must admit

i must admit, i do my share of antiquing, which includes going to estate sales, flea markets, and of course, antique stores. you've probably already discovered this if you've read through my journaling in the past. i've always noticed a fascination with artists and cigar boxes. my father always kept things in cigar boxes and coffee cans in the basement. usually bits and pieces of things that did not hold my interest as a child, such as nuts, bolts, screws, fishing tackle and the like. about a week ago, at an estate sale in lovely home in milwaukee, i found a couple of wooden cigar boxed filled to the brim with just such stuff and memories of my dad came flooding back. as the boxes weren't in too bad of condition and came with all this "stuff" i picked each one up for $1. one of them is apparently rare. a box of thora cigars "union made" in milwaukee with a date of 1920 on the box. the lithograph of the woman on the inside of the box is striking. i had to do some research on the internet, but found a ton of information about cigar boxes and their altered state over the centuries on the national cigar museum site. apparently, the woman depicted originally was almost nude (as in my version), but over the years her outfit crept up to cover her breasts more and more.