Our “Mohr“

A milestone in Heidelberg culture of remembering

In the 18th and 19th century this kind of figures would often be found in tobaccoshops for advertisement purposes. They reflected taste and ideas of the time and nowadays form an important cultural-historical source.

Our figure has been produced in the middle of the 19th century in the Kassel area. From 1880 on it sat in the office of our great-grandfathers cigar-manufactory.

In 1890 our great-grandparents opened up this tobaccoshop and since that time the figure sits here in one of our shop windows.

It had a very special ability: it could smoke thick cigars; this was made possible by a little clockwork and a small bellow inside the figure. This mechanisms does not work anymore since the 30th of the past century. Just a little blowhole between the lips still reminds of it.

Nevertheless the figure stayed at its place. The Heidelberg citizens had grown exceedingly fond of it, so that all plans to take it away provoked massive protests.

In the past 120 years it had more and more become a landmark of the old town of Heidelberg, a part of our family and a member of our team.