First used in 17th century English shops to advertise American tobacco to a still illiterate European population, the Cigar Store Indian is highly collectible as folk art. Loosely based on an 1875 carving by Thomas Brooks of New York's Auer Tobacco Company, our antique replicas are cast in quality designer resin and hand painted in a weathered palette. While sometimes criticized as a simplistic and demeaning stereotype of Native Americans, these historic icons of an era are still much admired for their artistic hand carving and unique place in advertising history.