Extra Special

I love these plates. They have been in my family for years, used on holidays or whenever guests come for 

supper. Alas, they are not mine, belonging instead to
my mom.

 

As a rule, I am rather oblivious to china plates, admiring an interesting design, but not particularly picky about ones used for everyday.  But these are special.

Each one has a unique dinner menu in the center of the plate--one for each night of the week and an extra for holidays. Six items are included, beginning with soup, juice, or Sherry and ending with pie, pudding, or mousse and a beverage.

When my siblings and I were young (and even now that we are all grown up),

we read "our" plate aloud 

to all gathered for the occasion.The foods in the menus are rather old-fashioned (does anyone know what shirred eggs are?).

Decorated in green, pink, yellow and black on a white background, the rims display various culinary treats. As you can see, there are lobsters, bananas, pineapples, lemons, bottles of wine. Can you find anything else?

The acquisition of these plates tell a tale of a romantic gesture on my father's part. My mother admired them in a shop window, came home, and mentioned it to my father (or maybe he was there with her, I'm not sure). 

Unbeknownst to her, he went back out, 

and brought the entire set of dishes back home to her. How sweet is that?

Unsigned, these vintage treasures appear to be one-of-a-kind. I have searched the Internet

and cannot find any that come close.  If anyone knows anything about them, please let me know.

For now, though, I look forward to the next special family gathering and can't wait to see which one will be set at my place.

Here are close-ups of the menus: