Never thought I’d see one of these beauties again.
In February 2006, shortly before members of parliament voted to ban smoking in enclosed public places, we sent every MP a final briefing note plus a special gift - an ashtray emblazoned with our campaign logo.
Although they were hand delivered we discovered later that quite a few got chipped or broken en route so I was more than surprised, two weeks ago, to meet a politician who still had one in mint condition.
When I say ‘mint’, I mean it was still in one piece. In truth it was filthy. It sat on a low wall in his garden and following overnight rain fag ends were floating around in the dirty water that had collected in it.
Nevertheless I can’t tell you how delighted I was that, 13 years on, one of our ashtrays had not only survived, it was still in daily use.
Anyway, by complete coincidence, I have since stumbled upon one of the original samples and here it is.
A design classic, I think you’ll agree.