Weird Spratling wood/silver thing. What was it used for?

[collectingfool]

Picked up this thing today. It's wood and silver with the Spratling mark on it so I know who made it. Main question is though, what is it? Person I got it from said they remembered seeing it in a book once but didn't remember much about it. I'm guessing a cigarette pack holder or playing cards holder but if anyone knows for sure I'd love to hear about it.



Thanks
Ruben

[agphile]

A cigarette dispenser, for loose cigarettes rather than a packet, seems a possibility to me. I guess they had fallen out of fashion well before the end of the 20th century, but at drinks parties in my youth containers with cigarettes would often be placed alongside the ashtrays on side tables. This was in the UK but I imagine the practice was not unique to one country. I mostly remember porcelain dispensers but other materials including silver were also used. Nowadays they would probably be used for something like cheese straws.

The gimmicky trick dispensers that you will find in internet searches were not much used at parties. I only remember being shown them as a sort of joke.

Of course, this assumes your container is the right size for the local cigarette brands.

[JayT]

See: William Spratling and the Mexican Silver Renaissance, p. 251. This is exact model is illustrated and called "cigarette holder with dots, wood base, c. 1962-1967, 3x1.25x2.75 inches." Whether the holder was for an entire packet or loose cigarettes is not mentioned.