{HISTORY}

When it comes to antique hotelware, there's a glamour that radiates from its dishes. A stylish hotel setting, a revolving array of guests from near and far, food served with elegance, meals prepared with pride and a keen desire to impress. It's not just a bowl or a plate, a cup or a saucer, antique hotelware dishes offer a heady combination of thoughtful intentions meant to make each and every experience for each and every traveler memorable. 

This antique hotelware side dish holds all those charms. Made by Mercer Pottery in Trenton, New Jersey, sometime between the late 1800s and the early 1900s, this dish experienced a revolving revelry of excitement and gaiety. Whether it was made for a local hotel like one of the coastal beauties hugging the Cape May coastline or whether it was made for big city service in luxury accomodations in Chicago or Boston or New York, we'll never know, but the fun of collecting antique hotelware is in imagining all the possibilities. 

This dish - a small oval bowl measuring just 8.25" inches in length and even less in width, could have been used for a variety of different purposes on a table or buffet. It features a peacock blue border with daisy and lily of the valley type flowers. Feathery gold handles at each end add unique detail, and a shimmery gold stripe at the rim completes the pattern.

Interestingly, this exact pattern was also used on hotelware made by two other potteries, W.H. Grindley and Alfred Meakin, both based in England. W.H. Grindley called the pattern Monmouth, and manufactured it from 1914 to 1925.  In America, Syracuse China also made a very similar hotelware pattern dating to 1915 and called it Mistic Blue. Whether England inspired America or America inspired England is uncertain, but what we can take away from all these similarities is that when it came to hotelware in the early 1900s, this blue and gold combination was a popular choice for transcontinental hospitality venues.

Whether you are a travel buff, a lover of pretty dishes, or a tablescape designer, this little dish is an inspiring piece of history and a springboard for creativity. Pair it with nautical themes, gold and white collections, and mix-and-match hotelware, and we guarantee you'll set a stunning table full of interest and delight.

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

• Blue, white and gold color palette
• Rare find
• Small size
• Stamped on the back with maker's mark

{CONDITION}

In lovely antique condition, this dish features no chips, cracks, spots or stains. Light crazing adds a gorgeous layer of aged aesthetic. The gold around the edge is wearing just slightly in a couple of spots, but all the gold detailing remains bright and shimmery. Please note: the back of the bowl contains. A small hairline stress crack that is just surface-related, comes from the bowl being set down on a surface a bit too hard, but it does not affect the overall composition of the bowl. The crack does not carry through to the front of the dish, and does not create any potential for leaks. Please see photos.

{SIZE}

Measures 8.25 inches (length) x 5.25 inches (width) and weighs 9 oz.