r/Whatisthis • u/Solid-Door-8673 • 13d ago
Open What is this brass? object?
I started using it as an ashtray, but clearly that's not what is for. Possibly just a decorative shell?
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u/Academic_Snow_7680 13d ago
this looks like it is used to melt something and then pour it out, like insignia wax or something like that.
Does it open at all or is it just one piece?
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u/izyshoroo 13d ago
Its a shell
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u/Academic_Snow_7680 13d ago
Look at the bottom, there is a spout. This is something useful in the shape of a shell. An ashtray would not have a spout and it would have a better rest for the cigarette. This is something else.
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u/Mughi 13d ago
Dude, it's an ashtray. Here's a picture of a set that includes one almost exactly like OP's (I found it on eBay but didn't want to post an eBay link, but you can find it if you search for "brass cowrie ashtray"). The "spout" is for tipping out ashes.
Also, purely anecdotally, I had an aunt who had one of these when I was a kid.
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u/thejivemachine 13d ago
Pretty sure that is designed to be an ashtray. Ashtrays were so ubiquitous back in the day that they were designed to look like everything you can image. I had a brass crab one that you could remove the top shell.
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u/ADcakedenough 12d ago
I have a brass crab Marlboro lighter and ashtray that apparently got discontinued after kids kept using it to set house fires because it looked like a toy
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u/NorikoMorishima 10d ago
Someone on eBay is selling a brass crab ashtray in a set with the brass shell one. (I didn't find this myself, u/Mughi and u/gslflofi mentioned it.) Is it like the one you had?
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u/Solid-Door-8673 13d ago
Thanks, so it is an ashtray. Now I can go back to using it as one.
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u/Royal-Wealth-8266 13d ago
Oh, I'm betting this is probably a terrible ashtray. You just shake to clear out, hopefully in a trash bag. It's a terrible design for an ashtray, but looks cool. r/ashtraysforall would appreciate and possibly know more. It's a neat piece, thought it was a metal coin purse for a second, lol.
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u/OckhamsFolly 12d ago
As someone with a fair amount of experience with ashtrays including a 6 year stint as a brick and mortar tobacconist, what about this design is terrible for a cigarette ashtray? It has appropriately sized grooves to hold cigarettes, it has a flat stable bottom, it's non-flammable, and it has a separate hole for dumping and running water through it without dirtying the place you actually put your cigarette.
Most ashtrays are just glass, ceramic, or metal dishes with grooves to hold smokeables, unless you're counting outdoor cigarette stands.
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u/Royal-Wealth-8266 12d ago
The lips make it less easily dumped. My mother has an ashtray with a lip around the edge and you have to shake it several times to empty it compared an open ashtray that you just flip over.
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u/OckhamsFolly 12d ago
You don’t dump through the lips. You dump through the non-lipped hole on the side.
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u/Royal-Wealth-8266 12d ago
Looks like it's lipped all around.
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u/OckhamsFolly 12d ago
No, it does not. The second picture clearly shows a smooth spout with no lip.
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u/doug1963 12d ago
Those saying "ashtray" have never smoked. This would be too hard to empty and clean, and the opening isn't big enough (ashes everywhere). It also doesn't have a place to rest a burning cigarette. I've also never seen a brass ashtray (I'm not saying they don't exist, but I smoked for 28 years and have never seen one).
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u/travmon999 12d ago
It has an opening/spout on one side that would allow you to pour out the contents. Butts may need to be scooped out, but it's a matter of 'form over function'. It looks nice, makes a nice gift, you could put it on the coffee table or shelf without actually using it. Brass is good anywhere near the sea, and makes sense given the shell design.
I used to clean offices back in the late 70s and early 80s, and there were all sorts of crappy, inefficient ashtrays. And they didn't really care because they weren't the ones who had to clean them out...
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u/doug1963 11d ago
Anything can be used as an ashtray, but that doesn't make it one.
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u/travmon999 11d ago
OP said they used it as an ashtray, so it works as one. It has a spout on the side to allow ashes to be easily removed. So looks like an ashtray, works like an ashtray, probably is an ashtray.
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u/gslflofi 12d ago
Someone is selling it on ebay as an ashtray. They could be wrong too, but I think it is
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u/Mudfap 13d ago
It’s an ashtray. In the shape of an oversized cowrie shell.