Tiered tea tray question

R

richard-in-cincy

Well-known member
I came into possession of a 3 tiered tea tray identical to the one in the link, except it is amber glass, when I purchased my dining room table at an estate sale last year. It's beautiful, but I just don't know what to do with it since it isn't really a tray, it's more like bowls with not much of a flat bottom surface.

What does one serve in this? The bowls are close together so hands cannot reach in, it would require some dainty tongs or spoons to retrieve. Also, since they are bowls, they wouldn't hold tea sandwiches, petit-fours, and the like.

And even though they are bowls, there is a hole in the bottom for the spindle to thread them together, so there would be nothing liquid/drippy/saucy/etc. going in them.

I was thinking candies or nuts in the shell to crack.

But it just seems like there must have been some intended use for such an elaborate presentation.

Ideas?

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/federal-glass-petal-tier-tidbit-135872014

 
I did some searching

the bowl versions mostly showed serving fruit. That particular pattern also has matching plates and I believe the tiers can be switched out. I would think this could include flat tiers interchangeably. Take a look at this example as it looks like the smallest is in the middle

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/573857177492661400/

 
a couple other things

I saw one reference as a "fruit and berry" server and another reference to the poles being rusted closed. If yours will not unscrew, a product that I've used for rust and and EXTREMELY HAPPY with and it is non-toxic and I'm pretty sure it is OK for silver but I'd check on that first. EVAPO-RUST This you can find at an auto parts store and maybe Home Depot but it is really excellent and actually works better than the hard chemical options and you don't have to worry about harmful chemicals - at all. Non-toxic. Biodegradable.

 
I was going to suggest flower arrangements til I got to the hole in the bottom.

Maybe round things like Christmas snowballs and Chocolate Truffles?

 
I think you could serve mints and candies in them. Perhaps very small

petit fours in the bottom ones that are larger. Nuts would also work

someone here had that blowout beautiful wedding shower and served some things on something similar. I think the "bowl" shape rather than a flat plate shape makes it more challenging.

 
WD-40 may also work on that problem

And re-reading it these may indeed be for flowers, even with the screw in.
DMIL used a similar thing (epergne) and put oasis in the bowls to stick the flowers in. In your case, probably put a tray under it in case of dripping, but if it actually screws in, it would probably be okay.

 
huh. Apparently our family must have missed that piece as we accumulated dishes from

inside the laundry soap box.

Or the GOOD set which was compiled by collecting stamps from A&P, tossing them into the junk drawer, then digging them out, pasting them into a box and redeeming them. That was one of my chores. There were eight kids, so lots of dirty clothes. Lots of love. Not a lot of money.

 
Unscrew, take two levels out, attach the topper to the bottom and voila, one usable bowl

Or- unscrew, rearrange so that the bottom stays, the middle goes to the top and the top is left off so you have two usable bowls. Cheese cubes, olives, cherry tomatoes, chou puffs, baked phyllo triangles, Deviled eggs, seems all kinds of "drier" stuff would work.

 
Sugared fruits, small ornaments and fresh greenery would be beautiful around the holidays.

 
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