These are three very popular cigar bands with images of Neil Armstrong, the Nasa Astronaut who with the Apollo 11 became the first man to set foot on the moon on 21 july 1969. Where he spoke the famous words "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." 

There are similar bands with his crew members Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. There are also bands with the Russian Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin. These bands are a must have for any collector of Space exploration.

The cigar bands were issued in 1970 and were part of a larger set of 24 bands on space travel. The sold lot are only the three with Neil Armstron on them. 
http://www.urbitrend-collectables.com/products/3-cigar-bands-space-exploration-apollo-neil-armstrong

4 big cigar band

brand: Washington
John Fitzgerald "Jack" Kennedy was the 35th president of the USA from 1961 until he was shot in 1963. The main events during his presidency were the Cuban missile crisis, the bay of pigs invasion, the building of the Berlin wall, the Vietnam war and the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King

Issued in 1963

SIZE  130 x 54 mm  -  5.12 x 2.13 Inch

The bands are part of a larger set that has all the presidents until Kennedy. If available you can find the 4 bands here: http://www.urbitrend-collectables.com/products/4-big-cigar-bands-president-jf-kennedy

120 Cigar brand Washington (The Netherlands)

Set 14 the history of America

Issued in 1966

Size 68 x 35 mm  -  2.68 x 1.38 Inch

The set has 120 cigar bands. There are 30 different images with 4 different wing colours.

The following images are on the wings

1. destruction of a railway by general Sherman
2. The beginning of heavy industry in the North
3. Election speech of president Abraham Lincoln
4. The Dead of Major general Sedgwick
5. Battle of Nashville
6. General Lee and Jackson on Horse
7. The Battleship Keokuk
8. The battleship Merrimac
9. The Horn blower
10. end of the civil war
11. lieutenant general Grant
12. President Lincoln surrounded by his generals
13. farewell to the army
14. sinking of the Alabama
15. General R Lee as commander in chief
16. Lincoln memorial in Washington
17. Veterans of general Lee
18. Arrival of Lincoln in Richmond
19. Tomb of the unknown soldier
20. General Sherman
21. The first black battalion
22. soldiers in front of tents
23. black people following the army
24. aviation pioneer
25. battle of the crater
26. Lincoln and his ministers
27. federal cannon battalion at Yorktown
28. Edison and his lamp
29. ku klux klan terrorises
30. industrial agriculture

Famous singers set from Don Diaz

This set consists of 24 cigar bands. There are 12 different images with 2 different wing colors. The set exists in three size. Small, normal and large size. The 12 different star on the bands are a diverse lot. They are: Nancy Wilson, Andy Williams, Liberace, Vicky Leandros, Udo Jurgens, Elvis Presley, Shirley Jones, Doris Day, Dean Martin, David Cassidy, Diana Ross, Cher The picture shows the small sized set in blue. If available you can find it here: http://www.urbitrend-collectables.com/products/12-cigar-bands-d-diaz-singers-fp-blue and here: http://www.urbitrend-collectables.com/products/12-cigar-bands-d-diaz-singers-fp-red

Famous explorers on cigar bands

Washington

Washington issued a cigar band set with famous explorers. The set exists in normal size and large size. The normal sized set has 20 different bands. The bigger set has 10 different bands. Each set exists with four different wing colors: Blue, green, purple and red. The set with the red wings is picture here. The explorers on the bands are: Marco Polo with his famous trip through Asia, Edmund Hillary for his climbing of the mound Everest in 1953, Fridtjof Nansen for his expedition to the North Pole 1888, David Livingstone with his expedition through South Africa, Speke and Burton with their expedition to discover the origin of the Nile in 1872, Rene Caille with his expedition through Africa in 1828,Lewis and Clark for their exploring of new frontiers in the Wild West, Alexander von Humboldt with his expedition of the Orinoco and the Andes, Francois Galaup for his expedition in 1788 to the north pacific 

James Cook for his mapping of the ocean, Abel Tasman for his discovery of Tasmania and New Zeeland, John Franklin, William Parry, John Ross Exploring of the west coast of Greenland, Francisco Pizarro for the exploration of the Pacific coast of South America, Hernan Cortez for his exploratory trip through Mexico, Vasco Nunes de Balbao for his trip to South America, Fernao de Magelhaes for the first sea trip around the world, Columbus for the discovery of America, Vasco Da Gama for his trip from Portugal to India. If we have the set in stock you can find it here: http://www.urbitrend-collectables.com/products/20-different-cigar-bands-washington-famous-explorers-red-wings

Don Diaz

The famous explorer set from Don Diaz exists in three different sizes: small, normale and large size. There are 12 different images with famous explorers in a set and each set of 12 exisqts with two different wing colors: red and blue.

The famous explorers on the wings are: John Speke, O van Noort, Robert falcon Scott, Willem Barendsz, Vasco da Gama, Marco Polo, Sebastian Cabot, Fernao de Magalhaes, Jacob van Heemskerk, Willem Ysbrantsz Bontekoe, Martin Frobischer, Christobal Colon. If available you can find the normals sized set here: For blue http://www.urbitrend-collectables.com/products/12-cigar-bands-d-diaz-explorateurs-fn-blue and red http://www.urbitrend-collectables.com/products/copy-of-12-cigar-bands-don-diaz-explorateurs-fn-blue

We will describe the other sets later.

Cats and cigar bands

Cats are a very popular theme for collectables. Today we want to write a little piece about cats in cigar bands series.

The most likable set of cigar bands with cats on them are in my opinion the cigar bands set from Taf. This set was issued in 1969. It has 24 different cats on them. The cigar band number five exists in different varieties. The size of the bands is about 48 x 22 mm. If we have the set available you can look for it here: http://www.urbitrend-collectables.com/products/24-cigar-bands-with-images-of-cats-issued-in-1969

The second set that comes to mind is the set from the Nicoleto brand. This Belgian cigar manufacturer did not issue a lot of series but when they did the series were always very nice. So is the cat series of them. It has 24 different cats on them like the Chinchilla Persian, Siamese brown, etc As it is not really expensive this is certainly a set you would want have in you possession. When we have it, you can find it here: http://www.urbitrend-collectables.com/products/24-cigar-bands-nicoleto-images-of-cats

This brings us to the cat set of Willem II. This set is a lot harder to find. Most of the sets were destroyed in a fire in the Willem II factory. SIZE  63 x 32 mm. The sets were issued in 1985. http://www.urbitrend-collectables.com/products/30-cigar-bands-compl-willem-ii-cats-set-xxix

A very nice set is the set of Van Den Bossche This set consists of 10 different cat images. The set exists in 2 variations one with a grey mirror and one with a brown mirror. If available you can find it here: http://www.urbitrend-collectables.com/products/10-cigar-bands-vdb-wild-cats-grey

Next to this there are a few commercial sets available. There are also a few series in the catalog for series without brandnames. hat is all for today. If you have questions or things to add please post them.