In 1997, I think it was, I was cast in a dinner theater production of "Same Time, Next Year" at a resort in Green Lake, Wisconsin, called the Heidel House ("Your Little Heidel Away from Home"). Let's ignore for the moment the question of whether I was credible as a charmingly adulterous heterosexual, and that I was cast opposite an honest-to-goodness crazy person in a two-person play. (I learned to pray in the moments before the lights came up on us.) Let's talk instead about antiquing in rural Wisconsin. Nothing beats it!
The trip from the Twin Cities to the Heidel House took about 4-1/2 hours, depending on how much temptation I felt to press my luck with the notoriously well-enforced Wisconsin speed limits. At approximately the halfway point was Tomah. This small town "where the I divides" (the I being I-94 and I-90) is probably best known for Humbird Cheese, with its killer 5-year cheddar and its giant mouse mascot. Right next to the Humbird shop is the Tomah Antique Mall.
On my first trip out to Green Lake, I stopped there (surprise!) and looked around. I instantly coveted three items: a chartreuse 1950s Fiesta ware ashtray, a chartreuse American Modern covered pitcher, and a curious little Red Wing ashtray shaped like a tepee. Bright orange, with a drippy glaze that screamed "1960s!!", it did not fit in with what was then my 1930s-40s-50s aesthetic. But I "got" it instantly. You stuck your cigarette in one of the little rests and the smoke would funnel up the chimney and out the top. Cool, right? I wanted to smoke just to try it out. (At the time, I occasionally did smoke. I was an actor. It was a thing.) I vowed that I would buy it once I got my first paycheck from the show.
Sadly, when I went back, all three items had sold. In the intervening years, I gave up my Fiesta ware collection and I found myself a covered water pitcher, but I never came upon another Red Wing tepee like that. I saw a few in a hideous gloppy green glaze, which I couldn't stomach. I did find one orange one once, but two of the little cigarette rests had been broken off. (That would never do.) I never stopped wanting one, even though I more or less gave up smoking and it still didn't fit in with my predominant aesthetic.
And today, I found one! In, of all places, Frisco, Texas. In an antique mall that sold primarily rusted metal Texas Lone Star yard art, ladies leopard-print garments, soy candles and potpourri. One dealer had two shelves of Red Wing and Rum Rill pottery. I couldn't believe it. The dealer must have been a Midwest transplant. Priced $30 less than the one I saw 14 years ago (yes, of course I remember the price) and with a 20% discount offered by the dealer, I could not resist it. In mint condition, it even maintained its original foil sticker. And now it sits proudly atop my Heywood Wakefield china cabinet.
And no, I didn't start smoking again. I've repurposed the ashtray as a tealight holder.
What a fantastic piece! I've never seen one of those before. I can see why you fell in love with it so many years ago and never got over it. I sometimes think we're fated to have certain things we love, even though we don't always get them for a while. Congratulations on a beautiful find.
Posted by: Dana | February 21, 2011 at 09:37 PM