Featured Chafing Dish?

What I have here looks to me to be a chafing dish. It has six vents on the top, and the underside is double walled with a 3.75 in hole. I have a Maker's Mark here as well. AI tells me the "G.T." stands for "guaranteed triple", the U is for Universal Plate Company and the P is for pewter. This must have stood on some sort of base, since there are ring shaped grooves inside the bottom hole. Anybody have any insight into this? Much appreciated!

 

Welcome Kriska.

It looks plated to me. There is yellow showing through on the rim and other edges, I assume that is brass, so plated brass.

 

I agree. Any idea about the maker? AI can be helpful but it can also be very wrong. I'd love to find the original base to this but I don't even know where to start.

 

Silverplate is not my forte, and I am guessing you are in the US? Our US members will be along later, I am sure someone will know.

 

This is the only mark I see with a simple U in Rainwater's Encyclopedia of American Silver Marks 4th Edition.

Not sure it's correct but Unger Brothers possibly?

 

The U with the two arrows is pretty unique. I've been doing a lot of research on this with no luck. I've had several hits that this is
Giorgio Tabellini (La Bottega del Peltro). In the US, this brand is exclusively sold as Match Pewter. But I'm not finding a match, and I really don't feel like this is pewter. I'll keep looking and if anybody finds anything please send my way !

 

"The U with the two arrows..." Not sure how unique it is. Looks like a spur on a Gothic-style typeface.

Debora

 

But I really can't find anything exactly like it. I'm determined to find something concrete about it. It's driving me nuts! The "U" specifically has two arrows on the top. I've seen a similar "U" but without the circle and it leads me to British silver plate. But doesn't British Silver Plate have certain standards and this just doesn't fit the rules?

The fact that it's double walled on the bottom and that has vents on top, that pretty much means it was used for warming, am I right? Initially I thought maybe an ice chiller, but that wouldn't be vented. I've tried searching a million different ways and also searched pictures everywher.

 

Upside down though

 

Just a wild guess, but it does look like silver plate on brass.

 

I agree! Do you think it was a warmer and that it was standing on a heat source? You can see rings inside the hole where it sat on something else.

I was thinking, maybe get a 3.75" plug for the bottom so I can fill it up with hot water and use it as a warmer!

 

I can't tell enough about it to figure out how it was used, but I like the hot water idea.

 

Might suggest it's not a 'u', but a rubbed or poorly struck Danish 'two-tower' mark, used on silverplate from the late 19th century into the 1930s, often found with a 'P' mark indicating 'Plet' (Plate) - I've seen that 'G.T.' mark before, but don't know the maker...

~Cheryl