Vintage Wednesday: Guess this item

It's been suggested my Wednesday post should highlight my love of all things vintage. I'm a collector and treasure hunter of sorts. I love to collect little things that were once an important part of someone else's life, but is now largely obsolete.

This week's vintage find is one such item. Do you know what this is? Some of you may have found it on your Easter table this year. A huge glass flower? No, it's a glass egg plate - or some call it a deviled egg platter.

Apparently, prepared boiled eggs have been popular since the beginning of time. There are surviving recipes of stuffed eggs from the court of Henry XIII. It seems, however, the term "deviled" or "devilled" became popular in the 18th century to describe spicy dishes. Get it? Hot, spicy = Deviled? Clever, huh?

They then became deviled eggs because many recipes use mustard to add a little spice to the dish. I know I used either yellow or dried mustard for a little extra bite!

If I had to speculate without outside information, I'd say the egg plate was created by the Victorians, who loved to add special pieces of china and glass to their table to show their wealth. This is the generation of the celery dish and hooded asparagus server, so to think they invented the egg plate would not be too far fetched.

My reading seems to bear this out. It seems the egg plate started appearing in the early 1880s and continued in popularity from there. They can be made with clear, colored or opaque glass and some newer ones are ceramic with bunnies on them.

This particular dish has what's called a "hobnail" pattern on it - that's because it has all the dots on it. I'm not sure the maker because I was more interested in serving eggs than collecting the plates, but I think it's a lovely addition to my table when serving deviled eggs. And sometimes I'm extra wicked and serve them in the winter instead of waiting for spring!