Lot 128: Cope Bros & Co Ltd Tobacco Display Cabinet
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An ebonised wood and glass countertop tobacco merchant’s display cabinet for Cope Bros & Co. Ltd. of Liverpool and London. The glass front features six horizontal bands of reverse-painted gilded lettering advertising various tobacco blends including Cope’s Counts, Turkish, Rose Bud Virginia, May Flower (Scented), and Silk Cut, with retail prices of 6d and 8d per ounce. The cabinet is detailed with a carved rope-twist molding to the cornice and a foliate-scroll carved base, fitted with a vertical stack of six side drawers having brass-toned pull knobs. A stamped mark to the reverse base reads THIS IS THE PROPERTY OF COPE BROS & CO LTD. The interior contains a collection of lithographed tobacco and cigarette tins including Player’s Medium Navy Cut, Grand Cut Virginia, W.T. Davies & Sons Sweet Briar Flake, J.G. Dill’s Best Cut Plug, W.D. & H.O. Wills Gold Flake, and Murray’s Seashell Navy Cut.
27 inches high by 22.5 inches wide by 6 inches deep.
Condition report:
A vertical crack is visible in the carved molding at the right-hand base corner (photo 10). The ebonised finish shows scattered scuffs, chips, and areas of wear, particularly to the top surface and corners (photo 7 and 12). There is minor lifting and loss to the gilded lettering on the interior of the glass (photo 8). The interior tobacco tins exhibit varying degrees of oxidation, surface wear, and fading consistent with age.
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