HISTORICAL TREASURES AT THE LIBRARY, Part 3
The Mantz Tobacco Shop Indian Statue
This antique wooden cigar-store Indian stood at the Mantz
tobacco shop on North Queen Street in Martinsburg in the early 1900s. American Indian figures have always been
associated with tobacco-selling shops, possibly because they introduced the European
settlers to tobacco, a crop native to America.
Perhaps the most distinct and recognizable form of American folk art,
the cigar store Indian was once a familiar sight along busy Victorian streets.
Because of the general illiteracy of the population, early
store owners used figures or symbols to advertise their shops' wares, For
example, barber poles advertised barber shops, show globes advertised apothecaries,
and three gold balls represented pawn shops. All of these items are still
occasionally used for their original advertising purposes but are more often
seen as decorations or advertising collectibles.
“Mantz’ Tobacco Box” had been in operation as far back as 1898,
according to the Martinsburg city directory of that year, distributing fine
tobacco and cigars, with a pool room in the rear. It was located at 137 North Queen Street and
was owned and operated by Charles A. Mantz, and later by his son, Frank B.
“Lanky” Mantz, until it closed in 1960.
The over four-foot-tall statue is made of wood, but it is
covered with a white plaster-like coating that protects it and serves as a base
for the paint. The imposing, colorful
figure has brown skin, a dark green tunic dress, and red and gold head
feathers. With a hatchet in one hand and
a bunch of cigars clutched in the other, he served as a symbol to lovers of a
good smoke that a tobacco shop was located at that street address.
The Indian statue was donated to the Martinsburg Public Library
by Dr. and Mrs. Marvin H. Porterfield in 1978.
The Friends of the Martinsburg Library donated the clear plastic exhibit
case which now houses it where it is located near the King Street entrance to
the main floor.
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