While there are a number of industrial and advertising ashtrays, our discussion is limited to ashtrays made and signed by recognized sculptors and medalists.

The most prolific maker of ashtrays we have found is the very prominent American sculptor Paul Howard Manship (1885-1966). At least 20 Manship ashtray medals have been identified so far. Two other American sculptors who have done ashtrays are Sidney B. Waugh (1904-1964) and Chester Beach (1881-1956). There are assuredly more, but we have not found them yet.

Writing about Manship’s ashtrays in the catalog for the 2001 Art for Art’s Sake exhibition held at the Cornish Colony Museum in Windsor, Vermont, Robert Mueller noted, "These small dishes are among the most deftly modeled and beautiful works by Manship and are today highly sought after by collectors. Mostly they were created for the sheer joy of sculpting, given as coveted gifts to friends on special occasions, but there were also two commissioned works of this type. Due to the fame of the artist and the extremely limited number of pieces produced I seriously doubt that many were used for their original purpose except by the artist and his family."

Manship’s first commissioned ashtray was a small (3 1/2") piece illustrating the goddess Diana the Huntress, done for presentation to the lay members of the National Sculpture Society. Mueller called it "a gem in bronze," noting that it became the first of a series illustrating mythological subjects. "Looking at the Diana ashtray, the viewer is first taken by the great illusion of motion and speed of the figures. Diana with her bow literally flies through the surrounding flora, her swiftness easily matches the speeding hound below her. The foliage gives way to the envelope created before her while the plants behind are drawn in her wake. Her figure is freely sculpted and extremely fluid in form, her long hair flowing in serpentine waves on both sides of her head. The style of the figure itself is reminiscent of early Minoan frescoes and everything about it insinuates action."

The next commissioned ashtray was done in 1927 for the Carnegie Corporation as a reward for individual effort. Pegasus, the winged mythological horse, is the central figure surrounded by the motto: "CARNEGIE CORPORATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT AND DIFFUSION OF KNOWLEDGE AND UNDERSTANDING." A panel at the base carries the name of the award winner.

The Diana ashtray was produced by the preeminent sculpture foundry, the Roman Bronze Works of New York. All of Manship’s other ashtrays were produced by the leading medals producer, the Medallic Arts Company (MACO) of New York and later Connecticut.

According to Dick Johnson, cataloger and publicity spokesman for MACO, Manship’s ashtrays were made by electroforming in pure copper. "The craftsmen in MACO’s plant who made these were Mike Kowaski prior to 1950 and Hugo Greco after 1950. Mike is dead, but Hugo is very much alive. None were made after 1972 when ownership of the company changed and the firm moved to Danbury [and ultimately Nevada].

"Hugo remembers these well. He would give them an antique copper finish and place a black felt circle on the base of every one. He reports that he has never seen the full set of twelve at one time. He would receive orders for only one or two at a time for specific zodiac designs." Johnson added in a phone interview that when MACO had a showroom in New York, ashtrays were the most stolen item. He said that the 1952 medal made for Sidney Waugh commemorating Western Maryland Railroad’s centennial was cast rather than electroformed.

Most of Manship’s ashtrays were of mythological subjects. There were three versions of Europa and the Bull, also titled Flight of Europa (1917, 1919, and 1946), one of Sagittarius (also called Centaur or Chiron) in 1919 and in 1946, and 12 ashtrays that Manship scholar Robert Mueller called "his crowning series which covers the full complement of the Zodiac. Each of these works captures the essence of its particular sign." Mueller also noted, "A series of drawn studies in the Minneapolis Museum of Art in St. Paul, Minnesota, shows how Manship worked out many of the designs." See the illustrations for some of the Zodiac ashtrays—Virgo, Capricorn, Pisces, etc. (see list for all).

Given the scarcity of ashtray medals, prices have remained astonishingly low. Perhaps it is because many collectors have been unaware they existed. In December 2006 Dawson & Nye Auctioneers in Morris Plains, New Jersey, sold Manship’s 1937 Eros and Psyche for a low $118. In June 2004 the author paid $1440 at Swann Galleries in New York City for an Eros and Psyche. Top auction price we found for a Manship was $1880 at Skinner in September 2004 for a Capricorn, from the 1946 Zodiac series.

The Chester Beach 1925 ashtray sold on eBay for $850, and the 1952 Sidney Waugh ashtray was purchased privately from Presidential Coin & Antique Company for $195. Five Zodiac Manships were purchased privately from Richard Halpern of Heritage Auctions for $1300 each in 2005.

In the exhibit Paul Manship and His Circle, which closed in December 2006, the Gerald Peters Gallery in New York City offered a 7" Manship Aquarius from the Zodiac series for $6000.

There aren’t any fakes out there yet, but there are some "wannabees." A bronze the author hoped might be an unsigned or overlooked example by Paul Manship was purchased on iGavel for $250. "Close, but no cigar, just another European erotic bronze," said the expert.