H82.100.337

Cigar Store Indian. Description: A. Cigar store indian; female; carved wood; on square wood base which is on double metal casters. Figure has been painted numerous times; currently she has a red dress with blue trim and gold hem, yellow leggings with brown fringe, blue sash with belt of green leaves. Her skin is painted brown. B. Framed magazine articles, illustrated, two, regarding this cigar store figure. Dimensions: Indiam: Base; 28" square. Overall height with casters: 93". Max. depth: 32" Max. width: 31" History: From the History Information Station: Object: American Indian figure, or "cigar store Indian," of carved and painted wood. History: This wooden woman stood in front of a San Francisco tobacco shop in the 1860's. Tobacconists had begun sprucing up their stores with carved Indian figures in the 1840's. The Indian was a symbol of tobacco because the plant was native to the Americas, and native Americans introduced Europeans to methods of drying and smoking tobacco. Most cigar store Indians were modeled after a generalized idea of an "American Indian", rather than a member of a particular tribe or tradition. This figure wears a combination of European colonial style dress, and apparel similar to that of Eastern woodland Indians.