MOP Caviar Plates etc

Around here no one would even know what they were! They'd be lining the garden plot with the dishes.

 

I think they are rather decorative,but what would you use them for ? How many folks actually eat caviar ? Then again,it always amazes me what people will buy,so put a price on them and see what happens .

 

Gold lip oyster shells (Pinctada Maxima).
I see them listed on various sites for good money, don't know if they sell.

 

With or without caviar...I think they are quite pretty....

 

good shell is never trash......
it may not be a coffee can full of English pound notes.......but not trash !!

 

As you gathered, certainly no trash. They are from the Philippines.
The goldlip oyster is the largest pearl oyster, native to the Philippines. They produce a type of South Sea pearl called the Philippino pearl, an important source of income for the Philippines (and national gemstone).
With the pearls come the shells, too beautiful to go to waste, especially in a developing country. So the Philippinos make beautiful mop items like these.
The dishes are for caviar, oysters, any seafood appetizer. A friend of ours used to serve Peruvian ceviche in these. Seafood just looks so good on mop dishes.
The spoons are good for caviar, no discoloration.
Here is one on Etsy:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/195582135/hand-carved-mother-of-pearl-extra-large?ref=market

 

Ooh. A new vocabulary word. Gopping. I happen to like caviar.

 

Well, Etsy's $80. bucks isn't cow fodder either...........!

 

I once use shells such as these for a variety of seafood appetizers, not only caviar. They can be quite pricey..............which is why I no longer have them..........

 

The small dishes were most likely intended as open salts, and the spoon, at that size and shape would be for salt, though it could, like the dishes, be used for other types of condiments...

Doubt these are much older than mid 20th century, and could certainly be much later, but similar have been available for at least a century (many are coming out of Vietnam these days). The clip below is from a 1920 retailer's catalog...



~Cheryl