Rather cool ceramic ashtray with tri-pod stand - can anyone ID?

22 Crawford St. Today at 3:26 pm
No. It's not a 'pin dish' either


Depends how big the pins are

Too many weeks stuck at home and we all have nothing better to concern ourselves with !

Sorry all - sporadic power outages in S.E. Michigan have been leaving me frustrated!  I appreciate all of the discussion / conjectures and I thank you all.

Grumpy Grandad wrote:Are you sure that the 'lips' aren't just a handle? There are four grooves, and when we pick something up by a handle we tend to do so with four fingers underneath.

The curvy parts of the lips are only 1 cm at their widest part, making it basically useless to act as a handle.

ppcollectables wrote:If you tried to pick it up it would tip up and the dish would fall out as the 'handle' isn't at the centre of gravity

It becomes very unwieldy trying to pick it up.  The bowl wants to slide out quite easily.

The base is rather heavy gauge wire.  Very little flexibility to it.

Never thought of a pipe bowl, but as others have said the power of suggestion may be taking over things :)  I appreciate the friendly community here though.

This thread has gone intriguing. To get back to the time period. Late 1950's or thereabouts, the USA. The USA was booming after WW2, many people were feeling a touch of wealth they had not felt in 30 years. Think glamour, sophistication, elegant cocktail parties, smart salons....and this piece sits bang in that era. I wonder if the wire rack was for tongs? Olives,nuts or or such? The sort of thing you would have dotted around at an elegant cocktail party. Bear in mind, this was probably one small bit of an elegant statement of post-war wealth and self indulgence The sort of thing that did not have to be practical, just look smart chic and expensive!

philpot wrote:This thread has gone intriguing. To get back to the time period. Late 1950's or thereabouts, the USA. The USA was booming after WW2, many people were feeling a touch of wealth they had not felt in 30 years. Think glamour, sophistication, elegant cocktail parties, smart salons....and this piece sits bang in that era. I wonder if the wire rack was for tongs? Olives,nuts or or such?  The sort of thing you would have dotted around at an elegant cocktail party. Bear in mind, this was probably one small bit of an elegant statement of post-war wealth and self indulgence The sort of thing that did not have to be  practical, just look smart chic and expensive!

A definite possibility, others have mentioned that maybe it's a bowl for such things as nuts.  The "grip" part could be used to hold some type of utensils.  I think that I'm being sold on this idea more and more...

These multi-purpose/decorative only bowls and stands don't always cause as much discussion but .....