Modern or modernist brass tray

Hello, I bought this brass platter or whatever it is at the local thrift shop. It is made of brass or copper, hand forged with a silver soldered on rim, and 3 ball shaped feet. There are no markings that I can find. Online research has me thinking this is MCM or modernist, probably made by a hobbyist. There are some patches of discoloration and verd de gris, and the bottom side has had a coat of wax or something else applied, not very well, as I can see rag marks and fingerprints in it. I am wondering if it would be best, considering I plan to sell it at some point, to polish this thing, or to leave it alone. BTW, I attended art school and learned metalworking and jewelry design, so I have the skills to clean this thing up and redo the patina, just wondering if I should leave it alone, and also what it might be worth. Any advice, suggestions, and observations welcome, thanks.

 

JMHO. leave as is. would beautifully go with a 1950s kidney table. for fruit.

 

Wash, de-wax, re-wax, walk away.

 

which will cost you about half its value when listing.

 

But don’t FID-le with it beyond that!

 

Thank you for the advice everyone. I will leave it alone for the most part. Does anyone have an idea of value or age? I paid all of $3 for it so I don't have much invested.

 

No idea on market value, but if u get a number in mind let me/us know, I’ve been known to buy metal objects now and then. Pic shows trailer loaded from last Thursday’s adventure on other side of town.

 

wow! Sweet horizontal mill. Could make some awesome knife blades with that if so inclined.

 

I almost dropped the iPad when u correctly ID’d the green Nichols mill as a horizontal mill! I really thought everyone here would mystified. I found the operator’s manual online and was surprised to learn that apparently every function of this mill, except spindle rotation, is driven by compressed air devices.

 

Ha ha, yeah, we used to have a Sheldon brand horizontal mill that came with USAF markings. Yours looks much nicer.

 

how sweet ! is that the pushcart for collecting metals in the nearby villages ?

 

PS. real fid-ling goes like this:

gearbox without CNC groundplate 5 metric tons.


full-metal shaft without mixing elements 7.5 tons, with elemets 12 tons.
sagging in center by net weight 7 to 10 millimeters.

 

Funny thing, mine has Hewlett-Packard-packard property tags on it. Coincidentally I spent at least an hour fighting with my inexpensive HP printer trying to print out the mill’s operator manual I had downloaded from the Vintage Machinery site.

 

Now Fid, if you think about it you’d probably figure out that it must be pulled, not pushed, but otherwise you are correct, my metal-collecting cart.

 

I see. can you afford a mule or do you pull it yourself?

 

Mule.

 

But look, the good news is that the financial world has decided to ignore coronavirus after a few days of worry, and everywhere things are snapping back to where they were.

 

which has what consequences ? is the antique market recovering or the scrap metal market ?
when I look at the exchange rates of certain currencies it might still take a while till we're back to normal.
certainly the US is doing better with their closed frontiers than the EC does.