Cigarette holder with case

ca. 1930s

14K yellow and rose gold, emeralds, and possibly ebony

Overall: 4 1/2 × 3/8 × 3/8 in. (11.4 × 1 × 1 cm)

Gift of Robert and Marcia Amsterdam

2016.11

This sleek gold cigarette holder was owned originally by former-First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Both Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt were known cigarette smokers. FDR was regularly photographed with a cigarette and cigarette holder in hand. Smoking, either in private or public, was taboo for women in Europe and the United States until the first decades of the twentieth century. This perception began to change during the 1910s with the development of cigarettes, and the various ways in which tobacco companies marketed these products. By the 1920s, public smoking for women began to be perceived as a symbol of both liberation and modernity. Although many Americans smoked by the 1930s, smoking was viewed by some as an elite activity. Given this perception, upscale cigarette accessories became a necessary part of social smoking. Movies from the time repeatedly featured elite smoking rituals, and often depicted richly dressed characters socializing in glamourous locations engaged in the act of smoking with elegant cigarette holders, lighters, and cigarette boxes.

DescriptionThin, hollow, oblong, handle with flared, trumpet-shaped end and flared, molded mouthpiece; handle end has circular opening to accommodate insertion of cigarette, and is decorated along upper surface with two applied scrolled gold and rose gold pendants with three inset emeralds. Holder is stored in red fabric, satin, and cardboard box. Underside of box lid is marked by the jeweler “Cartier” and stamped in gold letters surrounded by gold frame. Series of Asian characters engraved into handle at end above pendants. 1964 auction catalogue states that characters translate to “LO.”

Markings“14K” stamped at underside of handle at joint with mouthpiece. “3 7 H” appears to be scratched into handle next to content mark.

ClassificationsPERSONAL ACCESSORIES