• Close top view of the Austrian brass fish ashtray, detailing the brushed brass outline, angular head, and mottled patina across the bowl
  • Karl Hagenauer fish ashtray in brass with a blackened oval bowl, resting on a travertine table beside a brown clothbound book
  • Hagenauer fish ashtray from Vienna on a tumbled stone floor in raking sunlight, highlighting the worn patina inside the blackened bowl
  • Overhead view of the Hagenauer brass fish ashtray on a cream boucle surface, afternoon light casting a diagonal shadow across its dark patinated well
  • Stylized brass fish ashtray by Karl Hagenauer set against the corner of an open art book on travertine, showing its forked tail and wide brass rim
  • Underside of the Hagenauer ashtray showing the stamped HAGENAUER WIEN mark, the WHW workshop monogram, and the word Handmade on the blackened brass
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Close top view of the Austrian brass fish ashtray, detailing the brushed brass outline, angular head, and mottled patina across the bowl
Karl Hagenauer fish ashtray in brass with a blackened oval bowl, resting on a travertine table beside a brown clothbound book
Hagenauer fish ashtray from Vienna on a tumbled stone floor in raking sunlight, highlighting the worn patina inside the blackened bowl
Overhead view of the Hagenauer brass fish ashtray on a cream boucle surface, afternoon light casting a diagonal shadow across its dark patinated well
Stylized brass fish ashtray by Karl Hagenauer set against the corner of an open art book on travertine, showing its forked tail and wide brass rim
Underside of the Hagenauer ashtray showing the stamped HAGENAUER WIEN mark, the WHW workshop monogram, and the word Handmade on the blackened brass

Karl Hagenauer Fish Ashtray - Austria c.1930

$630.00
$630.00
Shipping calculated at checkout.

Found in United States

A superb example of Karl Hagenauer's modernist design language, this ashtray takes the form of a fish reduced to its most essential shape, an organic, teardrop bowl with a simple forked tail as its only ornament. The interior is finished in a dark, matte patina that contrasts beautifully against the polished brass rim, a combination typical of Hagenauer's confident material pairings.

This piece carries genuine documented significance, having been illustrated in the 2011 exhibition catalog "Hagenauer: Wiener Moderne Und Neue Sachlichkeit," a detail that places it firmly within the scholarly record of the workshop's output. The underside is marked with "Handmade," with the "wHw" mark, "Made in Vienna Austria," and "Hagenauer Wien,".

A design from the 1930s, the ashtray reflects the height of Vienna's modernist design output, where everyday objects were treated with the same formal rigor as fine sculpture. Measuring 5.25 x 4.75 x 0.5", it sits comfortably on a desk or side table, equally striking whether used for its intended purpose or displayed as a small piece of design history.

A rare and well documented piece for serious collectors of Hagenauer, Austrian design, or European modernism more broadly.

Collectors Notes

Having appeared in a 2011 exhibition catalog gives this piece a level of documented history that most vintage design objects simply don't have. Anyone building out our home decor edit around real design history should take a look, and it also rounds out our housewarming gifts selection nicely for the collector on your list.
Dimensions

5.25 x 4.75 x 0.5"
Shipping

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Close top view of the Austrian brass fish ashtray, detailing the brushed brass outline, angular head, and mottled patina across the bowl
Karl Hagenauer fish ashtray in brass with a blackened oval bowl, resting on a travertine table beside a brown clothbound book
Hagenauer fish ashtray from Vienna on a tumbled stone floor in raking sunlight, highlighting the worn patina inside the blackened bowl
Overhead view of the Hagenauer brass fish ashtray on a cream boucle surface, afternoon light casting a diagonal shadow across its dark patinated well
Stylized brass fish ashtray by Karl Hagenauer set against the corner of an open art book on travertine, showing its forked tail and wide brass rim
Underside of the Hagenauer ashtray showing the stamped HAGENAUER WIEN mark, the WHW workshop monogram, and the word Handmade on the blackened brass
Collectors Gene | Cameron Ross Steiner

Who Are You Buying From?

Every object here has a journey before it ever reaches you. I've spent years seeking these pieces out, in back rooms of old ateliers, from families who've inherited more than they can keep, through dealers I've come to trust, in conversations with people who still work with their hands, because I've always believed the things we choose to live with should carry something true. What began as a private obsession became a devotion, one I now share with my wife and daughter, who remind me daily that the best collections are the ones built to be passed down, not simply owned. What you're holding isn't just an object. You're inheriting its story, and becoming part of its next chapter.

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