Belgian Made WWII Camp Tophat Cigarettes

PACK OF WW2 TOP HAT AMERICAN BLEND CIGARETTES complete with original contents . In very good condition. SOLD AS A COLLECTORS ITEM ONLY. Camp Tophat was a virtual city of thousands of black 20-man tents on the outskirts of Antwerp, Belgium, also qualified as a Cigarette Camp since it was named after these Belgian Tophat cigarettes, and had a very large and entrenched black market, and cigarettes, especially American brands, were more valuable than currency. Like the camps in the Red Horse Staging Area around Le Havre, Tophat had been set up in close proximity to Antwerp’s harbor facilities in order to process the masses of American troops who were either going home or being redeployed to the Pacific Theater of Operations following V-E Day. Antwerp lies 80 kilometers from the North Sea on the Scheldt River. By May 1945, Tophat was a pretty luxurious place, what with her five movie theaters, good food, a gift PX, officer’s and enlisted men’s clubs, an ice-cream bar, a 20-seat barber shop where the haircuts were free. The cigarettes themselves are seldom seen. I’ve had two boxes for many years, and I have decided to part with one. The pack is full, still has the liner, shows very little wear, and still has good bright color.