These are 7/8" and most have their back paper, either stained or clean, reading "Henry Clay And Bock & Co. Ltd. Habana." This company was founded in the 1840s by Cuban tobacco magnate Julian Alvarez. In 1888 ownership was transferred to a British company by the name specified on these back papers. Apparently these were given away with the purchase of one of these famous cigars which have been referenced in the writings of such famous authors as James Joyce and Rudyard Kipling. Condition varies greatly among these 217 buttons. There are 30 with obvious stain, there are 11 with cracks, there are 20 with cracks and stains, there are 51 with slight age tone or a minimal trace of stain, there are 52 which are clean and display Fine or better. There are two with no collet. The group includes two buttons we have also offered as single items in this catalog. The first references the woman suffrage movement and is offered as item #504 and the second pictures a famous Cuban aviator which is offered as item #650. The following lot consists of duplicates of this lot. These items are from the Richard Merkin Collection and come with Hake's COA. These buttons were among those listed by Burdick in his famous book devoted primarily to insert cards titled "The American Card Catalog." He gave these tobacco issues the designation "P42" listing them as "Comic Subjects/Cuba Issue." In spite of the large number offered in this and the next lot these are extremely rare in the USA. In five decades we've seen only two examples outside of this collection.