This
Home Run Cigarettes poster sold in the May 2008 Robert Edward Auction for $9,500.00.
Over the last 20 plus years I've only seen it pop up in auctions
a handful
of times. You see Home  Run Cigarettes for sale in the
hobby from time to time. I bought a pack at the 1991
National, which I still have, for $100.00. Interestingly
two cigar
brands from the same time period also used the name Home Run.
There  was Home-Run Stogie cigars made by the J. A. Rigby Cigars
Company of Mansfield Ohio. There was also Home Run Cigars, who's
maker is uncertain, but is speculated to have originated in
Pennsylvania. There doesn't appear to be any
connection between these products, and it's unknown if a proprietary
claim to the name was ever made.
Until I
focused on it for this article, I never really knew if this poster
advertised the same Home Run Cigarettes I have.
Actually I never knew much of anything about my pack of cigarettes
and was
even suspicious they might be some kind of fantasy piece. I
think I was thrown off because the graphics of the
poster are so good, and the graphics on the cigarette packs are
so lame. When you look close, the graphics of the poster are
not only better, they're quite different. click
photos
 |
|
batter and
catcher comparison, cigarette pack left, poster
right |
Check
out the catchers mask on the cigarette pack to the left above.
What the heck is that? That's what I mean by lame graphics.
What's astounding is they used that same lame illustration on
the packs for at least fifty years. However,
even though the batter and catcher don't match, the font style
of "HOME RUN" does. click
photos
 |
|
Font
styles match, cigarette pack left, poster right |
Moreover,
the cigarette pack used as home base in the poster illustration
matches as well. click
photos
|
EARLY
AND LATE VERSIONS
OF
HOME RUN CIGARETTES
Right,
early version,
Left,
later version changed in 1920's
Cigarette
packs match
"home
base" in poster
|
LATER
PACK
Pack
marked copyright 1921 by Liggett & Meyers |
c1910
poster
Home
Base in poster
same
graphics as pack
|
EARLY
PACK
Pack made in 1918 at
Fact 3, Dist. of La. |
Right
photo
courtesy Jim
Shaw, JimsBurntOfferings.com |
Many
years ago on eBay, I bought a newspaper page from the January 8,
1891 The Daily Picayune-New Orleans. It had an advertisement for Home Run Cigarettes.
It's one of those kind of things you buy that
you don't really need for your collection. I've shoved it around
for years un-displayed and finally it serves a purpose for this
article. By it we have documentation Home Run Cigarettes were sold
as early as January 8, 1891. click
photos
|
NEWSPAPER
AD IN JANUARY 8,1891 THE DAILY PICAYUNE-NEW ORLEANS
 |
 |
 |
Moreover,
from this ad we know S. Hernsheim & Bros. of New Orleans LA.
was the manufacturer at that time. It's reported S. Hernsheim &
Bros. was the largest cigar manufacturer in the United States in
the early 1890's and was founded by Simon Hernsheim 1839-1898.
His factory was five stories tall, and built in 1882. The company
employed 361 men and 726 women in production, plus another 100
clerical and sales people. Tobacco
historian Joe Parker told me Home Run Cigarettes were marketed largely in the
south, and he believes
they were produced up
until the early 1980's. Joe also filled me in that the W.R.
Irby Tobacco Company of New Orleans, and the Liggett and Meyers
tobacco company also owned Home Run Cigarettes at different
junctures of it's history.
Jon Canfield of baseballandtobacco.com
informed me Home
Run Cigarettes never issued tobacco cards and that it's
connection to baseball was purely graphical. I'll clarify
this study
is only a quick general one consistent with the time constraints
of a weekly feature. Hopefully
this cursory look will encourage further study of
this company. **
**
**
SportsAntiques.com
thanks the following tobacco historians who helped with my
research for this article. Jim Shaw of JimsBurntOfferings.com,
Jon Canfield of baseballandtobacco.com,
and Joe
Parker of Prince
Frederic Maryland. |
| Photos
of Home Run Cigarettes poster and catalog description,
Home Run Cigars tin, and Home Run Stogies tin courtesy
Robert Edward
Auctions |
|
Please
et us know what you think of
this
feature, and what kinds of things you
would
like to see on Sports Antique of the Week
comments@sportsantiques.com |
_______________________ ADDITIONAL
RELATED INFORMATION AND CORRESPONDENCE ABOUT THIS POSTER Email
exchange with tobacco historian Jon Canfield
Hello Jon, Carlton Hendricks here with
SportsAntiques.com. Can you tell me anything about Home Run Cigarettes? I'd like to learn more about this
brand.
Thanks -Carlton |
Carlton,
Good to hear from you. I'd be happy to share what
I know about Home run Cigarettes however let me
begin with a disclaimer - the information I have
is not exacting in that I am unsure of the
complete production run (when the brand began
exactly, was production continuous, when it ended
exactly). With all that being said...
Home Run Cigarettes were began sometime between
1911 and 1918. By 1918, Home Run was being
advertised in newspapers. The original packs were
paper with black and white (or black and tan-ish)
graphics. They were not the more common green
printing you see frequently. The original packs
are quite rare. Jim Shaw has a scan of an original
pack on his website: http://users.ap.net/~burntofferings/packsliggett_duke.html
I also saw one sell on eBay within the past year.
I bid on it but was outbid (I think it sold for
$100 or so which was a great price for an original
pack). To date, it was the only original pack I
have ever seen for sale.
I am unsure as to whether production was
continuous, however I know Home run cigarette
packs were made into the 1970's. Sometime in the
early 1930's (or late 1920s), the colors were
changed and the typical green and white packs were
being made. I have personally seen green and white
packs from the 1930's, 1950's and 1970's. In the
later years, cellophane wrapping was added (with
the red pull band at top).
Home Run Cigarettes never issued any cards. It's
connection to baseball is purely graphical.
Hope this helps!
Kind regards, Jon |
|
Email
exchange with tobacco historian Joe Parker
| Hi Carlton Hendricks here with SportsAntiques.com. Can you tell me anything about Home Run Cigarettes? I'd like to learn more about this brand, see attached photo. I'm planning an article on the poster.
Thanks -Carlton |
Hi, Carlton.
I’m getting ready to leave town for the weekend, so I wasn’t sure that I’d have time to get back to you tonight… but I did, so here goes. Some of this you probably already know.
Home Run was a brand of the W.R. Irby Tobacco Company of New Orleans. The Irby company was acquired by American Tobacco Company in, if memory serves, 1899, although there may have been a relationship between the two companies prior to that date. When American Tobacco was dissolved, the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company wound up with the brand. They manufactured the brand at least through the 1970s, and I think at least into the very early 1980s. According to the Patent Office website, Liggett Group cancelled the trademark on May 12, 1981. Registration number 905,021 for “Home Run” was issued on December 29, 1970 and claimed that the brand’s first use in commerce was in October 1892. Lee A. Dew in his history of the Pinkerton Tobacco Company (long a subsidiary of Liggett & Myers), stated that Home Run was made with all Burley tobacco and was marketed largely in the south.
That’s pretty much the sum-total of everything I know about the brand. Hope it has been of at least some help! I’d be interested in seeing the article when you get done.
All the best,
Joe |
| Joe, Thanks so much for this info...it's very helpful...Say...what's the significance of being all Burley tobacco? Thanks so much again.-Carlton |
|
Hi, Carlton,
Just got back in town a little while ago. Glad the information was of use. The significance of the all-Burley blend of tobacco is that it’s somewhat unusual. The so-called American blend cigarette as pioneered by Camel cigarettes was a mixture of Bright tobacco, Burley tobacco, a bit of Turkish tobacco and possibly a touch of Maryland tobacco for its even burning quality. Burley tobacco would generally probably be cheaper and it also has a larger capacity to absorb flavoring to cover the taste of “inferior” tobacco. The vast majority of cigarettes sold in this country since Camels were introduced and became popular have been variations on the American blend.
All the best,
Joe |
|
|
c1920's
LATER VERSION |
|
BACK |
IN
LINE-UP |
FRONT |
|
BOTTOM |
TOP |
|
|
SIDE
1 |
SIDE2 |
|
|
 |
 |
|
Two
tobacco products employing the Home Run brand
name believed unrelated to Home Run Cigarettes. Photos
courtesy Robert Edward Auctions |
|
APRIL/MAY 2005
ROBERT EDWARD AUCTIONS CATALOG DESCRIPTION
Circa 1910 cardboard advertising poster for "Home Run Cigarettes" features a batter and catcher in full color with a pack of "Home Run Cigarettes" serving as home
plate. This classic full-color lithographic advertising poster is one of the rarest and most impressive of all 1910-era generic baseball advertising pieces. This is a particularly well known piece in the general antique advertising collecting world, and has a higher profile in that collecting field than in the baseball collecting world. The advertising display is also featured in several books on classic American advertising lithography. This is one of only a handful of known
examples. The poster (12 x 18 inches), which is produced on extremely thick stock (rigid and approximately one-quarter inch
thick), displays a number of minor flaws consistent with its age, fragile nature, and former use including light soiling, minor abrasions and creases, tiny border tears, and a few insignificant tiny areas of color touch-up in the green of the grass (really minor and of no consequence). The colors remain strong and vibrant, and the piece displays beautifully. Of special note also is that the wood frame is original to the piece. This is how it was originally issued by Home Run Cigarettes for display in retail tobacco establishments, and because of this, the frame is really a part of the advertising display. Total dimensions: 13.5 x 19.5 inches. Reserve $500. Estimate $1,000/$1,500. |
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