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Author Topic: Whitefriars Bentley? Ash Tray  (Read 6666 times)

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Offline Bernard C

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Whitefriars Bentley? Ash Tray
« on: March 27, 2009, 06:38:23 PM »

Click image for gallery with four additional views.

This is an exact match to the Dunhill "Prong" Ash Tray discussed here, except that it's in Sea Green, and is narrower and taller.   It is the same shape, and matches on both bubble counts and the distribution of irregularities in the bubbles, so was probably also made by Harry Dyer during the 1950s.   It was finished with a neatly and centrally ground out and polished pontil.

Subsequently it was expertly acid-etched, or, much more likely, sandblasted with this Deco Flying B logo, filled in with gold paint, probably by a sandblasting specialist rather than at Whitefriars' Wealdstone factory.   The most likely contender was the London Sandblast Decorative Glass Wks., Ltd., Burdett Road, London E.3, apparently market leaders at this time, at least in the South East, who specialised in Signs, Facias & Advertising Novelties.  Note the similarity of the gold paint to that used on their advertising paperweights.

Now for the problem.   Checking with John Forde's excellent and comprehensive mascot website, http://www.mascot-mania.co.uk reveals fifteen to twenty variants of the Bentley Winged B logo, many as radiator caps from the time when motometers were being replaced by dashboard mounted temperature guages.   Unfortunately none of these are as wildly Deco as that on this ash tray.   I checked for other possible firms, but none of Bedford, BSA, Bond, &c., had logos that were even close to a Winged B.  So it has to be Bentley.   So where did this design come from?

Bernard C.  8)
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Online Lustrousstone

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Re: Whitefriars Bentley? Ash Tray
« Reply #1 on: March 27, 2009, 08:12:54 PM »
My search  for "B" in the Intellectual Property office brought up 447, but it ain't there. And there are 1599 in the United States Patent and Trademark Office database, and it ain't there either. There are a fair number of Bs with wings, including Bentley, but I might be more convinced it was a Bentley logo if the wings were more normal, i.e., flat across the top.

Offline Anne

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Re: Whitefriars Bentley? Ash Tray
« Reply #2 on: March 28, 2009, 01:28:51 AM »
I thought I had a badge with this logo on but it's not the same (mine's a FIVA 1006 world rally badge with the Rover car centre).

Bernard, what makes you think it's a car logo? It could be from another type of business perhaps? I'm very doubtful that it's Bentley.
Cheers! Anne, da tekniqual wizzerd
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Offline Pinkspoons

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Re: Whitefriars Bentley? Ash Tray
« Reply #3 on: March 28, 2009, 08:41:28 AM »
A restaurant or hotel, perhaps?

Offline Bernard C

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Re: Whitefriars Bentley? Ash Tray
« Reply #4 on: March 28, 2009, 08:54:07 AM »
Christine — That's really kind of you.   Grateful thanks.

Anne — I took the same approach as you to start with.   And got nowhere.   I did check both Bedford (lorries) and David Brown (tractors & ploughs) but quickly eliminated them.   There just wasn't anything else.   It had to be Bentley.

You can imagine an order for a "Stylish Winged B" resulting in this from someone who had not seen a real Bentley logo.   The solution could be as simple as this.

Nic — Why a "Go Faster" motif for a fixed establishment?   I can't see it working.

Bernard C.  8)
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Offline Pinkspoons

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Re: Whitefriars Bentley? Ash Tray
« Reply #5 on: March 28, 2009, 10:24:44 AM »
Nic — Why a "Go Faster" motif for a fixed establishment?   I can't see it working.

Who knows what goes through the minds of logo designers?  ;D

Failing that, you could always try emailing these chaps: http://www.britishmm.co.uk/index.asp

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Re: Whitefriars Bentley? Ash Tray
« Reply #6 on: March 28, 2009, 03:11:47 PM »
Is it perhaps an old Bridgestone Tyres logo?

Offline Andy

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Re: Whitefriars Bentley? Ash Tray
« Reply #7 on: March 28, 2009, 07:32:59 PM »
Hi Bernard,
i had one!  Its not Bentley, i cant remember how i found out, but i seem to remember it was an Insurance or
accountants firm somewhere up in Middle England. Maybe it was Whitefriars.com, i will do a search, it was about 5 years ago!

Cheers
Andy

Nothing there, i think it was probably a friendly ebayer letting me know, when i put it up for sale!
As i cant remember how i found out, you better not take this information as gospel!!  ;)
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Offline nigel benson

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Re: Whitefriars Bentley? Ash Tray
« Reply #8 on: March 29, 2009, 12:43:14 AM »
Hi Bernard,

This topic has been on either the GMB or W/F's.com in more recent times than that - I would say in the last 18 months, or less. I did make comment on it, and am sure it turned out not to be Bentley.

Nigel

Offline Bernard C

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Re: Whitefriars Bentley? Ash Tray
« Reply #9 on: March 29, 2009, 05:56:43 AM »
Nigel — Thanks for pointing this out.   Of the four topics thrown up by a search on "bentley" on WF dot com, you contributed to this topic, which, after a similar discussion to that here, came to no general conclusion, other than a mention of a Bentley Drivers' Club.

Accordingly, I will get in touch with the Rolls-Royce Enthusiasts' Club, based in Paulerspury, just a few miles up Watling Street from my home in Stony Stratford, and see if anyone there can help.

Bernard C.  8)
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