Our lime glazed ashtray was a compliment of The Lamb Hospital in Denver for its patients. The glaze is very rare for Broadmoor Pottery.
The
Lamb Hospital building was first constructed on
Capitol Hill as The
Denver Homeopathic Hospital by a
group of physicians in 1898. This early
hospital failed by 1906 and
sold to become The Park Avenue Hospital.
The private hospital, later renamed Lamb Hospital, was run by Howard E Lamb in the 1920s until its shutdown in 1966.
After Dr Lamb's mother died in 1927, he renamed the hospital in her honor. We believe the dedication ceremony for Lamb Memorial, held with Howard Lamb's father and brothers, occurred around the time our Broadmoor-Denver ashtray was commissioned.
Lamb Memorial Hosp specialized in Osteopathy (wiki). However we understand it also had the reputation as a "service provider" for unwed mothers to abort their babies.
Dr Lamb had moved from Ohio to La Belle, Missouri where he married Katie Sue Throckmorton in 1917. They settled in Denver in 1921.
Broadmoor's red (Oxblood) looks great on embossed pottery where the glaze runs thin over a white clay body. We love their reds! The bottom is ink stamped as before.
This less impressive pale yellow (Ming Yellow) ashtray is slightly smaller than the above two examples. It is unmarked but probably also Broadmoor-Denver with the lacquer removed. Note the very untypical grooved instead of flat underside.
