DC3 airplane ashtray stand

Hi,

You have your facts all wrong because of the fact that this piece is put together from several different ashtray parts all made in Canada circa 1953. That would date the clock.

The underside bottom part made in England is definitely added to hold the light which is at bottom under the molded glass insert which lights up. All the pieces you see when the ashtray is standing were made in Canada by the Metalcraft Mfg Co. which was only in Toronto, Canada.  Some of the airplane parts such as the airplane and smokers tray were made there.  The clock us usually always alone, except someone put this together using different parts, and the base when the clock is alone usually has a much more ornate base with 3 or so glass onyx parts. This clock is usually circa 1955 when it was made at the end of the company's cycle which was 1948 for the plane and the glass onyx pieces were added and used circa 1950 and to 1955 by this company.  

You may see a lot of airplane ashtray's on ebay and they were all made at one time by the Metalcraft Mfg. Company. A lot of them got corroded and so there are so many that have been made up using this companys parts which were made on the tall standing lamps also.  

There were some ashtrays made in Montreal too, as I believe the company may have had a branch there also.

I have added this site to give you a real example of this companys magnificent line of 50's lamps and ashtrays.

http://www.collectorsweekly.com/stories/56555-metalcraft-manufacturing-…

As for the history I found that there was always talk of them being in Airports, which was totally untrue !! Why would airports put in even one which people could easily cover and walk off with or dismantle as it was usually easy to take apart and also had cigarette containers which could be moved or taken. There have been reproductions of airplane ashtrays made in the states which came out in 1990's by a man called Rick DeRico and I have talked to him as he was a nice guy who made some interesting parts to go with his versions, and his plane had a few minor changes in the lines.

Also to note is that besides Metalcraft Manufacturing Company making the first ones in 1947, they also made them by other company names later on, such as Electrolite and Rainbow,but one thing I found is that the Shapiro's who started the company were also the owners of other company names that the ashtrays and lamps were sold as, such as Electrolite and Rainbow. They made other ashtrays with the excellent casting which the pieces had, and other names in Eaton's cataloge with the same parts used in their construction and only the companies names were different. I talked to one of the owners of this company making the airplane ashtray had the same family name but he was too young to even know about Metalcraft making the first airplane ashtrays in Canada.The ashtrays had nice glass agate parts which were added to the simple chrome versions of these ashtrays as the years progressed. The parts that the U.S. used in their ashtrays were made with a more art deco feel in the 40's, but never with the quality that the Canadians made in their ashtrays. The company making the airplane ashtray almost tmade them as if the airplane ashtray was put on an elaborate pedestal ! I knew by the late 1970's that the owners let some of the workers have one at Christmas time back when they were made in the 50's and they could pick their own parts in their own making up of their ashtray which is probably why some had the clock added to their ashtrays. That clock I find is rarely working today so it may have been a piece which was hard to keep working so thus the reason so few of those versions were made. Phil Morris.