Question:
Hi: This is a three tier dessert tray top tier. The piece is marked Red Wing Pottery Hand Painted on the back. It has been in my family since I was a child, I remember there also being dinner plates and dessert plates with it at one time but have not found any. The supports are silver plated and the piece has no chips. Can you help identify it? Thank you. Tom

Answer: The name of the pattern is Brittany, produced from 1941 to 1950. Brittany dinnerware is readily available and quite easy to find. As you’ve noted, your plate with drilled hole is part of a tiered tray. These trays were not a standard item made for the dinnerware set, but were assembled by workers at the pottery using leftover and surplus pieces. These tray can be found made with various sizes of plates in one, two or three tiered trays. Bowls were also sometimes used. Tiered trays were listed on a "Novelty and Gift Items" sales brochure in the 1960s, but a specific pattern could not be ordered.

Larry