N.C. buys spittoons from Conn. collector
Durham museum to display over 200 cuspidors
GRISWOLD, Conn. - The state of North Carolina will buy the spittoon collection Jim Kinner kept for years deep in the basement of his Jewett City home and display it in the Duke Homestead State Historic Site and Tobacco Museum in Durham.
The museum has one of the few spittoon exhibits in the country.
Keith A. Hardison, director of North Carolina's Division of State Historic Sites and Properties, said the state rarely buys entire collections of antiques, but determined that Kinner's was "significant."
"When you have limited funds and you're spending the taxpayers' money, you have to spend it very judiciously," he said. "We felt that this one was one of those rare instances when all those things lined up, and this was a collection that was a good investment for the state of North Carolina in terms of the preservation of the state's history."
Kinner said he agreed to sell 252 spittoons for $6,000.
Kinner, 71, doesn't chew tobacco. He never has. But he collected hundreds of spittoons through the years, following his wife through antique shops. He picked up spittoons at flea markets, antique shops, and yard sales, often from people who had no idea what they were selling.
Spittoons, also called cuspidors, were bowls made for spitting into, part of the tobacco culture in the late 19th and early 20th century. Hotels, banks, restaurants, and trains - any place people gathered - provided them for customers in much the way bars provide ashtrays. The bowls often had a flared opening and an hourglass shape, so the spit could be easily dumped and the bowl rinsed out.
After a story about his collection was published in The Norwich Bulletin, Kinner said he was contacted by Ben Roberts, former assistant to the branch manager of American Tobacco. Roberts made arrangements to have a friend from Seymour visit Kinner's house, inspect the collection for quality, and photograph it.
Hardison said he was struck by the sheer number of spittoons, the variety of the materials used, and the rarity of the items, such as ladies' spittoons.
Kinner has glass spittoons, brass spittoons, and porcelain spittoons. He has spittoons that look like fish heads. He has a spittoon that looks like a turtle - step on the head and the shell pops open, exposing the bowl for spitting.
"They were looking at these pictures and they were very impressed. They wanted them," Kinner said. "At that point, I should have upped the price. I should have gone hard-nosed." He estimates he paid at least double the $6,000 for the antiques. 