A solid eighteen carat yellow gold and tortoise shell cigarette holder made bay Cartier.  This is a spectacularly stylish piece in and of itself, let alone when one contemplates what it was used for.  Sadly, as society is well aware today, smoking is incredibly detremtal to one's long term health and wellbeing.  However, when this piece was made, smoking was very much a habit that bot rich and poor enjoyed with wanton abandon.  However, those in the upper eschelons of scoiety and fashion did not want the nasty after effects of smoking on their hands.  Therefore precious pieces like this were designed and created by the world's leading ateliers in order to assist removing the need of handling the lit cigarette.

The piece itself in the in the form of a conical piece of bamboo.  A pattern and design that Cartier have adopted and used throughout jewellery, watches and objects of vertu for decades.  Other brands such as Dunhill also used bamboo in its smoking accessories.  Also making lighters made from bamboo and gold for Cartier to retail as well. The body is beautifully created, picking up on all of the details one finds on actual pieces of bamboo.  The mouthpiece is hand carved from a piece of tortoise shell and then screwed into the holder as the thread is visible through the more transparent part of the shell.  This also helps to highlight the beauty of the construction of the holder.

Another beautiful, mechanical if you like, detail on the holder is the fact that once the cigarette is finished, rather than again having to use ones hands to remove the end of the cigaette the central part of the body pushes up through the hodler to dispose of the butt.  Once this is exposed to the end it is also fully stamped with the French eighteen carat poinçon and the makers mark stamped along side.

Perhaps one of the most special and charming elements to this piece is the fact that a copy of the orignla bill of sale is present with the holder.  The lady who originally ordered this holder was an exceptionally chic individual.  Everything that she purchased was of the highest quality and the most wonderful  quality.  So much so that her wardrobe, which comprised of the finest ateliers in Paris and Milan have both been donated to two major museum's across the country. 

The other fascinating part of having this special document is that Cartier sent this wonderful lady a collection of holder to chose from.  Noting that the one she actually selected was featured in Harpers Bazaar!  The unique Cartier hand stamped numbers present on the hodler correspond to those on the invoice! 

This is a very rare opportunity to own a part of Cartier's illustrious history. Add ito that this is an eighteen carat gold piece made in Paris, not a fourteen carat gold piece which were becoming more prevalent for clients in North America shopping at the US retail stores.  It is one of those pieces where, it is not of great importance to not use the item for its intended purpose, but, rather enjoy it as a pure sculptural, objet d'art embodying a wonderful moment in time.  With the rise in weed smoking, it is also possible to use for this.

The holder is fully stamped with French control marks and makers poinçon.  It is in near perfect condition with only signs of light use.  It is, as one would come to expect, superb quality and a thick and fairly heavy, although not uncomfortable in the moth, weight of gold.  A true piece of history illustrating the opulence of how people used to live.