An old tobacco carton can be a valuable thing.
Wayne Biby of Winston-Salem was trying to sell one for $500 at yesterday's Piedmont Tobacco Memorabilia and Postcard Show and Sale in the Home and Garden building at the Dixie Classic Fairgrounds.
The carton once contained a cigarette brand called Reyno, one of the first cigarettes made by R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Biby's former employer.
Thousands of other items could be purchased at the annual show. It was sponsored by the Piedmont Tobacco Memorabilia Collectors Club, which meets in High Point. About 400 people attended the show, organizers said. The items included a Camel mirror, a Wake Forest University lighter, an old postcard featuring the Reynolds Building at night, receipts, rolling papers, pocket tins, plug cutters, and tobacco grinders, tags and pouches.
"It's a connection to their past," Biby, a dealer, said about why people collect tobacco memorabilia. "It brings back stories that they heard their parents and grandparents talking about."
One story in circulation yesterday was about the use of tin tags on plugged tobacco from about 1870 to 1930. According to the story, a drunk tobacco-chewer forgot about the tag one day and ended up with the inside of his mouth cut up.
Dan Locklair, a composer who teaches at Wake Forest University, attended yesterday's show. He has a passion for pipes and pipe tobacco.
"I needed a break from work," he said. "I'm fascinated by Reynolds memorabilia. I'm fascinated by all the history of tobacco and always have been."
The Piedmont Tobacco Memorabilia and Postcard Show and Sale takes place every March. A few years ago, postcards, including many unrelated to tobacco, began to be included in the mix of wares sold as well.
"Postcards and tobacco memorabilia sort of go together," Biby said. "There are a lot of postcards that advertise warehouses and tobacco."
About 25 dealers set up shop at the show yesterday, with some earning several thousand dollars, Biby said.
Though most customers kept moving from table to table, a few sat on a sofa in one corner of the building and watched videos of cigarette commercials from the 1950s and '60s. A ban on such advertising started in 1971.
Providing a venue to buy and sell the memorabilia wasn't the only reason for sponsoring the show, organizers said.
"We're trying to preserve the history (of tobacco)," said Michael Wagoner, the club's president.
Wagoner, 31, of Rural Hall, also sold some of the tobacco memorabilia he began collecting about 25 years ago. He said that the club is not trying to promote smoking.
Near the building's entrance, a mini-exhibition of tools, photos and documents showed how the making and sale of tobacco have changed over the years.
"We do this as an educational thing, too," Biby said. "A lot of young folks know nothing about tobacco."
■ Ken Keuffel can be reached at 727-7337 or at kkeuffel@wsjournal.com.
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