3 Travel Souvenir Plates

THREE VINTAGE SOUVENIR PLATES - LOUISIANA, NEW ORLEANS EMBOSSED RELIEF, IDAHO A smaller souvenir plate grouping of three, each in a different style, so the lot shows off the range these travel plates came in. The Louisiana plate is the largest and dressiest, a gold-banded plate with a molded rope or gadroon rim and a detailed color center covering the whole state. The New Orleans plate is a molded relief plate with a raised, hand-painted-look scene of ST. LOUIS CATHEDRAL and the BRULATOUR COURTYARD and a red hanging cord still tied through the back. The Idaho plate is the smallest, a fancy scalloped and pierced-looking form with brushed gold tipping around every point. Sizes run from roughly seven and a half inches up to roughly ten and a half inches. No maker mark is visible on any of the three backs, so no maker is claimed. The New Orleans plate has a chip on the rim, which is called out below and shown in a close-up photograph. These sell to state and city collectors, plate-wall decorators, and New Orleans and French Quarter buyers in particular. Sold as a lot of three plates. Description Louisiana - round plate, white body with a molded rope-twist or gadroon outer rim, a wide plain shoulder, and two applied gold bands, one wide gold band at the shoulder and a fine gold line inside it. The color center design is lettered Louisiana in script over a gold state map, with a magnolia blossom and a pelican, and captioned vignettes reading OAK ALLEY, SHRIMP BOATS, SHIPPING, OIL REFINERY BATON ROUGE, CAPITOL BATON ROUGE, WAR MEM. TOWER LOUISIANA STATE UN., JACKSON SQUARE NEW ORLEANS, BILOXI (SHIP ISLAND), MELROSE NEW IBERIA, and a Mississippi steamboat. The back is plain white and glazed with no maker mark, backstamp, or lettering visible. Measures approximately 10 to 10-1/2 inches in diameter per the tape-measure photograph. New Orleans - round plate in molded relief, the scene raised off the surface and colored in soft washes, showing ST. LOUIS CATHEDRAL with its three spires at the top behind palms and flowering shrubs, and the BRULATOUR COURTYARD with its arched carriageway, shuttered windows, and vine-covered brick wall across the bottom, lettered NEW ORLEANS in black across the center. The rim carries a molded scroll or vine band glazed pale blue. The back is plain white with no maker mark visible, shows the reverse of the molded relief, and has a red or pink cord tied through two holes near the rim for hanging. Measures approximately 8-1/2 to 9 inches in diameter per the tape-measure photograph. Idaho - the smallest plate, with a deeply scalloped and irregular petal-form rim, each point brushed and tipped in gold, and a white body. The color center design is lettered IDAHO in orange over a blue sky and is made up of captioned vignettes reading PAYETTE LAKES, SHOSHONE FALLS, BEAUTY BAY, STATE CAPITOL BOISE, SHOSHONE INDIAN ICE CAVES, SUN VALLEY, and a temple building at the bottom edge. The back is plain white and glazed with no maker mark visible. Measures approximately 7-1/2 to 8 inches across per the tape-measure photograph, measured point to point on the scalloped rim. All dimensions are approximate and read from the tape-measure photographs, in which the tape hook rests on the face of the plate or on the table rather than hooked over the rim, so every figure is a close estimate. Bidders should verify all dimensions from the photographs. Attribution note The Louisiana and Idaho plates are color decal souvenir ware of the type produced in quantity for the American highway gift shop trade from roughly the 1950s into the 1970s, sold through drug stores, roadside stands, and hotel gift shops. The New Orleans plate is a different product, a molded relief souvenir plate of the sort widely imported from Japan during the same decades and typically carrying only a paper or ink import label that is often gone by now. No maker's mark, import mark, country of origin, series, or date is visible on any of the three backs, so nothing of that kind is claimed. The captions used on the Louisiana plate, including War Memorial Tower at Louisiana State University and the Baton Rouge oil refinery, are typical of mid-century state plates. All identification here is read from the printing and molding visible in these photographs and is offered as the consignor's photo-based opinion and is not guaranteed. Bid on the item(s) as pictured. Condition Used vintage souvenir plates in fair to good display condition, sold as-is. The New Orleans plate has a chip on the rim, shown clearly in the close-up photograph as a glaze and body loss at the outer edge with a rough tan-colored break face, and there is a second smaller brown-toned flake or scuff on the rim near it. The New Orleans plate also has two drilled or molded holes near the back rim with a red cord threaded through them for hanging; the cord is old, soiled, and should not be trusted to hold the plate on a wall. The Idaho plate shows wear and rubbing to the brushed