TIRSCHENREUTH BAVARIA/PASCO ASHTRAY?

This isn't old...the green mark is from 1969-1995. The red PASCO is the first part of my question; a retail venue? The other part of the query has to do with the designed function...is it an ashtray?
The dip in the rim is large enough for a cigar but too large for a cigarette; the tray itself appears too small to accommodate much cigar ash...but I cannot imagine what else it may have been made for. Help me out here if you can, please.
I use it for mustard etc at mealtime, brute that I have become, just to keep it in sight as I love its simplicity. Thanks for lookin'!

 

Apparently PASCo was importer Paul A Straub Co

PM&M page [USA / New York / New York (06)] https://share.google/b8I35QfJwXHbsFfvs

 

I’d want to keep that where I could see it too. Such a lovely and interesting form. It could be intended for use as an ashtray for a single cigar smoker. Or a spoon rest. But I found myself wondering if the little indentation would enable someone to hold it with their thumb in the indentation?

 

Well done, SIS...Thanks!

 

Yes, that would be possible; a left thumb (perhaps a feminine thumb...mine is too large to sit comfortably there). I hadn't considered that.

 

It reminds me, a bit, of a Tiffany bowl I have. My bowl is about 9" across so more a serving bowl, if anything. I'm guessing mine is just a design element.

 

Yours is an Elsa Peretti bowl for Tiffany. The indentation is a thumbprint and in keeping with her "...distinctive sculptural, organic aesthetic..." I think it's intended to be more of a decorative piece. Tiffany doesn't have a 9" bowl in its line now but the 4.75" bowl retails for $200 and the 11" bowl retails for $600 so somewhere between the two...

Debora

 

(Or you can pick one up at a thrift for a few dollars and then forget it in your basement for years)

 

Hate when that happens.

Debora

 

It doesn't seem like an ashtray to me. Probably because of the gold coloring. Doesn't seem to fit, aesthetically, with heat and ashes. On the other hand, people used to use all sorts of things as ashtrays. And some still do.

I like your use of it.

 

Here's the same piece with crest of Carlyle Hotel in New York. That makes me think it is designed to be an ashtray.

https://www.etsy.com/listing/171890...how_sold_out_detail=1&ref=nla_listing_details

Debora

 

I guess a luxury hotel would do that. Good find!

 

Yes, design certainly in keeping with a luxury hotel.

Debora

 

How inna world did you find that, Debora?
I'm a bit shocked by the price! Probably most of that is for the Carlyle link...but still, a lot for an ashtray, eh?

 

Your mark dates to 1938-1969, a fairly wide time range, according to this.

https://www.porcelainmarksandmore.com/related/usa/newyork-06/

Debora

 

Well, I can't see it being very useful for an ashtray as the cigarette would point the wrong way into the bowl if you put it on the lip. But, as a "modern" design, I guess it's possible. Sometimes form didn't follow function.