Description:  The plate is one of many commemorative items produced for the official opening of the University of Birmingham in 1909. Ribbon plates were popularised as a result of the introduction of Bank Holidays in 1880 and were a typical pictorial souvenir from seaside resorts. Plates bought on these occasions would either be ribbon or lace plates with a painted image in the centre and either pierced for the threading of ribbon or pierced in an intricate pattern to imitate an edging of lace. This plate bears no potters mark and would have been one of many manufactured for the occasion. It would originally have had a ribbon woven into the inner circle of holes and tied in a bow at the top.

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