiniest scratches and corrosion/patina around all six sides. The cover is flat and not crooked. The inside and bottom still have shine and the lunch box handle remains well attached. The metal clip still holds the flip lid tight.

The lunch box design was clever because men would use their empty tins to pack their lunches to work and mothers even used them for their children’s lunches, all free advertising for American Tobacco. That’s why so many surviving tins are in such poor condition. The bits of green paper on the side were part of a tax label that stretched across the entire top of the box when it was sold. Their presence means that the box was sold before the mid-1950s, almost certainly well before. The box measures 8 x 3.75 x 4.75 inches (20 x9 x 12 cm).

A spectacular piece to display with other tobacciana or by itself, as a Depression-era bit of décor, or as a catch-all box or place to hide things on a shelf or table. Sports card collectors would like this to go with their collections because this is the place where some of their most valuable cards came from. Or you could use this as a lunch box as it was intended. Just wash it out first. Shipped insured and well packed for safe arrival. Check out our other advertising collectibles at www.ebay.com/str/agitpropshoppe

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