Watch List notes:

CUBA. Honradez Royal Tobacco Factory Bronze Medal, ND (ca. 1859). PCGS SPECIMEN-58.
Diameter: 57mm. Obverse: PLAZA DE SANTA CLARA No 83 Y 85 TALLERES, CALLES DEL SOL No 17, DE SAN YGNACIO No 88 / Y CERRADA DE SANTA CLARA ENTRE SAN YGNACIO Y CUBA / DETALL, CALLE DE CUBA No 83 DE POSITO PRINCIPAL PARA MENUDEO CALLE DEL OBISPO No 15 / DEPOSITOS SECUNDARIOS, CALZADA REAL DEL MONTE No 154 / Y CALLE DE SAN RAFAEL ENTRE CONSULADO É INDUSTRIA / DIRECCION GENERAL / Y ESCRITORIO / CALLE DE SAN YGNACIO No 90 / HABANA, female personification of Justice standing facing, holding scales; Reverse: REAL FABRICA LA HONRADEZ / AGRACIADA ESPECIALMENTE POR S. M. CON EL USO DE SUS REALES ARMAS / GRAN MANUFACTURA DE CIGARROS Y PICADURAS DE LUIS SUSINI É HIJO / PROVEEDORES DE LA REAL CASA &a. &a. / HABANA, complex Cuban coat-of-arms. Edge: Some minor roughness and spotting, otherwise plain. Red-brown overall, with a few scattered marks. Some hints of brilliance emanate from the more protected areas.

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: $75 - $150