DT Logo item What's it?

[Toolslinger]

I thought this would make a nice piece mounted to some black walnut I have hanging around, so I put in a bid, and got it… Now the question is, what the heck is/was it? It looks for all the world like a floor drain cover. It isn’t heavy enough for that, but that’s the look for sure…

It is right about 5″ around, and would sit down in to a 4-1/2″ hole. Seems to be solid cast brass.

[david payne]

Toolslinger ( TIM ) note: I HAVE SEEN an ITEM like the one that { you have just bought } FOR SALE ON eBay before ;
THE SELLER on eBay said that the item { like yours } was for an ASHTRAY.( the “top” cover for the ASHTRAY BOWL ).
DAVID PAYNE

[Toolslinger]

Thanks David. That makes perfect sense. This is the first of these I’ve seen.

[Bill Fisher]

What a cool item! Too bad smoking ain’t cool anymore. I quit 6 or 7 years ago and to be honest, i’d love one right now!
Now if you could fine the rest, that would be something. Polished up in a piece of black walnut like you mentioned would be a great piece as well.
Cheers

[Toolslinger]

For the polishing/cleaning, I looked around a little. Obviously it isn’t going to work with mechanical polishing, there are just too many ins and outs… I suppose I could do a vibratory, or tumbler route, but I didn’t want to loose any detail.
Well, to my amazement, I found a couple recommendations on line to use ketchup. Just ketchup, nothing else…
I’m not a big ketchup fan, but I had a little, so what the heck… Dropped the piece in a glass bowl, covered in ketchup with a little water added to make it flow better. Wait 20 minutes, and rinse.
I’ll be damned if it didn’t do a nice job. Obviously not gleaming, but the photo above is so much better than when I received it…I haven’t bought another bottle of the ketchup yet, so haven’t done a second round, but it is on the list of things to do…

I doubt I’d ever find the base… That would be nice, but it’d just become another fragile dust collector. I think I’ll do better with it just mounted, and hanging on the wall…

[Bill Fisher]

Ketchup !?! Too funny! Must be the acidity in the tomatoes. It sure will look good on the wall!

[Author]

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