Help with bronze plate

[jtw1313]

If anyone can help with age or information on this it is appreciated I believe it is marked

 

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[tamrock]

Hand chased copper repousse plate. Not sure of its origin? Maybe middle eastern? Nice piece of work that someone put some time into. If it were mine I wouldn't polish it, but it ain't mine. It would polish up all nice and shiny and some people prefer copper objects that way.

 

[DCMatt]

It's a bread serving plate. Very popular early through mid 20th C - when no meal was complete without bread on the table.

Search "bronze bread plate" in Google and you'll see tons of them. Lots of them have the "Give us this day our daily bread" theme. Many German ones but plenty in English and French as well as other languages.

I don't recognize the markings. My first thought was Hindi but I couldn't match them on the Hindi alphabet chart.

 

[tamrock]

Oh yes, heads of wheat motifs. Indeed bread plate as DCM describes. Now where'd it come from and how old is it ?.... We may never know

 

[unclemac]

i doubt it is meant to be shinny...

 

[DCMatt]

OK. I woke up at 5:02 this morning thinking the 'T V' mark on the plate might indicate "Tel Aviv" - but I can't prove it. (I know it should be T A but I was thinking phonetically.)

Tel Aviv is the second most visited place in Israel so this could be a tourist item from the Holy Land. I was hoping for Hebrew, but couldn't make any sense of the other mark.

I also learned these are called Bezalel plates. It's some real Old Testament/Torah stuff.

The rabbinical tradition relates that when God determined to appoint Bezalel architect of the desert Tabernacle, He asked Moses whether the choice were agreeable to him, and received the reply: "Lord, if he is acceptable to Thee, surely he must be so to me!" At God's command, however, the choice was referred to the people for approval and was indorsed by them. Moses thereupon commanded Bezalel to set about making the Tabernacle, the holy Ark, and the sacred utensils.

 

[jtw1313]

Thank you DC for your time on this piece......if it helps any it is pretty heavy and very solid