Cigarette Tin, Turmac, Turkish-Macedonian Tobacco Company, Netherlands, c. 1930

A large cigarette tin by Turmac, the Turkish-Macedonian Tobacco Company, made to hold 100 cigarettes and dating from around 1930. The tin is decorated with a multicoloured Ottoman ornamental pattern in red, yellow, dark blue and orange, with the Turmac logo featuring a crescent and star at the centre. The sides repeat the pattern in a narrower band. The inner lid retains partially legible printed text. The tin is in good condition for its age, with signs of use and localised paint loss to the exterior and light oxidation to the interior.

Turmac was founded in 1920 in Zevenaar by Willem Carel Buschhammer and Kiazim Emin Bey, who imported tobacco from Turkey and Macedonia. The company distinguished itself through striking packaging in an oriental style, of which this tin is a well-preserved example. The factory grew into one of the best-known Dutch cigarette manufacturers of the twentieth century and remained active until 2008. Tins from the early period, with their rich palette and hand-drawn quality ornamental designs, are now collected both as design objects and as documents of Dutch industrial history.