This platter was used to test the copper plates from which prints were transferred onto a piece of ceramic. Copper plates would require maintenance and re-engraving during their factory life. After any work of this type, a trial transfer was made, fired and glazed, to allow the engraver to inspect the resulting pattern for accuracy and depth of colour. Surplus plates, platters etc. were used for this purpose, testing the quality of the copper plate patterns before transferring them onto the final products. As this type of ceramic was not intended for retail it is rarely found outside a factory.

The sources for the patterns are prints by Currier & Ives. This successful American firm produced a series of American views around 1860-90 which drew on traditional imagery. The use of these nostalgic patterns demonstrates the appeal of such domestic ceramics to a 20th-century American market.

The V&A has only one other trial platter of this type, a meat dish (C.359-2009) by Copeland, Stoke-on-Trent from about 1890. As sample pieces showing different border designs and intensities of colour both these platters provide an insight into the ceramic industry, the history of transfer- printing in Staffordshire and the continuing methods of production into the 20th-century.