Found this while poking around on craigslist. The seller thinks it may be a humidor. Anyone ever heard of a humidor being lined with copper like this?
Posted via Mobile Device
[Reply]

Very common years back. :-)
[Reply]

Yep almost bought a similar design
[Reply]

what is the advantage to havign it copper lined? I have seen this before.
[Reply]

I would pick it up... the copper alone is worth more than 50 bucks lol
[Reply]

Could it be a tea chest instead? Interesting, regardless, and likely worth more than 50 bucks - for anyone who has 50 bucks, and the room.
[Reply]

Found one with copper lining at a local antique shop for $45, think I'm gonna go back and pick it up :-)

aj
[Reply]

For the cigar collector who like his cigars to taste like pennies!!!:-)
[Reply]

Bingo!! Copper is very very pricey now a days... So much so that when I was a tower technician we often had people ripping up our copper grounding planes to sell.

I would pick it up and if you didn't like it you could strip the copper out and sell it and get your money back plus some.

Hell strip the copper, buy some cedar and still pocket enough money to make the damn thing close to free. :-):-)
[Reply]

Interesting. I'm debating doing that. It's a little over an hour away from me.
Posted via Mobile Device
[Reply]

i would put tea into it lots of tea
[Reply]

Now that's just sad. Stripping the copper out of a piece of cigar history - :-)

Yes that is a humidor. Copper was very common as Tom pointed out - in addition to tin, glass, porcelain, enameled metals, etc.

Most people associate Spanish cedar with humidors - but the fact is that for the first couple thousand years, cigars (tobacco products) were stored in simple clay pots and glass jars. Spanish cedar did not become common until the 20th century.

So - you know for $50 bucks you can own a functional piece of history that I'm sure cleaned up would look great in most any room (and sell for a lot more than $50 bucks).


Ron
[Reply]

Seriously guys that isn't gold in there. It's a few thin sheets of copper, at most a few pounds (I'm thinking 1 or 2 at the very most). Try $7 at the highest copper prices last year.

Definitely not worth ruining an antique for.
[Reply]

I say buy it. It is cool and if people continue talking about it in this thread, someone is going to snatch it up.
[Reply]

Got one kind of similar myself, inherited it from an Uncle who smoked pipes. Yes it is a humi but does not seal up too well. I have no idea of value and guess it could vary a lot with the specific unit.:-)
[Reply]

Copper or tin was used quite often as a liner in pieces made from the 1920's-1940's. They were originally designed primarily for storing pipe tobacco, altho many were used for cigars as well.

The copper on that one is either new or been recently cleaned. I don't think I have ever seen one of these that wasn't oxidized with green corrosion from the cut up apples that were commonly used as a humidification device.

cheers,
Bob Staebell
[Reply]

I would get it for the furniture value alone. It looks like it's worth more than $50. Maybe, though, it's a cheap knock-off made to look like an antique. It may still be worth $50.

And, yeah, even well cared for copper would have a patina after many years.
[Reply]

So I showed the craigslist posting to my wife and MiL. Turns out that my wife had a nearly identical piece as a nightstand when she was a kid. In fact, my MiL thinks it could very well be the same piece.
On another note, we were at a local antique shop today picking up some pieces for my MiL. I looked around a bit and found a similar piece, complete with copper lining, but a bit smaller. This one was definitely used for pipe tobacco. They had a matching pipe stand with it. List price for the humidor: $189
Posted via Mobile Device
[Reply]