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A Brief History of Butter Pats, Butter Chips, Butter Plates, Individual Butters

Many an Amish built solid wood bookcase, hutch, cabinet or curio holds the precious porcelain collectible known as the butter pat, butter chips, butter pads or individual butters. While many young homemakers today may not know what a butter pat is, they still remain a compact, decorative and highly sought collectible. These miniature plates are replicas of the fine china they were meant to accompany but even on their own they stand out as small pieces of delicate whimsy. The butter pat still remains a classy and affordable dining collectible. It is ideal for beginners and children interested in beginning the collecting hobby but it also is an elegant and even useful one for any level of collector.

In the Victorian era, from about 1880-1910, a well appointed table was not complete without individual butter pats. One of the reasons that the Arts and Crafts Society revolted against the Victorian period of excess was because of frivolities like the butter pat. Formal Victorian tables were always set with great opulence and excess utensils. While the traditional table of the time was set with bread that was unbuttered and placed in the folds of the guest’s napkins other courses required a good buttering. The pats of butter were served on small plates, about 3 inches in diameter, placed left of center of the service plate.

Butter was perhaps given such a place of honor not just because of its decadent flavor but because of the labor involved in creating it. Store bought butter was unheard of and many hours went in to making each pound. Some families even had their family crests carved in to a butter stamp and embossed their dairy with the familial signature for effect. Even the butter pats may have been personalized with hand painting. The Philadelphia Centennial Exhibition of 1876 created a movement among genteel women to begin painting porcelains. Butter pats were a popular and simple dish to complete for their home or to give as gifts.

The 1908 Sears, Roebuck and Co. catalog sold a 100 piece Haviland dinner set with a dozen butter pats for a mere $23.50. You cold even get a sample pat for a dime to preview the china set. That same butter pat is many times that now.

Tags: amish dining room, butter chips, butter pats, butter plates, china, individual butters, Porcelain, Victorian butter pats

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 15th, 2009 at 12:06 am and is filed under Accessories, Entertaining, Glassware & Crystal, Kitchens, Porcelain, The Art of Dining at Home. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.