Hi all - This is my first posting to this forum, so apologies in advance if I mess up anything. I recently acquired (mostly by accident) a Saarinen ashtray for Knoll that appears to be original and in very good condition. It still has the screen and has a Knoll paper label affixed to the base. I was planning to sell this piece, but while researching them online I discovered that the may be somewhat rare. Can someone enlighten me further? I would appreciate any information, especially pertaining to relative rarity. (If I'm unlikely to come across another one in the future, I may want to keep this one!) Thanks so much for your time and expertise.
(edited by DA - picture fixed)
<img class="wpforo-default
I seem to have done...
I seem to have done something incorrectly. Can you not post directly to images in Flickr? If not, this is the direct link:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/62783970@N08/5707923175/in/photostream/
Relative rarity?
Is there a chart that I am unaware of? Something that indicates how scarce something is, maybe a graduated scale like:
Rare as a flat tire
Rare as belly-rubbin' music
Rare as a white tiger
Rare as hen's teeth
Rare as a good hair day for Donald Trump
For sure you don't see the ashtray as often as you do a side table, but would you want to? As smoking rates continue to decline, it becomes harder and harder to sell an ashtray, no matter how stylish.
Will you come across another? I can't say. Should you sell it or keep it? Well, do you smoke? If not, do you plan to start smoking anytime soon? If the answer is yes, I'd recommend keeping it. Likewise if you are concerned that you may never find another. If you will lay awake at night filled with regret that you sold that rare Saarinen ashtray maybe you should hold on to it, at least until you find another. Then you can sell that one.
It's rare, but not THAT rare.
They show up periodically on Ebay, and Knoll says they were manufactured from 1962 to 1976.
Yours seems to be in very good shape, though -- they're often missing the sifter -- so if you want to sell one and also keep one for yourself, it might be best to keep this one and sell the next.
It would function like a side table
... if you put a piece of glass on top of it. But it would still be an ashtray with a piece of glass on top. Kinda' defeats the purpose and goes against the very premise of most modern design I'd think.
If I had one and, despite not smoking, wanted to keep it. I'd just leave it in an inconspicuous spot so I could admire the design or offer it to my guests to use if they smoke (so long as you don't mind them doing so in your house).
Or you could clean it really, REALLY well and us it to serve treats like candy or nuts.
Gee, this is getting awfully convoluted, maybe you should just sell it.
Eero Saarinen, standing ashtray for Knoll
ModineMod,
Start smoking now, it is good for you.
Do not add glass to make this into your idea of a table. Keep it for guest, keep it because it is interesting and you have nothing better on which to spend your money, or sell it.
I thank you for posting the photo as I did not know that this piece existed. I will now be on the look out for this unit for myself.
Problem Resolved!
Based on the many fabulous suggestions I've received, I've decided that six months out of the year, the ashtray will have a glass top and function as a cocktail table for my ever-present martini. The other six months, the top will be removed and it will await the ashes of my non-existent guests. For parties (about every 5 years), it will hold candy and or nuts, which may taste slightly ashy but that's not my concern.
But first, it shall have a large bird decoupaged on it -- I'm thinking hot pink.
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