Los Angeles – Punch has never been more popular.

The famed clown figure has been as much a symbol of cigars in British and Italian communities as the American Indian has been for Americans through the centuries. And that popularity came through in a recent auction of a brightly-colored Punch figure from the 19th Century.

An 18-inch high counter statute of Punch brought a remarkable $207,000 at auction last month at the Morphy Spring Toy Auction held in Denver, Colorado. With its almost intact-paintwork, the figure (illustrated on the home page) dates from around 1885 and was made by the well-known firm of William DeMuth & Co.

This figure is made of zinc rather than wood and was reported to be one of the best-kept examples of this type of figure and relatively few are known to still be in existence.

It isn’t the highest price for a Punch figure, of course. Last year, a wooden Punch that stood about five feet high went for the astonishing price of $542,400 in an auction last October. But "inch for inch," the latest auction brought a higher price!

The strong auction results for the Punch figure at the Morphy Spring Toy Auction were mirrored at the Antique Toy & Americana sale in New Hope, Pennsylvania, at which two carved Indians greatly exceeded their pre-sale projections.

The first was a 64-inch tall Indian in full headdress holding a tomahawk in one hand and a tobacco leaf in the other. Expected to bring $12-15,000, it sold for $77,000! A second Indian figure, this one of an Indian scout, was expected to sell for about $12,000, but was sold for $24,200.

>> Charlie Farhud is cool under pressure. The owner of the Alliance Food Market on the northwest edge of Milwaukee faced down an armed robber who came into the store looking for a cigar last Sunday.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the would-be robber entered in the early afternoon shirtless and was told he had to put on a shirt to shop at the store. Once he returned, he asked how much a cigar would cost and when told 75 cents, he left.

The man returned to the store for a third time, but this time asked for the cigar for free while holding up a gun at Farhud.

Nervous, but not at all panicked, Farhud asked the robber to let the other customers leave and then they could talk about his free cigar. Some of the children who exited told police working on a nearby traffic accident about the robbery in progress and they called for additional officers.

In the meantime, Farhud asked the robber to leave his gun outside and he could have the cigar for free. That failed and after Farhud gave him the cigar, the robber left . . . and met a group of Milwaukee police officers with their guns drawn. He was arrested and taken away for an evaluation of his mental fitness.

"No one was injured," said Milwaukee Police spokesman Bobby Lindsey. "Certainly the store owner should be commended for his ability to remain calm and communicate with the suspect."

Even though the robber didn’t get to keep the cigar, Farhud won’t get it back for a long time. It’s now classified as evidence.

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Heard in the Humidor is a publication of Perelman, Pioneer & Company of Los Angeles, California, USA. Copyright 2007; All rights reserved.