A unique handmade Asian conical hat constructed from Turf Virginia cigarette packets. Australia, between 1930 and 1945.

A$625 · Offered by Douglas Stewart Fine Books

A conical hat (also known as a rice hat), 42 cm in diameter, constructed using a total of 183 individual Turf Virginia cigarette packets, with four tiers of meticulously arranged overlapping sections reminiscent of plate armour entirely hand-stitched with fine twine (no tape or glue was used!); the hat is surmounted by a convex tip fashioned from a larger section of one packet; the assemblage is surprisingly robust and the shape of the hat remains clearly defined even after the better part of a century; an improvised wire chinstrap is integral to the object (not a later addition); the repeating motif of the Turf brand s winged horse logo, in gold and blue on red, creates the dizzying illusion of a spiral; the hat has survived somewhat miraculously without sustaining any significant damage. An extraordinary piece of folk art made in Australia but quite possibly not by an Australian artisan. From 1930, Turf Virginia cigarettes were manufactured by British tobacco company Carreras Ltd. at their Melbourne factory known as the Arcadia Works, which was located in Cato Street, Prahran. It would be fair to say that Turf cigarettes had a democratic appeal: largely due to their affordability and the attraction of the collectable trading cards which were issued free with each packet, Turf was probably the most popular brand of cigarette in Australia throughout the 1930s and 40s in other words, Turf cigarettes were by no means an exclusive tobacco product. This remarkable Asian conical h

• Binding: Hardcover

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