Ystad Metall Swedish Brass Serving Platter, Twisted Rope Rim, Mid-Twentieth Century

Story

A substantial oval brass serving platter from Ystad Metall, the Swedish workshop founded in 1899 on the southern coast of Skåne. The form is generous and confident: a deep oval, hand-hammered across the surface, finished with a twisted rope rim that runs the full circumference. The patina is original — warm gold with the soft mottling of brass that has been used, set down, picked up, and used again for the better part of a century.

For a roast on a holiday table. For a centerpiece of pears and persimmons through autumn. For a stack of folded linen napkins on a sideboard. Or for nothing in particular on a long dining table, where the surface alone carries the room.

Origin

Found at a small antik & design farmhouse in rural Skåne — the southernmost province of Sweden and the region where Ystad Metall was founded and operated. The platter came home roughly an hour from where it was made, after decades in a Swedish household. Marked Ystad Metall on the underside with the company's circular cartouche.

On the maker

Ystad Metall was one of the most important Scandinavian producers of decorative metalware through the twentieth century. Founded in 1899 in the coastal town of Ystad, the company became known for hand-finished brass and silverplate in clean modernist forms, working with named designers including Gunnar Ander — whose collaborations defined Swedish tabletop design in the postwar decades. Ander's brass candleholders and serving pieces for Ystad are actively collected today. This platter is unsigned by designer, as much of Ystad's broader production was, but the maker's mark and the hand-hammered surface place it in the workshop's quality tier.

Condition

Excellent. The hand-hammered surface is intact across the body, with the soft warm patina of unpolished brass that has aged honestly. The twisted rope rim is undamaged and tight to the body. No dents, no repairs, no aggressive cleaning. We've left the patina as found — polishing would brighten it but would also erase the evidence of its long Swedish life, which is part of what makes it worth keeping.

Dimensions

Length: 24 in, Width: 14.5 in