High-Quality, Heavily Silver-Plated GAINSBOROUGH Cocktail Tray with Pierced Gallery & Woven Design | Ex Concorde Cabin or Lounge Barware
This heavy, compact, silver-plated serving tray is stamped 'Gainsborough' — a leading Birmingham, England silver tableware manufacturer that has been providing quality silver-plated hollow ware and serving ware for hotels and restaurants for over 60 years.
From London to Hong Kong, Sydney to Singapore, from the Orient Express to Cunard’s ‘Queen Victoria’, the Gainsborough name is prominent in fine dining areas around the world. And back in the day, they also manufactured silverware for use onboard the Concorde and within its VIP terminal passenger lounges.
The tray features a decorative and classical pierced gallery that surrounds a woven design tray base. It is both solid and weighty, and (apart from the underside), shows no signs of wear or tarnish.
We believe this piece may have been used for serving appetizers and aperitifs to Concorde passengers, and it is similar — though larger than the one pictured in image #2, which shows a cabin crew member topping up champagne.
On the back of the tray, above the Gainsborough signature, part of the silverplate has been scraped back to the base metal. Above this scraped area, it's possible to distinguish the words 'Property of'... The missing words may well have been 'British Airways' or 'Air France'. Whatever it may have been, there is no doubting the class and quality of this superb piece.
The tray measures 27.5 cm (~10.8") wide and 17.5 cm (~6.8") deep, while the gallery has a height of 3.7 cm (~1.45").
This fabulous conversation piece will add an extra touch of style to your home entertaining.
PLEASE NOTE: This listing is for the silver-plated Gainsborough serving tray. The two Mikasa (made in Germany) cognac glasses shown in image #1 are available separately.
SUMMARY:
** MAKER: Gainsborough, England
** PERIOD: 1980s/90s
** MATERIALS: Silver-plated metal
** CONDITION: Excellent vintage condition showing minimal signs of wear or tarnish, apart from the scratch marks on the base as shown in image #
** DIMENSIONS: The tray measures 27.5 cm (~10.8") wide and 17.5 cm (~6.8") deep, while the gallery has a height of 3.7 cm (~1.45").
** WEIGHT: 765 g
** SHIPPING WEIGHT: 2,000 g
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IMPORTANT: This is a pre-owned vintage item that may show wear commensurate with age. The photographs, physical dimensions, and weight form an integral part of the description of every piece we offer. If you have any questions, please ask before ordering.
