# Eating off Collector's Plates **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754 "2009-02-28T03:19:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/1 "2009-02-28T03:19:29Z")
Back in my youth, I had a real thing for Collector’s Plates - you know the sort; a six-part set with different hummingbirds on them, or wildlife pictures… anyway, now I’m older and desperate to de-clutter, and have given these things away. The question I have is this: \*\*Collector-type plates come with a warning saying they’re not to be eaten off, but they don’t say why. \*\* Is there some kind of poisonous coating that will kill you if you serve scones on it, or is it just ‘_if you use a knife and fork on this plate, you’ll bugger up the picture and we’re not compensating you for that idiocy_’? I’ve Googled to no avail, and I need an answer, please. One of my friends wants to use them for serving plates (not actually eating off, but putting biscuits and such on). Seems like a fair enough thing from my point of view, but will doing so endanger her in any way? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/2 "2009-02-28T03:25:50Z")
The paint is probably not something you want flavoring your food but these plates are not collectible beyond the value to you. ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/3 "2009-02-28T03:34:04Z")
If they’re not labeled for food use (or rather, if they’re specifically labeled not for food use) chances are good that there is lead or other dangerous chemicals in the plate or the paint. While I might say “screw it” and eat a scone off one once in a while, I sure would not eat spaghetti sauce or oranges (or orange marmalade with the scone) off one - acids like to play with metals and form compounds that could get into your body on the food. ---
**Author:** ![Hockey\_Monkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Hockey\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hockey_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/4 "2009-02-28T03:43:58Z")
What WhyNot said. A lot of the pigments especially in older paints contain lead. Not something you’d want to be ingesting. ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/5 "2009-02-28T10:39:08Z")
Thirded - some of the collector’s plates my grandmother has actually have warnings on the box advising that paints may contain lead and so should not be used for food. ---
**Author:** ![OneCentStamp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/13edae/32.png) [@OneCentStamp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OneCentStamp)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/6 "2009-02-28T17:43:43Z")
Fourthed, and that goes double if the plates in question happen to be glow-in-the-dark. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/7 "2009-02-28T18:00:22Z")
Actually, these are circa 1990… fortunately, while they’re of an age to be glow-in-the-dark, they’re not. I do have \*some \*standards, y’know. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bites_when_provoked/32/18073_2.png) [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bites_When_Provoked)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/8 "2009-02-28T18:03:15Z")
> [@runner pat](#): > > …these plates are not collectible beyond the value to you. I didn’t suggest they were an _investment_, and we’ve established that their value to me is zero - hence the ‘giving away’ bit. My friends, who actually want the plates, \*are \*of some value to me though. They’re much harder to collect than plates. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Sierra\_Indigo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Sierra\_Indigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sierra_Indigo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/9 "2009-02-28T22:00:02Z")
> [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](#): > > Actually, these are circa 1990… fortunately, while they’re of an age to be glow-in-the-dark, they’re not. > > I do have \*some \*standards, y’know. 😃 Some of the ones my grandmother bought, she bought in the 90s. I don’t know if they’re the ones that have the warnings on, but it’s not a reliable indicator that they don’t have lead or other non-edible substances in them. Especially if they’re sold as collector’s plates and have cautions not to eat off of them. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2009, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/10 "2009-02-28T22:17:40Z")
> [@OneCentStamp](#): > > Fourthed, and that goes double if the plates in question happen to be glow-in-the-dark. 😃 Ooooo … [Fiesta Ware](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiestaware#Brilliant_Red_Fiesta)! ---
**Author:** ![BigNik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/73ab20/32.png) [@BigNik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigNik)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2009, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/11 "2009-03-01T23:37:10Z")
> [@Bites\_When\_Provoked](#): > > My friends, who actually want the plates, \*are \*of some value to me though. They’re much harder to collect than plates. 😃 And much more fun to break at weddings! ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2009, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/eating-off-collectors-plates/487754/12 "2009-03-02T00:23:13Z")
[Obligatory Steve Goodman link.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HnqtGjHJjs8)