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STORK CLUB WINE COASTER AUTHENTIC 1940's ASHTRAY 

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STORK CLUB WINE COASTER AUTHENTIC 1940's ASHTRAY
Item Ended
Item condition:Used
Ended:Aug 16, 201115:56:24 PDT
Winning bid:
US $109.99 [ 1 bid ]
Shipping:
$10.95 USPS Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Box
Item location:Westport, CT, United States
Seller:
Member id smidgen17 ( Feedback Score Of 396Teal star icon for feedback score in between 100 to 499) Get fast shipping and excellent service from Top-rated sellers. |Seller's other items

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Description

Seller assumes all responsibility for this listing.Item number: 300587049654
Last updated on Aug 09, 2011 20:25:58 PDT View all revisions

Item specifics

Condition:
Used: An item that has been used previously. See the seller’s listing for full details and description of ... Read moreabout the condition
  

This is an authentic ceramic wine coaster or ashtray from the famous Stork Club in New York City.  I purchased it in an antiques store in NYC in the early 1970's along with an ashtray from the Copacabana.

According to a retrospective of clubs in New York City by The New York Times, "

1930-1959: The Glamour Years
The Stork Club in 1933
Café society takes a bow. And another. And another.

In every photograph taken at The Stork is an ashtray. It was a shrewd branding device, making it impossible to forget where these beautiful, powerful, eminent people were having their fun. The Stork was started as a speakeasy in 1929 by a brash bootlegger named Sherman Billingsley, who’d once done a stint at Leavenworth for liquor smuggling. But with the repeal of Prohibition, Billingsley faced down Dutch Schultz and accelerated out of the Jazz Age, helped by a new band of powerful partners—the press. Billingsley was a born publicist. When William Randolph Hearst Jr. threw a party for 200 at the Stork, Billingsley picked up the tab—“We’ll never read anything bad about us in the Hearst papers,” he said. And no one with a face or a name (except Garbo) could stay away.  Vaudeville refugee Walter Winchell leveraged his table at the Stork and his telegraphic writing style into national power. At the Stork, celebrity became a business. And it never looked so good."

The coaster or ashtray is just shy of 5" in diameter and about 1.25" high.  The words "Stork Club" appear three times around the outer circumference and they are raised in white (which is now yellowed a bit due to the age of the piece).  No markings on the bottom and there are four felt table protectors which were there when I bought it.  There are no chips or repairs to this fabulous item, just the normal wear and tear the coaster would have seen when placed on tables with such luminaries as JFK, Jackie Kennedy, Walter Winchell, Dorothy Parker, Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, etc.   You can feel the vibes of the Benny Goodman orchestra when you hold it in your hands!  Grab your mink stole and take a trip down memory lane with this unique item!

Thanks to the Ebayer who collects Stork Club items and contacted me to let me know that he thought this is an ashtray.  It could be used as either a wine coaster or ashtray because of it's size and I've seen it used both ways in old photos from The Stork Club.  Just for fun, google "Photos from The Stork Club" and take a look at all of the great moments from The Glamour Years!  This coaster/ashtray appears to be from the early 1940's and they used 5 different designs over the years and this is the earliest. 

Please ask all questions before bidding as we are unable to accept returns.  At this time, we are only able to ship to locations within the continental USA, please. 

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