The rare "Red" Players Navy Cut pictorial "Smoke Players Navy Cut Tobacco Cigarettes" with sailor logo. Very few made of these red version signs and a mint condition can fetch over $3500 - $4000.
RARE Red Pictorial Players Navy Cut Original Enamel Sign
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION & HISTORY
There were not many made of this rare red version pictorial Players Navy Cut enamel sign and they do not come up very often for sale. The blue, white or yellow enamels are more common, hence these red Players Navy Cut enamel signs are extremely highly sought after in the collecting world.
This sign has got scratches, rust and holes from a weathered sign but this does not detract from its rarity. Navy cut tobacco was a brand of cigarettes manufactured until 2016 by the Imperial Tobacco Group which was previously known as John Player and Sons from Nottingham in the UK. The famous sailor head started to appear in advertising in 1883 and the cigarettes with his logo in 1887. John Player died in the late 1800's and his brothers took over the factories which grew pre and post wars to becoming one of the largest cigarette manufacturer's in the UK. The terminology "Navy Cut" referred how RN sailors (19th and 20th Century) would wind twin around tobacco leaves helping them to mature under compression.
The sailor Navy Cut logo appears not only on signs, but tobacco tins, mirrors and ashtrays. Contention on blogs still exists as to "who" was the model for the Navy Cut sailor, but some reveal that it was Scottish sailor Thomas Huntley Wood from the HMS Edinburgh.
DIMENSIONS
56 x 76 cm
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