Oneida Quadruple plate, basket?

Can someone tell me what this basket is for? brides basket?
I have not been able to find information on this mark either or when they were made.

Mikey

 

Nice basket, Mikey!

I haven't seen this mark either, although Rainwater shows one with the original Oneida Silverware Mfg Co. name that is also round, but with a native American head inside the circle.

Given that they upped their game in the late 1890's to better compete and that the term quadruple plate would have been pretty much gone by around WW1, I'd guess it was made sometime between abt 1900 and 1910. Maybe a tad earlier, but not by much.

It definitely looks like it should have a small glass insert to fit into the depression in the center. But it works well even without IMHO. You could use bride's basket as a KW, but there are probably others that be better.

 

Can't recall seeing 'Bride's Basket' in period publications until a few years into the 20th century, and then they're tall flower baskets - but it's become a great marketing term for any old silver basket that may have been a nice wedding gift. Those with glass inserts were usually intended for berries or fruit, this is a cake basket, late 19th-early 20th century - it wouldn't have had a glass liner, especially with the curved-in lip and interior engraving.

~Cheryl

 

Thanks for sharing your expertise, Cheryl!

 

Thank you Cheryl and Susan.
Only one question. Why the raised center?
Mikey

 

That's a good question, Mikey. It's appearance was what made me say that it "looks like it should have had a small glass insert." Note the emphasis on small. Certainly not something to fill the entire basket. A little posy holder or maybe a small sauce dish?

Maybe Cheryl knows why or what.

 

I ask because I have a cake basket too and the center is flat. so there must be something different on this one.

 

There was a wide variety of shapes in cake baskets, from flat like a plate to deep like a bowl, a good number have center wells, some raised like yours, have also seen raised centers with a flat platform rather than a well. Always just assumed the different levels on ones like this were to add interest to arrangement of cakes, pastries, etc., but took a quick run through a few books and catalogs to see if addressed, and didn't really find any mention. An 1893 Homan patent mentions "at center a pit", without mention of any particular purpose: https://www.google.com/patents/USD2...a=X&ei=pSVHVIvNNI3PggSY_IKICQ&ved=0CB0Q6AEwAA

~Cheryl