A Grand Tour Tragedy Leads to the Founding of One of America’s Great Universities

Leland Stanford was an American industrialist who got his start as a merchant in California during the Gold Rush. Stanford was one of “The Big Four” who invested in Chief Engineer Theodore Judah’s plan for the Central Pacific Railroad to connect with the Union Pacific. The plan succeeded and in 1869 the Transcontinental Railroad was completed. Stanford was an influential figure in the development of railroads throughout California and the Southwest and was president of the Central Pacific Railroad from 1861 until his death in 1893.

In 1884, during a grand tour of Europe, Leland Stanford, Jr. fell ill in Athens, Greece. Standford, Jr. was rushed to medical practitioners in Naples, then Rome, and eventually to Florence where he passed away from typhoid fever at the age of 15. In 1885, Leland and Jane Stanford founded the Leland Stanford Junior University in honor of their son.

When the Flagler Museum decided to create a replica of Henry Flagler’s cigar humidor, there was only one man for the job, Daniel Marshall. Since establishing his first workshop in 1983, Daniel Marshall has created private label humidors for prestigious luxury gift houses including: Tiffany & Co., Alfred Dunhill, Harrod’s of London, The White House Gift Unit, and the US Department of State. Marshall has also provided gifts and humidors for private clients that include four royal families, three US Presidents, Senators, Congressmen, Governors, entertainment executives, captains of industry, celebrity performers and others who value his artistry with wood. His Treasure Chest Humidor is consistently named among the world’s best humidors.

Henry Flagler’s humidor was a thank-you gift from the New York Yacht Club for the use of his yacht, Alicia, as the patrol boat, with Henry Flagler as captain, at the 1895 America’s Cup race. During the 1895 Cup race, an American sloop designed by the legendary Nathanael Herreshoff, named Defender, successfully defended the Cup by defeating the British cutter Valkyrie III.

To commemorate the occasion, and thank Flagler for his participation, New York Yacht Club Rear Commodore Bergen commissioned a cigar humidor from Tiffany & Co. The commissioned cigar humidor is lined with sterling silver, and decorated with an engraved plate on the lid and enamel fittings. The wood is mahogany.

The flags on the lid are of, from top left, New York Yacht Club burgee, Henry Flagler’s Alicia burgee, Rear Commodore Bergen’s position in the New York Yacht Club, and his personal yacht Hildegard.