Recent viewing of the series The Crown has reminded Mr. Bowen of the copious amounts of smoking cigarettes and the like in the 1960s and prior years. There was alot of it and it was ubiquitous. The dinner table was no exception. As Mr. Bowen has pointed out in prior posts, holloware pieces that are often sold as "nut dishes" really were intended as ashtrays. My favorite example is what looks like a tiny 2 1/2 inch serving platter in the Reed & Barton Windsor pattern is actually an ashtray.
The promotional literature of the 1950s from Reed & Barton has pictures of these ashtrays on the table for each place setting with two cigarettes and a pack of matches. In addition to ashtrays, there was one other holloware pieces in connection with smoking-the aptly named cigarette urn. The cigarette urn allowed cigarettes to be stored in an upright position.
What suggestion does Mr. Bowen have for the owners of these relics of the past? Why the small individual ashtrays would make great nut dishes. The cigarette urn makes a great toothpick holder. Just don't tell anyone what these pieces were originally used for.
