- Rare ceramic ashtray from New York's legendary Stork Club
- Plus a First Edition copy of "Welcome to the Stork Club"
- Oversize cigarette-sponsored ashtray reads "FOR FATIMA ASHES ONLY"
- Mearl Allen's book takes readers behind-the-scenes of the nightclub
- Ashtray measures 7 1/4-inches in diameter; weighs 2 pounds
Handle with Care, and Pass Down to the Next Generation.
In the old days, chauffeur-driven Rolls Royces, Bentleys and Cadillacs pulled up at the awning of the Stork Club at 3 East 53rd Street, and the doorman opened car doors for the great and not-yet-famous. Return to the glory days of New York when Sherman Billingsley’s Stork Club was New York City’s most enchanting nightclub, where, it is said, signature ashtrays disappeared, five dozen or more a day, into pockets or purses. Even movie stars stole them. Marlene Dietrich kept one on her dresser to hold her earrings.
Offering a rare Fatima Cigarette-sponsored Stork Club ashtray, the sole sponsor of the Stork Club television series from 1950 to 1955. The oversize, 2-pound ceramic ashtray reads "FOR FATIMA ASHES ONLY." Ads claimed that Fatima cigarettes were always appropriate after an elegant meal or a fashionable evening at the nightclub.
These pieces have vanished into history. Once icons of hospitality and glamour, ashtrays are part of Americana from the golden age of glamorous smoking, now endangered objects, out of use along with cigarettes, but desirable for their connection to the culture of New York City in the twentieth century. Use them on dressing tables for jewelry, or serve nuts and hors d'oeuvres in them at parties. The time-honored curios become heightened moments of aesthetic focus in the home.
INCLUDES Mearl L. Allen's "Welcome to the Stork Club," taking readers behind-the-scenes of the nightclub, highlighting that the club was more than a celebrity playground, and that "many decisions of tremendous social and economic importance regarding world affairs were made in the Stork Club during this time," and the likes of Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball could often be seen conversing with executive types.