Keller Charles Country Christmas Tray — Vintage Folk-Art Holiday Serving Tray, Made in Italy

This is the kind of tray that says Christmas the moment it comes out of the cupboard. Keller Charles of Philadelphia made it, and the scene is pure country holiday: a bushel basket heaped with red apples, a cream crock full of candy canes and holly, a little dappled rocking horse on red wheels, a copper watering can trimmed with greenery — all set against a black ground scattered with tiny red pin-dots and bordered along the bottom in a crisp black-and-white checkerboard. It is warm, folk-art storytelling in a single frame. It measures about 14 by 12 inches — a generous size, big enough to actually serve from and substantial enough to lean on a shelf or counter as seasonal décor. It is molded plastic with a printed surface, the lightweight, won’t-chip kind that made these such practical holiday pieces, and the reverse carries the original oval Keller Charles label: “Keller Charles / Philadelphia / Made in Italy.” Keller Charles built its name on exactly this sort of cheerful, well-drawn giftware, and the Italian-made trays are the ones collectors of country Christmas look for. The graphics are bright and glossy, the colors deep, the checkerboard sharp. It came to us from a Louisburg, North Carolina estate and has clearly been kept well. Set it out with cookies for Santa, use it as a catchall on the console through December, or prop it on a plate stand and let the picture do the decorating. However it lands, it brings that nostalgic, apples-and-rocking-horse country Christmas warmth that new décor keeps trying to imitate.

Highlights & Details

• Maker: Keller Charles, Philadelphia — original oval label on reverse (“Made in Italy”)
• Folk-art country Christmas scene: apples, candy canes, holly, a rocking horse, checkerboard border
• Molded plastic with a printed surface; lightweight and durable
• About 14 x 12 inches
• Vintage, c. 1980s
• From a Louisburg, North Carolina estate

Condition: Very good. The printed graphics are bright and glossy, the colors deep, and I find no cracks, chips, or fading. A clean, well-kept vintage tray ready for the season.