How do you tell the use of a piece?

[ssf2]

I don't have any photos, this is just a request for info.
I see a lot of things marked as a 'butter dish' but there is no strainer. I guess that was probably the first piece to be broken.
So how do you know if it is a butter dish minus the strainer or maybe something like a covered cheese plate that perhaps doesn't have a strainer to begin with? Or whatever else would have a plate and a cover?
It probably doesn't really matter in the long run but in order to accurately describe and catalog a piece it would be nice to know how to tell the difference, if there is one.

On a related note, our local antique mall has a piece that the owner is calling a 'jam jar'. It is on a plate, a taller jar shape with a lid. I can't remember if there is an opening for a spoon in the lid or not. If you take off the lid and lift up the 'jar' part, there is a 1 inch or so hole in the bottom of it. So you couldn't put jam or anything else liquid or gel-like into the jar, it would leak out the bottom! So if not for jam, what would this be used for? To put a jar of jam into it, still in the jar? If so, then I suppose the hole would be to help you get the jar out again without spilling the contents. Any thoughts?
I know it is hard to picture with no photo, but it is not mine and I have not seen anything else like it online.

[Pelady]

Hi ssf2,

This is a great article on porcelain containers for condensed milk cans and jam jars.

"But women did not like putting an ugly can on their table so manufacturers made containers in which the can could be inserted and later removed by poking a finger through the large hole in the bottom and pushing the unsightly tin container out."

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/living/home-garden/article1977901.html#storylink=cpy

PeLady

[Raven31557]

I see a lot of things marked as a 'butter dish' but there is no strainer.

Dumb question . . .
Why would a butter dish have a strainer?

[mart]

Butter dish or cheese dish would not have a strainer !!  There is no need for one !!

[Pelady]

Mart,

Butter dishes had strainers or raised disks for the butter to sit over ice.  Here is an article from replacements.com & a photo of the butter dish from my Nana's dishes.

http://www.replacements.com/thismonth/archive/v1402t.htm

Pelady

[Raven31557]

BRILLIENT!!!!!!!!!!

[KC]

Yes, butter dishes did have strainers and/or glass liners from early times to mid/early 1900's. 


Most fine china was made with domes/saucers/strainer plates like this one of Haviland (like Pelady referred to)


Also, many of them had water to help preserve the butter such as this butter bell, aka French Butter keeper, etc..  They still make them this way.  The purpose is you fill the "bell" with butter and put water in the bottom of the dish.  It keeps oxygen from hitting the butter which slows down deterioration and keeps the butter soft and fresh out on the counter:


BUT, the rolltop item below isn't a rolltop butter dish...note the small glass dish?  It is to hold caviar and there is space around it to hold water or ice!


Whereas this one is a butter dish but is called a mechanical butter dish:


Then you have French Coquillor Butter Curlers that you push slightly firm butter through...


Then you can have some that look sooooo different like this one

[mart]

Mmmm,, now how did I go all these years and never see one like that ??  Learned something new !!  Must have taken those people a long time to eat if the butter would melt before dinner was over !!   Butter wouldn`t even get soft around here much less melt !!   I have seen the butter curls over ice in a similar dish !!

[ghopper1924]

Edumacational, for sure!

[mart]

Thats why I stick with furniture,, way too many things in this category to remember !!  They probably would not have liked my little plastic butter dish without a drip tray !!

[KC]

You have to remember that when many of these designs were made that there wasn't pasteurization and homogenization, etc.  And, the health of the animals wasn't as "good" as they can be these days.  So precautions were taken when necessary.

Now you can buy salted butter (which salt is a preservative and lasts on the shelf a heck-of-a-long time!)  I personally buy mine unsalted then I know it's the freshest.  (Then I freeze excess and use as I need!)


Unfortunately, I love to see all the kinds of dishes that people have used over the years and have collected "quite a few" along the way! (More than the hubby would care that I do!)  🙃

[KC]

Okay for grins...

This is not a butter server or a caviar server - this is a mechanical jewelry box/casket!  (Called mechanical because it has the stand and you can hold open the top with the loop on the stand)


But these are all silver mechanical butter keepers that sold as a lot on live auctioneers!


In pristine condition most butters sell for $250.00 to $400. 

And this looks more like a jewelry casket BUT it is a Butter keep that sold for $200 on Live Auctioneers! (A really good price I might add!)  I personally would have bet it was a caviar holder because of the chain on it and it was sold as butter!

[mart]

Did I ever tell you that polishing silver is NOT my favorite thing to do !!  Looking at these reminds me why !!

[ghopper1924]

That last one is elegant. I'm with Mart: I like seeing the polished silver but don't want to do the polishing! 

[KC]

I KNOW!!!  I hate to polish silver but for some reason I LOVE SILVER ITEMS!!! 

I have found a trick that helps to reduce tarnish in my cabinets.  You know those little packets that come in electronics, shoes, etc that absorb moisture?  I have them in drawers, items, etc.  Someone had told me years ago it would help with antique furniture to keeps drawers from sticking as bad and from silver tarnishing.  I was skeptical but tried it!  IT WORKS!!!  I look like a nut walking thru stores when they are restocking and asking if I can have them!  Also if you get Silver Gloves to just rub over silver every few months (wear disposable gloves underneath them - the gloves can irritate some people) it really keeps you from having to do the major cleaning!!!



ALSO, my large French sideboard door used to swing open and now it doesn't because the moisture level is more consistent!