Heirloom Plate

When I was a child it was a great treat for me to use this plate. Eventually my mother gave it to me, and it is the only object I have from her family. It has a story.

The plate belonged to a 12-set dinner service that belonged to my mother’s parents. She believed it had been a wedding present to them. They were married in 1904, and the nearest I have been able to date the plate is early 20th century. Anyway, Mum was a bookworm. While her brother and sisters were out riding their horses she was happy sitting under the bushes reading. She loved to take her lunch on a plate and eat as she read, and was always getting into trouble for not returning the plate to the kitchen. One night the house burnt down. Everybody got out safely, but they lost everything. Everything but this plate, which Mum had left under the bushes.