Ashtrays and Smoking Paraphernalia

In 1974, 1 in every 3 American adults smoked cigarettes, and smoking was widely accepted in public spaces, workplaces, and the majority of homes. Accordingly, many pieces of Expo merchandise were related to cigarettes: mainly ashtrays, but also lighters, matchbooks, and cigarette cases.

The majority of unsold Expo 74 merchandise was purchased and resold by Spokane retailer The White Elephant over the next several decades. In 2011, the White Elephant's owner reported that “ashtrays don’t sell like they used to.” Today, listings on eBay will sometimes describe Expo ashtrays as "candy dishes" or "decorative plates." Ashtrays can sometimes be distinguished by notched or scalloped edges, a design choice intended to keep cigarettes from rolling away when set down. However, it can be hard to differentiate between an ashtray and any other small concave dish, so if any of these are not truly ashtrays, I apologize for the error.

Clicking on each of the images will take you to a page with more photos of the item and the image source.

Irwin Caplan's Expo concept art is rendered in simplified form on this ashtray. Despite the label on the bottom-most image, the gardens at the Japanese pavilion were referred to as the Japanese Gardens throughout the fair itself.

This ashtray uses the Caplan art in the center of the plate, with Delft-inspired blue flowers around the outside and three gold streaks coming in from the edge.

This ashtray features a similar inner circle, with a plain pink outer ring and two streaks of gold from the edge. The divots for resting a cigarette are more apparent here than on the Delft blue version.

This gold-edged ashtray has a center image containing very simplified art of the U.S. Pavilion and a few flags.

This simple pewter ashtray depicts the U.S. pavilion and the Expo logo.

This small brass ashtray from the Korea pavilion has three channels for resting cigarettes.

This light-colored ashtray is presumed bootleg due to the soaring gondolas and the mis-colored U.S. pavilion.

This strangely-colored foot ashtray proclaims that its owner left their footprint at Expo 74.

The height of this small pouch and the reinforced front indicate that it is for cigarettes, rather than for change. The back of the pouch replicates some pieces of the Caplan art, but in questionable form. The art that is traditionally associated with the Japanese or "Oriental" garden has been labeled "Safari Ride," presumably a misunderstanding of the "Skyway Safari" title associated with the Caplan illustration of the ride that would eventually become the A&W Skyfloat.

This brass cigarette case has a small badge with the Expo logo on the bottom right.

Four different matchbook cover designs were produced for Expo ‘74, viewable in the gallery below. The designs depict: 1.) The Boeing Amphitheater, 2.) the Falls Gondola Ride, 3.) the U.S. Pavilion, and 4.) the Washington State Pavilion. The Washington State Pavilion is incorrectly tinted yellow. The drawing of the amphitheater bears minimal resemblance to the actual amphitheater that was built on the site. The artist is unknown.

This official Zippo slim lighter is merchandise for the U.S. Pavilion. Its front features American eagle imagery, while the back has a quote (apocryphally from Chief Seattle) that was prominently featured in the Pavilion: “The earth does not belong to man, man belongs to the earth.”

This brushed steel lighter has an enamel circle with the Expo logo at the front. Unusually, the logo has a registered trademark symbol at its bottom right.