Overview & Resources
Welcome & Contact
Big, bold, and beautiful, Haeger ashtrays represent the best of the Mid-Century Modern art and design movement. We think they are a lot of fun, and we are excited to share what we've learned about them.
Michael Bono & Peter Christensen
Contact@HaegerAshtrays.com
Ashtray Index
The Ashtray Index cross-references all the ashtrays and accessories we've found in catalogs dated 1922 through 2006.
The index will lead you to listings of an ashtray in all of the catalogs that list it. All you need is the design number, which usually appears on the back of the ashtray.
The catalogs, in turn, provide additional information such as the different glazes used with the design. And note that different catalogs frequently list different glazes for an ashtray.
Ashtray Gallery
The Ashtray Gallery presents hundreds of ashtrays and accessories in order by design number, plus ashtrays made to advertise companies, organizations, and celebrations.
Nomenclature
The caption under the first photo of the ashtray or accessory includes the following elements:
- Description: Haeger was often inconsistent in describing an ashtray or accessory from one catalog to the next, even one page to the next. We use the most complete description we could find. Where there was no description at all or the design simply appeared in a group titled Ashtrays, we use a generic term such as Ashtray or Lighter.
- Size: Looking at the photos of individual ashtrays or accessories, you have no idea of size and a 5" ashtray can look just like a 12" so we include the longest dimension.
- When available, the measurement comes from a catalog and we present it like this:
Rectangular Ashtray 10"
- Otherwise, we get the size from the collector or seller who provided the photo and we present the approximate size like this:
Rectangular Ashtray ≈10"
- When available, the measurement comes from a catalog and we present it like this:
- Circa: Circa implies an approximate date, and that's the best we can offer. The dates come from the dates of the catalogs in which the ashtray or accessory is listed. Also, it is important to note that there are years for which catalogs have never been found.
Note: When an ashtray or accessory can't be found in a catalog, and its glaze can be identified, we state the dates the glaze was used in production, if known.
- Glaze: The name of the glaze if we've been able to identify it, else it will read "unidentified." Look to the catalogs for complete information on the different glazes used with a particular design.
- Photo Credit: The name of the person who provided the photo and gave us permission to use it. Sources include Michael's collection, other Haeger collectors, and sellers on eBay, Etsy, et al.
Catalog number prefixes and suffixes:
- For ease of reading, we always include a hyphen after a prefix and before a suffix whether they appear on the ashtray or not, e.g., R-1735 and 813-H. The catalogs are inconsistent in this matter.
- Where the catalog is inconsistent in listing numbers with prefixes and suffixes, e.g., R-1735 and 1735, and 813-H and 813, we include an explanatory note.
- Numbers Only Found in Catalogs: There are many examples such as 1066, 1066-GD, 1066-J, 1066-X, and 1066-XD where the catalog images all appear to be the same design, but only one of the numbers has been found on an ashtray. As is the case with 1066, the number found on an ashtray is most frequently the one without a suffix.
It appears that the suffixes found in catalogs are sometimes used to indicate a particular glaze or type of glaze. For example, 2124 is used in the listings of a number of solid-colored glazes while 2124-X is used with a number of colors of Graphic Earth Wrap glazes.
However, it is not possible to associate every ashtray with a catalog number specific to its glaze, so for consistency we don't do it at all. The only number we associate with an ashtray is the one that appears on the ashtray.
Glaze Gallery
The Glaze Gallery displays all the glazes shown in the Ashtray Gallery in order by glaze name.
Glaze Code Index
The Glaze Code Index equates glaze codes to their corresponding glaze names and will assist you with the regular catalogs from the 50s through 70s that list glaze codes but don't include keys to their meanings. Earlier and later regular catalogs, and all the floral and lamp catalogs, identify glaze names within the catalog.
Glaze Resources
The Glaze Gallery displays all the glazes shown in the Ashtray Gallery in order by glaze name. And the Glaze Code Index will help you identify a glaze where only a code is listed in a catalog.
In addition, two resources are available in the Royal Haeger Pottery Collectors Facebook group:
- Under Media > Albums you will find photo albums for most of the known glazes, with most albums containing many different examples. You can scroll down the page looking at the covers of the albums, then look into the albums you think might match the glaze you are working to identify.
- Under the Files heading you will find Haeger Glazes A thru L and Haeger Glazes M thru Z, indexes by glaze name with links to the glaze albums.
And, of course, you can learn a great deal from the Books listed below.
Facebook Groups
Books
There are five books written on Haeger Potteries. They are all out-of-print, but available through on-line booksellers.
In order of publication date:
- Collecting Royal Haeger – A Comprehensive Illustrated Price Guide Highlighting the 1930s and 1940s by Lee Garmon & Doris Frizzell, 1989
- Haeger Potteries through the Years – A Price Guide by David D. Dilley, 1997
- The House of Haeger 1914-1944 – The Revitalization of American Art Pottery by Joe & Joyce Paradis, 1999
- The House of Haeger 1944-1969 – The Post-War Era by Joe & Joyce Paradis, 2003
- The Haeger Glazes – The Ed Blas Collection by Ed Blas, 2004