What Is This? Even the Seller Had No Clue
January 5, 2025
Source: Reddit
What’s the Deal with This Mystery Oyster Shell Tray?
You know that sense you get when you find something bizarre at an estate sale? You stop, tilt your head and think, “What is this thing?” This mystery oyster shell tray does.
Between that hammered metal finish, oyster-shell shape and those weird little clamps that clearly exist for some reason we don’t understand, the piece feels like it has a story to tell, if only it could talk. The seller gave up, too — with a note written in script: “Do not know what these are—But interesting.” Honestly, they’re not wrong. It’s something that you stop to scratch your head about and wonder what the heck it might have been when it was a mystery oyster shell tray.
First Impressions: It Screams “Oysters”
In a fancy seafood setup, this tray could easily masquerade as part of the serving apparatus on first glance. It’s the kind of thing that would have felt right at home at a mid-century dinner party, holding crushed ice and fresh-shucked oysters. The brief wells would hold the ice, and the depression in the center looks custom made to contain cocktail sauce or lemon wedges, making the piece a great mystery oyster shell tray.
The hammered metal adds to the sturdy, old-school vibe — the kind of thing that endures for decades and resurfaces when someone clears out Grandma’s attic.
But Wait, What About Those Clamps?
This is when stuff begins to get weird. The tray is flanked by a pair of clamps and they’re not cosmetic add-ons. They’re adjustable, too, so the tray was meant to be hooked over something. Perhaps it clutched a stand for support, or the edge of a table, hinting at its original purpose as an oyster shell tray.
You probably can’t definitively answer that question, but one thing you’re not looking at is any kind of serving dish.
Maybe It Wasn’t Just for Oysters
Yes, it works as the oyster theory comes from after, but what if it was something else altogether?
Others speculate it might have been part of a seafood market display, perhaps of fresh shellfish on ice. And some find the burial somewhat mysterious — possibly even purely ornamental, as if there had been a playful eccentric with an idiosyncratic taste in furnishings.
And then there’s the wild card hypothesis: what if it was never a serving tray? Could it be a mold for some crafty or industrial endeavor? Or a part in some larger contraption? The clamps indicate a purpose, which only makes the enigmatic oyster shell tray that much more intriguing, though it’s anyone’s guess without more information.
The Beauty of Forgotten Objects
What’s great about oddities like this is that you don’t learn what they were. It’s also the pleasure of wondering what they might be. Who knows? Maybe someone will someday put this inscrutable tray to the use nature intended it for, frosting down some oysters with a side of cocktail sauce. Or it will become something completely different — a succulent planter, a kooky metal fruit bowl, a wall-hung piece of art.
And it’s this alchemy of mystery and potential that makes objects like this one so irresistible. They’re a small keyhole into history, raising questions about who might have used these items, where they’ve been and how on Earth they all ended up on a table at a thrift store with a $15 price tag. I love objects like this crusty old oyster shell tray.
So, What Would You Do with It?
That’s the fun part, right? This metal oyster tray is a steal, at only $15 — except not for what it already is, but for what it could be. As a practical, decorative or just all around wacky addition, it’s going to get the people talking.
So, what’s your guess? Serving tray, display piece or what? This mystery oyster shell tray is a little bit history — and a lot of fun to dream about.