MID-AMERICA + THE PLAINS. Home Decor, Decorative Ashtray, Souvenir, c. 1950s.
Located southwest of Rapid City, South Dakota, close to the town of Keystone, this national memorial was dedicated as such with a flag ceremony on the first of October, 1925, before any carving even began. The site for the proposed Black Hills presidential sculpture project was on Custer State Park land bordering the Harney National Forest, sacred ground for many tribal nations. It was October, 1927, that George Washington started taking shape from the rock face. In July, 1939, Theodore Roosevelt, the fourth finished figure, was dedicated. Yet work on the massive piece continued through October, 1941, when a final drilling took place directed by Lincoln Borglum, son of the man who had led the project from its start but died before it was complete. American sculptor Gutzon Borglum was himself a figure whose background bred controversy. Suffice to say he would not have been pleased how the sculpture of Crazy Horse taking shape in the nearby hills will be able to fit all four presidents’ heads under its outstretched arm. The little triangular ashtray offered here was made before any such overshadowing of their presence was in the picture. A product of Japan manufactured for sale to an American tourist industry, it has a stamped number “66/105” on the back and space for as many as half a dozen cigarettes to rest on its gold tone rim. A true mid-century showpiece!
Condition: Used Very Good. Local / Regional Attractions. Dimensions: 4.5” equilateral triangle x 1” deep
