Grape Gravy & Butter Set

Note on numbering: this is a genuinely new lot 232, so the creamer-and-sugar write-up I labeled 232 needs a different number - 231A or whatever slot you have open. 25-Character Title Grape Gravy & Butter Set (24) Alternates: Grape Gravy Boat Butter (23) Metlox Gravy Butter Dish (24) Metlox Grape Serving 3Pc (24) HiBid DESCRIPTION METLOX POPPYTRAIL SCULPTURED GRAPE GRAVY BOAT WITH UNDERPLATE AND COVERED BUTTER DISH Two serving pieces in the Sculptured Grape pattern by Metlox Poppytrail, California earthenware: a double-spouted gravy or sauce boat with its matching underplate, and a covered quarter-pound butter dish. The gravy boat is a wide oval bowl with a pouring lip at each end and small tab handles at the sides, decorated with an embossed hand-painted cluster of blue grapes, gray-green and green leaves, pale yellow blossom sprigs, and gold-brown tendrils on an off-white ground. Its underplate is a scallop-edged oval with the same embossed grape border running around the rim and an olive-brown brushed rim line. The butter dish has a plain rectangular base tray and a domed rectangular lid decorated with a single grape cluster and topped by a sculpted olive-brown twisted vine loop finial. These are the same pattern as the cup and saucer sets, plates, salad plates, shakers, and the creamer and sugar offered separately in this sale, so bidders assembling a service should watch those lots as well. All pieces are clean and bright with strong color, showing only light use, though the printed backstamp on the butter base is smeared and only partly legible. Sold as a lot of four pieces - gravy boat, underplate, butter base, and butter lid. Description One gravy or sauce boat, wide oval form with a pouring lip at both ends and small raised tab handles at the sides; plain glazed white interior with a visible ring-turned bottom. Gravy boat stands approximately 3-1/4 inches tall per the tape-measure photograph, and measures roughly 7 inches from lip to lip and about 5 inches across the bowl. The tape hook is standing on the table beside the piece in the height photograph rather than hooked on the piece, and rests on the wood surface in the overhead shots, so all figures are close estimates and bidders should verify all dimensions from the photographs. One matching oval underplate with scalloped edge, embossed grape-and-leaf border, and an olive-brown brushed rim line; approximately 7-1/2 inches at its longest, a close estimate. One covered butter dish, plain rectangular base tray with rounded corners and a domed decorated lid with sculpted vine loop finial; base measures approximately 7-1/2 inches long and the dish stands roughly 3 inches tall with the lid in place, both close estimates from the tape photographs. The butter base underside carries a circular printed backstamp consistent with "POPPYTRAIL BY METLOX - MADE IN CALIFORNIA"; the print is smeared and blurred, so only portions are legible and nothing beyond what can be read is claimed. A small faint gray impressed mark appears alongside it that cannot be interpreted. A small faint printed character appears inside the butter base well that reads as a "5" but is too light to state with certainty. Attribution note Metlox Pottery operated in Manhattan Beach, California, founded in 1927 by T. C. Prouty and his son Willis Prouty, first producing outdoor ceramic signs and then dinnerware under the Poppytrail name from the early 1930s until the plant closed in 1989. Replacements, Ltd. catalogs this pattern as Sculptured Grape by Metlox in the Poppytrail-Vernon line, discontinued, with production running roughly from 1963 to 1986, and describes it as raised blue grapes with green leaves and vines on a white ground. Related colorways exist, including an all-white version and a pink grape version, so buyers matching an existing service should compare colors closely against the photographs. Identification and dating here are offered as the consignor's photo-based opinion and are not guaranteed. Bid on the item as pictured. Condition Used vintage condition, sold as-is. All pieces present clean and bright with strong glaze and good color. The printed backstamp on the butter base is smeared and only partly legible. Light surface scuffing and a few small dark specks are visible on the white grounds, with faint tan tinting and kiln-pin marks on the bases. Light gray marking and general use haze show in the gravy boat interior and the butter base well. The butter lid seats on the base but has not been checked for a tight fit. Fine crazing may be present but is not clearly readable in the photographs, so none is claimed either way. No cracks, chips, or repairs are apparent in the photographs, but the pieces have not been examined under magnification and no such guarantee is made. Photos are part of the description. Notes for bidders Glazed earthenware is not dishwasher or microwave recommended; hand wash gently in warm water and dry promptly. Do not soak, as m