Sterling Silver Cigarette Case with GRG Monogram [R]

Shortly after WWI Frank Patania, Sr. landed a job in his chosen field of jewelry design, getting hired at the age of 19 as a jewelry designer for the New York firm of Goldsmith, Stern & Company. Little, specifically, is known of his 6 years with Goldsmith, Stern, & Co., but looking at the company as a whole during that period one may draw conclusions. The firm, established in the late 1880s, was by 1919 the largest jewelry factory in New York, and claimed to be one of the largest in the world.

In 1924, Patania contracted tuberculosis; a disease, which at that time was claiming over 150,000, lives every year in the United States. Goldsmith, Stern, & Co., out of concern for the welfare of their young designer, sent him to Santa Fe, New Mexico to recover. This trip would drastically change his life and his work.

In 1927, his strength regained, Frank Patania Sr. opened the first Thunderbird Shop on Shelby, right next to the Santa Fe Railway ticket office. This location was perfect for his new venture—tourism was abundant, especially since the completion of the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe in 1880, which ran from Chicago to Southern California, via Albuquerque. The accessibility to the west, along with the commercialization and glamorization of the American Indian, brought business to Patania, as did the famous Fred Harvey, founder of the Harvey Houses.

This cigarette holder was obviously a special commission to Patania from a client with the initials GRG as that is the monogram on the front of the case. It is in excellent condition, but is destined to be the property of another “GRG” owner.