Five Crimp Service Plate

Five crimps, each terminating in a silver ball, ring the edge of this service plate and turn a flat circle into a piece with rhythm. The device is characteristic of Spratling's first design period, 1931-1946, when ornament was generated from the structure of the object itself rather than added to it.

The ball-tipped crimp is a small example of the way the workshop built decoration from repeated handwrought elements. As a service plate it belonged to the broad range of table silver the shop produced alongside its hollowware.

Early plates of this kind survive in limited numbers.