U.S. ​MILITARY ASHTRAY MUSEUM

In addition, Admiral Kings ashtray is the only example in the entire US Military Ashtray Museum that’s provenance includes a high resolution photo match to a war date photo or cursive writing cast into it. In a very unique and documented event, Admirals Kings ashtrays was photographed in high resolution, along with his 4 Star coffee cup and saucer, by famed WWII photographer George Strock for Life Magazine in January 1941 shortly before he took Command of the U.S. Atlantic Fleet. The idea of photographing Admiral Kings personal ashtray and coffee cup, was to make the point that Admiral King had been given command of one of the hardest and least desirable military assignments of all time, to combat Germanys U-Boat menace in 1941 during the Battle of the Atlantic, therefore he would be smoking a lot of cigarettes and drinking a lot of coffee. For all of the reasons described, this historic ashtray is listed under all 4 main categories as well as numerous of the sub categories. George Strock’s photograph was later acquired by Getty Images ​​(see link).​  https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/admiral-ernest-j-kings-ashtray-news-photo/50455755 

The collection” is broken down into four (4) main categories:

~Iconic: Categorized by the most historically significant.
~Commanders: Categorized by command and rank.
~Ships: Categorized by the various classes of ships.
~Noteworthy: Categorized by noteworthy distinctions.

 Under those four main categories there are numerous sub-categories. In some cases, a single ashtray can be listed under all four main categories, as well as many of the sub-categories beneath them. An example is the ashtray featured on this page. It was made for and used by 4 Star Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the U.S Atlantic Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King, on board his Flagship the Battleship USS Texas, from February 1st 1941 until December 20th 1941 during the longest Battle of WWII, the Battle of the Atlantic.