I suspect that this is a dresser tray, where the gentleman of the house would put his spectacles, wallet, keys etc. when he emptied his pockets at the end of the day, or the lady of the house would set her perfume bottles, comb, hand mirror etc., although I suspect this is a man's tray because of the size and the ladies trays I believe are usually a larger.
I have seen some tarnish that I thought was silver loss too, it looks and even feels like it, but when you actually polish it turns out to be tarnish and comes off. I only use Wrights silver polish now, preferably the cream, but the liquid is good too. I no longer trust other brands after seeing some leave pale shadow marks behind on the silver.
