Victorian Oyster Plates Oysters were plentiful at the turn of the twentieth century and were eaten in large quantities. The Victorian hostesses who served oysters in their dining rooms wanted their service to be as delicate as possible. Several dishes were developed to accommodate this need. One style, developed to serve oysters in the half shell on ice, had a deep-welled plate developed for this. Today we might identify this plate as a soup bowl because of its depth, but the inside rim is scalloped where oysters were to be placed on ice. An under plate was used with this dish to catch any melted ice that overflowed. The plates for use with ice are not nearly as collectible as are the ones that were developed to hold oysters removed from their shells. Some people today call these "oyster stew" plates, and t hey may well have been used for this purpose also. A second type of plate was designed to serve oysters on the half-shell without ice. These probably pleased hostesses since there was no ice to contend with. This type had larger, less sharply defined wells into which the shell could be placed. These plates also can be identified as "oyster plates", but they lack the ornate design generally associated with that term. This style provided a compromise for the hostess's desire for neatness and the gourmand's wish for the oyster liquor with the meat. A gourmand also would prefer to have ice to keep the oysters very cold. The hostess could accommodate this by removing the oysters from ice to the plate immediately before serving. A problem associated with this style was the rough oyster shell scratching the plate. A third style of plate, most often seen today, has recesses for the oyster without its shell and without ice. It is very ornate in many designs, most with wells that look like oyster shells. The hostess was pleased with this style because it was not prone to scratches and did not accommodate the messy ice. Plates of all three styles were made and used throughout the period. Nearly all oyster plates collected today were made in the period 1860 to 1910, or from about the end of the Civil War to the beginning of World War I. Oyster Plates by Jim and Vivian Karsnitz Membership / Members Page / Convention 98 / Convention 99 / Favorite Oyster Related Sites / Reproductions & New Plates