VERY RARE POLYCHROME PAINT-DECORATED CAST ZINC TOBACCONIST 'RISING STAR' TRADE FIGURE, ATTRIBUTED TO WILLIAM DEMUTH (1835-1911), NEW YORK, CIRCA 1874

Allan Katz, Woodbridge, Connecticut

An example is pictured in Illustrated Catalogue of Smokers' Articles and Show Figures, Manufactured and Imported by Wm. Demuth & Co., 1875, no. 62.  A facsimile is reproduced by Frederick Fried in Artists in Wood: American Carvers of Cigar-Store Indians, Show Figures, and Circus Wagons, (New York: Bramhall House, 1970), p. 48, fig. 31.

William Demuth, a German immigrant who became one of America’s largest and most successful distributors of tobacco, pipes, and trade figures, claimed that his cast zinc figures were superior to wooden pieces that cracked “from exposure to climatic changes.” This rare figure, depicting a Native American woman dressed in a provocatively short, patriotically colored costume and buttoned, high-topped boots rather than traditional Indian garb, may represent a stage performer. She is pictured in Demuth’s 1875 catalog of thirty tobacconist figures and originally sold for $65.00. Samuel Robb, who worked for Demuth before he opened his own shop, is believed to have carved the model for this piece.