U.S. ​MILITARY ASHTRAY MUSEUM

Historical Reports and Appraisals:
Using high tech methods such as “metallurgy analysis” to compare metal composition of your ashtray to know samples, to low tech methods such as preforming a physical comparison of your ashtray to our vast collection of over 2,000 examples, a historical report can be produced to document your U.S. Military ashtray(s). Additionally and for the iconic examples, an appraisal amount or range can be reached for insurance or estate needs based comparing the results of your historical report to our library of the price points reached for similar items from our own acquisitions as well as other auction results.      
 

Basic Identification Characteristics:
There are various markings and characteristics on all U.S. Military ashtrays that help identify them. Examples:
~Star(s) are used for various reasons such as an insignia to denote the rank of a Flag Officer, for Battle Stars or as artistic decoration.
~An Eagle is used to represent a commissioned officer. The style and direction the eagle is facing can help indicate the era for the item.
~A Star and Eagle together almost always denotes a Flag Officer.
~Various Military abbreviations are used to denote specific commands such as, “Com Phib Group 1” which stands for “Commander, Amphibious Group One”.
~Material options such as brass, monel, nickel, stainless steel, aluminum, silver, pewter, and steel, as well as porcelain, bakelite, glass, clay and wood can identify various facts concerning era and use. 
~Manufacturing techniques such as sand casting with molten metals, lathing, cutting, shaping and carving metal and shell casings, die stamp molding metal sheets, hot molding techniques using porcelain, bakelite, glass and clay to woodworking also help identify various facts concerning era and use.  
 

Unlike the art world, counterfeits are all but nonexistent in this field. However, there are instances where U.S. Military ashtrays are presented at auction as being from a certain era or with other specific “facts” that our historical report proves inaccurate. However, we also have instances where through our research we documented an “unknown” ashtray as historically iconic. An example being the acquisition of an ashtray advertised as: “Navy or Coast Guard ashtray, maybe U.S., marked Atlantic Fleet with 4 Stars, looks old”. After 250 hours of research, and with the help of Mark Hinton, Chairman of the George S. Patton Museum, this ashtray was identified as belonging to 4 Star Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the U.S Atlantic Fleet, Admiral Ernest J. King. The ultimate provenance in this example was a 12 point photo match to a January 1941 high resolution photo taken by famed WWII photographer George Strock for Life Magazine (the photo is now owned by Getty Images). https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/admiral-ernest-j-kings-ashtray-news-photo/50455755