In the August, 1991 issue of CJ, we showed three salesman's give-aways (page 9 and page 16.) In the September, 1992 issue of CJ, we showed four ashtrays that were made by porcelain insulator manufacturers, and I encouraged you to send in a photo of any of these go-withs that you have in your collection. I was amazed at the response to that call. People were excited at the opportunity to share their finds. It seems that there is a lot of interest in these salesman's gifts, so here are a number of the new reports. I also saw a few ashtrays at the Kansas City show and the Denver National, but several of these escaped before I could capture them on film. 

Bob Stahr (NIA #4186) wrote to the Lapp Insulator Co. in an effort to find out more about William Shafer, which was the name on his ashtray (see photo in Sept. 1992, Page 7). Lapp responded saying that they have" ... manufactured ashtrays for the past 25 years or so as promotional giveaways. When there was a known project ongoing, i.e. testing in Lapp's laboratory or field installation of a major project, we would make up customized ashtrays for the key individuals involved. In this case, the only William Shafer that we are acquainted with is a good friend of ours in the Purchasing Department of ABB, formerly ITE. Bill does not remember having ever been given an ashtray and judging from the EHV assembly shown on the ashtray, I would suspect it was prepared for one of our customers." So the name on Bob's ashtray is still a mystery.

Shawn Lessord (NIA #4687) sent in the following picture of his gray colored ashtray, which was made after ITE Imperial Corp. bought the Victor Insulators, Inc. factory in 1953 and before they merged with Gould. Inc. in 1976.

The ashtray is 6-3/4" in diameter. Around the rim is the following marking:

VICTOR / INSULATORS 
DIVISION
 with the ITE logo in the bottom of the ashtray

Jack Foote (NIA #3157) sent in the following photo of a rusty brown Locke ashtray that is 6-1/2" in diameter. Mark Becher and Marcia Wills reported one with a cobalt blue glaze and Chris Hedges (NIA#15) has a green one as well as a rust brown and a cobalt. Otto Boll (NIA #130) has a rust brown ashtray. I believe that these were made in the 1920's during the period that they were using the rusty brown glaze on insulators (before use of the chocolate brown glaze). This ashtray style seem to be one of the more common varieties; however, all ashtrays are difficult to find.

I have the following ashtray in my collection. This cobalt blue ashtray is a raised profile of a three-part insulator mounted on a steel pedestal with the word "LOCKE" underneath. It is difficult to photograph cobalt blue ashtrays, so hope this picture shows up well when it is printed. This ashtray has been in the Locke family for many years. I suspect that it was made in the 1910's or 1920's.

Otto Boll (NIA # 130) shared photographs of the next four ashtrays. The first ashtray (pictured at the top of the following page) is a 5-1/2" diameter with a white glaze. On the bottom is the embossed marking. "WISCONSIN PORCELAIN CO., SUN PRAIRIE WISCONSIN". This company did not make pin-type insulators. They made precision ceramics and various porcelain items, such as for electric stoves and other pressed or extruded items.

Otto's next ashtray is a very pretty light green color with a dark gray shading around the inside. It is triangular shaped 5-3/4" by 8-5/8". At the top is a round, bronze ITE logo. The bottom side has the embossed marking, "The Hyde Park, No. 1940, MADE IN U.S.A." Considering the ITE line of products, I suspect that this ashtray found a greater distribution outside the realm of insulator customers.

The next ashtray is a rounded triangular shape about 6-3/4" across. In the bottom of this chocolate brown glazed ashtray is the raised logo of Westinghouse. Also, Westinghouse products were primarily electrical equipment, even though they did produce a large line of porcelain insulators.

Otto's fourth ashtray is in the form of a large "W". It is nearly 7" across at the top and 5-3/4" tall with the name "WESTINGHOUSE" prominently embossed along the top. This ashtray has a jet black glaze.

Chris Hedges (NIA #15) sent in photographs of his large collection of ashtrays and salesman's give-aways. I recently had the opportunity to view his collection firsthand and it is quite interesting. We do not have room this month to show you all of his specimens, but maybe we can show a few of the more interesting ones.

The first photograph shows three ashtrays that Chris purchased at this year's Kansas City show. (If you missed that one, you missed a very good show.) All three ashtrays are a dark blue color. At first glance they all look alike, but notice that each one has a different miniature insulator mounted in the center. Notice that all three ashtrays are shaped like the state of Illinois, and the town of Macomb is marked with the name and a star on the west side of the state. The picture came out a little dark, but maybe you can see that the two ashtrays on the left side have two different multipart insulators and the one on the right has a unipart side-groove insulator. The ashtrays appear to be quite old. and were probably made in the 1920's.

Chris' next salesman's giveaway has a very unusual mottled green glaze. It has a U-244 Macomb insulator mounted on a 7-3/4" long base. There are no markings on either the insulator or the base. This item must be very old. I would guess that it was made between 1920 and 1915.

The next item in Chris' collection is a mottled cobalt blue ashtray with a holder on the back to hold a box of matches in such a way as to make the matches easily available to light up one's next cigarette. The ashtray is hexagon shaped and has the marking "LOCKE" on the bottom left rim and "PORCELAIN" on the bottom right rim. The ashtray is 6-1/2" across. 

Chris' next unusual ashtray is shown in the photograph on the next page. The cobalt blue ashtray is 6 inches in diameter. Around the rim are various markings. There is no doubt what year this ashtray was made. This a perhaps the most interesting ashtray that I have seen. 

We will show you more of Chris' collection of salesman's give-aways at another time. Please send me photographs of your insulator related ashtrays, paper weights, miniature insulators, etc. so we can share them with everyone. The variety of these interesting go-withs is just now becoming recognized. Let's see how many different ones we can find. Someday, I hope to publish a booklet which shows photographs of all these interesting go-withs that are available.

Cobalt blue ashtray markings:
- a dove (top right)
- the VICTOR R-oo logo (bottom right) 
- 1918 with Masonic logo (top left)
- U.S. shield and "WAR WON / 11-11-11 / 1918" (bottom left)