Five Crimp Ashtray

A round silver ashtray crimped five times around its edge, with a small ball at each crimp, is a First Period object that shows Spratling finishing a plain functional form with the same ball-and-edge vocabulary he used in jewelry. The five crimps turn a flat disc into a shaped, faceted rim, the silver balls marking each point.

The design had a long life. The earliest examples carry the hallmarks of the early-to-mid 1930s, and production continued until 1945 with the WS print-circle hallmark, often alongside the oval "Spratling Silver" cartouche or "Sterling," so the mark dates the piece within that span. The same design was also made in larger "plate" sizes.

The ashtray is recorded in Morrill and Berk's Mexican Silver. It has been reissued, so an original read by its period hallmark is distinguished from the later production.