Featured Quandary with a Meissen piece...............

2 things (don't jump on me till you done read the whole thing!)

Thing First: We always called this a basin - as in wide shallow bowl (not necessarily for washing up). It is 12" in diameter and 1-3/4" deep - actually shaped like a large soup plate. Replacements has a 10" piece they call a "deep platter" but show no photo. Other pieces I have found just call it a serving piece. What should I call it? Deep Platter? Bowl? Basin? Round thing for mushy brussel sprouts?

Thing Second: Yes - this is in a plate hanger. I didn't put it there. I assume my mother had it done. And it is one of those that has no spring or way to detach it. I am scared poopless to try and cut the wires off in case it puts too much pressure on the rim simply by straining the wire. Any suggestions? Sell it this way? Call it a bad job and toss in in the skip? Put little nuts and bolts on the bottom for feet and call it Steampunk?

by the way - this piece is in mint (not a word I use often - or EVER) - it was gifted to Ma (from Pa) and hung on the wall immediately - it has never been any closer to food that I have been to the Betty Ford Clinic. But I am afraid that the hanger is going to be a big deterrent to a sale.....................

 

LOL!!!!!!!!! Oh God, Mansons - I don't think you want 220 pounds jumping on you ever - I'm out !

 

Everyone gets so upset when they see PLATE HANGERS that I didn't want to be thrown off the forum for doing the bad no no! I DIDN'T do it!

 

Just because it is not abundantly clear - are Thing One and Thing Two the same thing? If not, can we see a picture of Thing One?

 

Bad phrasing on my part I'm afraid. I MEANT that I have two issues (two things) with this piece. One piece, two things..............my bad.....my apologies........Now we have made it abundantly clear.................that I am a fool - using my native tongue as if it were a second language....................

 

LOL!

 

Gotcha. Don't worry about it. I am often too literal in my reading.

I'd call it a deep platter. I think it's too wide to call it a soup plate.

 

I would cut the hanger off if it was me. JMHO

Also, if it is destined for the skip with its hanger intact, please let me know what day & time you will be taking out the trash as I will be hiding behind the dumpster.

 

Its by NO means a soup plate - even for my prodigious appetite................deep platter it shall be. Now, what to do about that damned wire........................any one?

 

You could try cutting the wire with a file... slow and steady.... back near that center twist.

Does either of those impressed numbers look likely for a date?



You could also just leave the hanger on it, and let someone else worry about it.

 

I haven't looked for a date table - as far as I know this pattern (Indian) was produced between 1924 and 1934. Sort of irrelevant, as I know when this was purchased (new) and gifted. Although MY knowing it is not the same as a prospective buyer "knowing" it, huh? Thanks for the push - I will try and find a date table or its equivalent.

 

It was an idle thought. You see numbers, you wonder what they mean.

 

Mansons, I'm going to suggest something so dad-blasted wild-eyed that I know there will be peals of laughter and/or utter disgust/disagreement with what I am going to suggest but here goes:

I would melt some "fatty" substance (my choice would be butter) and let it "cool" slightly and then pour the melted butter or other fatty liquid over/around the hooks.

 

Yeah, I do on occasion as well. I think in this case they are style numbers. If I remember correctly (I've sold some of Ma's collection before) most pieces of this pattern have two impressed marks and they seem to run in some kind of order. The impressed numbers are usually in the slightest of divots, as the punch was a round headed stylus with the numbers in relief. The only way I know to date Meissen is the underglaze swords. The mark on my piece was used from 1924 to 1934 - but I see a lot of pieces of this pattern with the 1934 mark.

 

Manson, Do you know how it was placed on the plate? I would consider using silicone spray which is a lubricant and can be washed off afterwards. If it wasn't just slipped on, you could consider a hacksaw with the right blade and only sawing in one direction or perhaps a jewelers saw.

 

That may be worth a try! But you have to SWEAR to never tell ANYONE. I'm marketing this piece as a food virgin.............Untouched by fauna or flora, in its pure state, never scraped with an impatient spoon or approached by a threatening fork................

I'll let you know if I go that way.............I say yes, but I might get the butter runny and then run myself, in fear!

 

Knowing my mother, it was probably done by a jeweller or similar. I would be too scared to go with a saw (of any sort!), but may investigate some jeweller's files I have around here somewhere.....................

 

I would have no qualms about bending the wires off just as they were bent on

 

Mansons, here is one other "idea" (you already know it will be a "wild-eyed"):

Do you think there would be any way to get lots of waxed dental floss caught under the hooks? Would that in any way "protect" the plate before you "free" the hooks from the plate hanger?

 

I have tried to "flex" them and I can not get any give what so ever. It would take two pair of pliers bending in opposite directions, and there is precious little material on the end of each wire to grab on to.