Bottle Cap Ash Tray

Dateca. 1935 (probably)

MediumCommercially manufactured bottle caps, iron wire, and steel

DimensionsOverall: 1 3/4 x 5 x 4 7/8in. (4.4 x 12.7 x 12.4cm)

Credit LineGift of Mr. and Mrs. Charles N. Gignilliat, Jr.

Object number1977.808.5

DescriptionAn ash tray fashioned of bottle caps (forming the rim), steel (the base, butt stubber, and cigarette rests), and iron wire (threading the caps together).

Artist unidentified.
Label TextAlthough the Great Depression wrecked economic havoc and brought suffering to many Americans, its deprivations also sparked an inventive recycling of many kinds of by-products previously considered "trash." Bottle caps were plentiful and readily available; threaded onto heavy gauge wire, they could be shaped into a variety of utilitarian forms and sold as curiosities or kept for personal use.
The ash tray was acquired with a bottle cap basket (AARFAM acc. no. 1977.808.4), but the two objects appear to have come from different original sources. Unlike the basket, no maker's name was associated with the ash tray by its previous owners, and legible place names on its bottle caps suggest a Virginia origin.

MarkingsThe butt stubber on the ash tray was made from a beer can marked "B/XX/R BALLANTINE & C/NEWARK/NEW JERSEY"; among the place names on the bottle caps are "Waynesboro," "Danville," "Clifton Forge," "Covington," "Lexington," "Staunton," and "Norfolk." (Because the inscriptions are so numerous and, in some cases, only partially visible, no effort has been made to transcribe them all here).
ProvenanceFound by AARFAM's donors at a flea market in Charlotte, N. C.