Q: I have a novelty cigarette box made of wood. It is opened by pushing on a carved wooden bird which then extracts the cigarette in its beak. Someone I know has offered me £10 for it. Is it worth more?
Mrs J
A: Most examples sell for about £25-£30, so perhaps they should increase their offer! These amusing novelties were very popular in the 1930s and you do see them quite often around the antiques fairs. They were mostly imported from Japan but some were made in Austria and Germany, sometimes incorporating musical mechanisms which played a tune (Smoke Gets In Your Eyes?) when the lid was opened.
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