Well loved domed covered antique quadruple silverplate footed butter dish by Gem Silver Company with ornate floral and scroll handles, beaded edge, bright cut engraved flowers, leaves and scrolls on the domed lid together with a decorative finial.
Over the years, with use and polishing, the exterior silverplate finish has thinned considerable. It is now a rich, dark silver finish on the quadruple silverplate, though the inside retains nearly all of its original high polish silver finish.
This antique silver butter dish has seen some well-loved use. The dome top lid is slightly out of round and wobbles a tad. The silverplate is worn on the top exterior of the lid. The hand-tooled bright cut engraving of flowers, leaves and scrolls is sharp and crisp and is on both the front and the back of this butter dish cover.
The beaded butter dish bowl has a small amount of surface scratches in the base, the original silverplate finish shows loss on the right-handle and in areas along the front edge of the lip. There are also a few misshapen areas on the lip. The original prongs on the front, which would hold a butter knife, are in very good condition with no bends or breaks. The inside of this butter dish bowl, and a large portion of the lip retain much of the original bright silver finish. Additional beaded trim is noted along the foot of this antique silver butter dish.
About Silver Plate and Silverplate Covered Butter Dishes
Years ago, cooking in America called for tremendous amounts of butter. Though margarine made its appearance during World War II, there was no substitute for butter when most of the silver shown on this page was produced.
In order to use butter in the large one-pound blocks in which it was generally sold, a dish was invented that not only helped with the presentation at the table, but was a necessity. Most silver and silverplate butter dishes consist of three silver parts: the lid, the pierced liner, and the base. Butter was placed on the liner, allowing the excess water from the butter to drain through the piercing. If the weather was warm, ice was added with the butter on top, and the melting ice could drain through the piercing.
These silver and silverplated dishes are also known as domed butter dishes, covered butter dishes and just butter dishes. These more ornate butter dishes are less common than the more commonly seen rectangular butter dishes - just slightly larger than a stick of modern butter. Rarely does one see these rounded butter dishes in use anymore, and they have achieved a strong collecting following.
For fancy dinners, the hostess may have had one of the servants make fancy molded pieces of butter called “butter pats” or butter balls, which were served on crushed ice in the butter dish to be picked up with a butter pick. These required yet another butter serving piece, itself known as a “butter pat.” Butter pats were tiny plates placed at each individual setting, to be used for a single piece of butter. They range in diameter from approximately 2 2/5 inches to about 3 ¼ inches, and were made in sterling as well in porcelain. Many sterling silver companies produced butter pats to match their sterling flatware patterns.
As butter began to be commercially produced for distribution in individually wrapped quarter pound cubes, the large form became obsolete. Thus the butter dish began a new form. This new dish usually had a crystal liner, to protect the silver from the salt used in making the butter. Most of the new butter dish forms are 8 – 9 inches long.
This antique silver butter dish measures 6.75" between the handles, 6" in diameter, stands 5" tall and weighs 14.2 ounces. This quadruple silver plate butter dish is touchmarked on the bottom of the base with GEM SILVER CO. QUDRUPLE and the pattern number "600". You can read more about the history of Gem Silver Company from our Silver Manufacturers pages.
A1598 - Antique Quadruple Silverplate Footed Butter Dish GEM SILVER COMPANY #600
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