CUBA. Honradez Royal Tobacco Factory Bronze Medal, ND (ca. 1859-60). PCGS SPECIMEN-63.

Diameter: 58mm; Weight: 94.56 gms. Obverse: Female personification of Justice standing facing, holding scales; Reverse: Complex Cuban coat-of-arms. Cuban cigars have long been the standard bearer of a fine tobacco product, and Don Luis Susini's royal factory in Havana sought to keep that high standard through not just the firm's name (la honradez meaning "honesty" or "integrity"), but also through what was, at the time, revolutionary packaging. Counterfeiting was commonplace and copyright protection was virtually non-existent, so Susini turned to packaging in order differentiate himself from fraudulent products, with the firm using color lithography to produce some of the world's first colored labels.

Estimate: $150.00- $300.00