Samuel Robb Cigar Store Indian

Cigar store Indian attributed to Samuel Robb (1851-1928). The statue is in fair age-appropriate but sound condition, some damage and cracks to the base, overall cracks to the wood and to the paint layer, some paint loss. Samuel A. Robb apprenticed to a shipbuilder for five years, then went to work for a wood-carver, making figures for tobacco shops. He spent the day working in the shop and attended classes at the National Academy of Design and Cooper Union at night. Robb’s wood shop was the largest in nineteenth-century New York City, and he carved a wide variety of figures, from traditional cigar store Indians to circus wagons and ventriloquist dummies.