Antique-shop.com
Antiques! => Antique Questions Forum => Topic started by: veronicathecow on September 19, 2013, 03:14:44 PM
-
Hi, I am new to the forum so please forgive any errors.
I have a small brass tray that I picked up from a car boot sale.
Size is approx 5" x 9" with four small round feet underneath that go through to the topside of the tray.
It has 6 shallow depressions approx 1.25" in diameter with what looks like a number 2 written in them.
Does anyone have any idea of the age, meaning of the symbols or the purpose of the tray, value etc.
Many thanks for your time.
Tony
-
Welcome to the forum !! Quite an interesting little tray !! Is anything written,stamped on the back ??
Sorry, forgot,,can you take a pic of the back ??
-
Is it maybe a Passover tray?
-
Hi Mart, wow that was fast, thanks for replying.
Nothing on the back that I can see.
I researched it for a while but I am rather out of my depth here.
Here's is the back picture.
Cheers Tony
-
Hi mariok54, thanks for that tip. I can see your point, had a quick google and there are some trays with 6 depressions in them but nothing with that "2" symbol
-
Its not a 2 but just appears to be a design !! Could have some symbolic meaning but would have no bearing on the tray itself !! The design is a bit crude and looks to be hand decorated !!
-
Looks very much like an Islamic tea tray....thats just missing its glasses....
-
I agree with Mart....these "2".s ...are merely decorative squiggles...had they been a 2 then i,d expect them to have uniformity..instead of the random way they have been inscribed....value wise...i don,t see this fetching much more than £10.....and thats with a Hurricane behind it....
-
Hi Mart thanks for reply, yes it does look hand made. A "2" was the best way I could think of describing it the symbol.
Hi bigwull thanks for reply. Yes I did wonder about Persian /Islamic (didn't think of a tea tray though, thanks for that). The trouble is I cannot seem to match the designs to anything of that type.
-
Hi bigwull, yes it is odd what with the symbols being placed with what appears to be a random orientation.
-
I wonder if the symbols have been added afterwards by someone?
Just found from wikipedia that
"As a reversed S, Ƨ was also used as a fractional Roman numeral, where it stood for the fraction 1/72."
-
Thats one thing you,re never likely to find out.....these trays were,nt made on a commercial basis....you,ll probably never see another like it....think needle in a haystack....there will be many that have the same configuration..i.e. 6 place settings, same size..similar inscriptions...but thats about it....
-
That's true of anything hand done !! The designs on this seem to be neutral,, not representing any particular culture !!
-
Hi Mart and Bigwull, rats I was hoping someone would just be able to say "Why thats an XYZ from the something or other period"
Stilll it's an interesting piece, many thanks for your inputs.
Oh well Time for bed said Zebedee
-
Hi Mart and Bigwull, rats I was hoping someone would just be able to say "Why thats an XYZ from the something or other period"
Stilll it's an interesting piece, many thanks for your inputs.
Oh well Time for bed said Zebedee
"Already" ...said Florence.... :D......are you with us Mart......
-
Likely not Wullie !! You always manage to lose me somewhere in the conversation !! :D
Wish some of these things were that easy but they rarely are !! When they made things like this they didn`t think about someone in the future trying to figure out who they were !! They were just simple utilitarian items to be used and decoration was usually for their own benefit,, they wanted something pretty !! This the same for most cultures,,ours included !!
-
Likely not Wullie !! You always manage to lose me somewhere in the conversation !! :D
Wish some of these things were that easy but they rarely are !! When they made things like this they didn`t think about someone in the future trying to figure out who they were !! They were just simple utilitarian items to be used and decoration was usually for their own benefit,, they wanted something pretty !! This the same for most cultures,,ours included !!
just google Florence..Dougal... and Zebedee....all will be made clear.....as mud... :D
-
I agree with Mart....these "2".s ...are merely decorative squiggles...had they been a 2 then i,d expect them to have uniformity..instead of the random way they have been inscribed....value wise...i don,t see this fetching much more than £10.....and thats with a Hurricane behind it....
Possibly a little premature to put a value on it without knowing what it is, where it came from, and its age. Just because it appears a little unsophisticated doesn't need to reflect the value.
Why I was suggesting a Passover Seder plate or tray is because of the six 'recesses'. It could have had six glass or ceramic bowls that sat in them, each bowl containing one of the six symbolic foods ... but for the life of me I can't recall more than bitter herbs! These would only have been a symbolic table setting, so didn't have to be particularly large. It ned not even have had the bowls, but used as it is.
The pattern, 2, looks like a twisted ribbon pattern, but I can't think of any significance there. But I could be miles out!
And good morning Zebedee ... for all those across the Pond they are characters from the Magic Roundabout, or more appropriately in the original French as Le Manège enchanté. This was a 'children's' short from the '60s & '70s that used stop start animation.
-
Boing said Tony. UK based so crashed out late last night (late for me, I'm an early bird normally)
I wondered if it was a tea lights tray warming stuff but it looked older than tea lights? (anyone know when tea light were first used.)
the pattern on the "2" is one thing but I'm not sure how you might describe the main pattern other than "floral"??
Thanks to all for your kind suggestions
Tony
-
Not deep enough to be a tea lights holder....for if that was the case..then there would have been a top part....that sat above...still inclined towards a tea tray...
-
Hi Bigwull, yes that does make sense. There are a couple of other things items I am not sure of, will have to dig them out some time
Thanks again
Tony (boing)
-
Likely not Wullie !! You always manage to lose me somewhere in the conversation !! :D
Wish some of these things were that easy but they rarely are !! When they made things like this they didn`t think about someone in the future trying to figure out who they were !! They were just simple utilitarian items to be used and decoration was usually for their own benefit,, they wanted something pretty !! This the same for most cultures,,ours included !!
you might remember these guys better....seeing as how they were from your side of the pond.....they were a great antidote....after i,d partaken of too much M.A.D.s ;D
Fleegle, Bingo, Drooper an' Snork
-
Ah the good old days!
One banana, two banana, three banana, four
Four bananas make a bunch and so do many more.
Over hill and highway the banana buggies go
Comin'on to bring you the Banana Splits show
-
Somehow Howdy Doody and the Peanut Gallery don`t seem to fit here !!
-
Your sheltered life springs to mind.....Not that it was a bad thing....quite the contrary....I just could,nt imagine you dancing round the tele on a Saturday morning...in your birthday suit,.tra la ing...to the four freaks....with a spliff in your hand.....or your eyes the size of gobstoppers.....yup ...those were the days.....and the nights were even crazier.....2 tabs of Purple Haze....took me to the Moon and Back.....and many crazy places in between.... ;D....then in 1971 i discovered Mescaline.......... ...Whoooooooooooooo ooooeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!.....2 drops in the eye....and off i went......was up for 12 hours solid.....and the come down....was,nt too bad.....mind you...i never gave a thought to the zillions of brain cells that were destoyed in the processs.....i,m just thankful that they were the ones...i did,nt need.... ;D
-
(http://www.milechai.com/seder-plates/seder-plate-images/1-seder-plate-L.jpg)
Agree with Mart on the seder plate...here is one similar!
-
(http://www.milechai.com/seder-plates/seder-plate-images/1-seder-plate-L.jpg)
Agree with Mart on the seder plate...here is one similar!
Well found KC, and I don't mind you giving the credit to mart ... after all it is 'Be kind to a Texan Day' over here in the UK
-
Hi mariok54 thanks for pics and suggestions.
Anyone have an idea of a date for this?
-
(http://www.milechai.com/seder-plates/seder-plate-images/1-seder-plate-L.jpg)
Agree with Mart on the seder plate...here is one similar!
Ooops !! Twas Mario on that one !!
-
(http://www.milechai.com/seder-plates/seder-plate-images/1-seder-plate-L.jpg)
Agree with Mart on the seder plate...here is one similar!
Well found KC, and I don't mind you giving the credit to mart ... after all it is 'Be kind to a Texan Day' over here in the UK
Nice to know we are remembered somewhere in the world !!
-
I,ve seen the Alamo...more times than i can remember.....
-
Whoops Mario54, MY BAD!!!!!!!!!!! Was up REALLY late and running on low fuel!
My apologies! Sorry Mart, that is a take back! :)
-
Whoops Mario54, MY BAD!!!!!!!!!!! Was up REALLY late and running on low fuel!
My apologies! Sorry Mart, that is a take back! :)
No problem, and don't take it back .... mart deserves all the praise that she gets (legit or not) .... and it is still 'Adopt a little furry Texan and feed them Jaffa Cakes Day' over here ... until midnight ...
-
Whoops Mario54, MY BAD!!!!!!!!!!! Was up REALLY late and running on low fuel!
My apologies! Sorry Mart, that is a take back! :)
No problem, and don't take it back .... mart deserves all the praise that she gets (legit or not) .... and it is still 'Adopt a little furry Texan and feed them Jaffa Cakes Day' over here ... until midnight ...
over where.....?
-
Whoops Mario54, MY BAD!!!!!!!!!!! Was up REALLY late and running on low fuel!
My apologies! Sorry Mart, that is a take back! :)
No problem, and don't take it back .... mart deserves all the praise that she gets (legit or not) .... and it is still 'Adopt a little furry Texan and feed them Jaffa Cakes Day' over here ... until midnight ...
over where.....?
This side of Hadrian's Wall....
-
Wullie, Mariok54 is on your side of the pond!!!!!
-
Whoops Mario54, MY BAD!!!!!!!!!!! Was up REALLY late and running on low fuel!
My apologies! Sorry Mart, that is a take back! :)
No problem, and don't take it back .... mart deserves all the praise that she gets (legit or not) .... and it is still 'Adopt a little furry Texan and feed them Jaffa Cakes Day' over here ... until midnight ...
over where.....?
This side of Hadrian's Wall....
and what side would that be.....north of it or souf.... ;D