Ye of little (practical) use

I found this in a little cubby in mom’s secretary. It’s a Buffalo Evening News ashtray. With the phone number of MO 5555, I will guess that it’s from the early 1960s. The MO prefix stood for Mohawk. There were two daily newspapers at the time in Buffalo. The News and the Courier-Express (which itself was once two separate newspapers). The Courier was the morning paper. After high school my mom worked for one of them, as a stenographer. Even after her cognitive decline, she would demonstrate her shorthand for me. Of course, I had no idea if she was right!

My grandfather delivered the Evening News after coming home from work. He was a teacher but did the extra hustling. When we were kids, he’d let us play in the big green wagon he used.

I sent the picture to my (2nd) cousin. She said I could probably get some money for it from a collector in Western New York. Maybe if it was in better condition. I love the phone number, though. Brought me back to the days, and annoyances, of party lines and operators. The only thing I remember about our number was that it started with TA2 and that the lady we shared the line with was mean and listened into my family’s conversations.

All these memories from seeing an old ashtray. Has anyone else had a similar experience?