(almost) Wordless Wednesday -- Family heirloom

This is a Seder plate.

As I explained here, and here,

The Seder plate is a family heirloom, inherited from my paternal grandparents.  I never met my paternal grandparents, they died before I was born, but their memory lives on in a piece of china they bought as recent immigrants to this country, some time in the 1920's.  When I posted a picture of the plate on Facebook, my cousins were quick to share stories of long-ago Passover dinners at our grandparents' home, events that took place long before I was born, but part of the fabric of our family.

The back of the plate bears the inscription:  BARDIGER, London, and TEPPER, London with a circular seal that says, Manufactured by Ridgway England.

This design was first registered by Ridgways, the Staffordshire manufacturer of the plate, in 1923.



"Bardiger" is a retailer mark for Solomon Bardiger's china shop, which was  at 180 Brick Lane, London. Solomon was a Ukrainian immigrant (just like my grandparents who bought the plate!).  He came to England in 1890 and traded in a wide variety of goods, but became most well known for his Judaica table wares. It was he who commissioned Ridgways to make the plate.

In addition to red, the plate was also made in black, and in blue.

One of the blue plates found its way into the Brooklyn Children's Museum.  Another made it into the Spurlock Museum of World Cultures in Illinois.