HELP! What was this plaque used for?

Several years ago, I picked up this brown and white enamel plaque that has a portrait of a woman on it.  When I purchased it, I was told by the dealer that it was a decoration off of the front of a stove that was made around the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s.

The dealer also said that they thought it was enameled copper.

Ever since the day I got it, I have been poking around to see what exactly it is.  The first thing that I ran across was a picture of Queen Elizabeth during her Diamond Jubilee of 1897.  The picture was pretty close to the image on the front of the plaque.

Another thing that really threw me for a loop was that I saw another listing on the internet that said these plaques were used on a front door of a house.

Is it really a decoration for a stove or a door?  Was it really made of copper?  If it was off of a stove, what brand was it on?  If you know what this is, feel free to drop me a line.  I would love to know is what this was used for.

The mystery has finally been solved!

One of the first blogs that I did here; I posed a question about an item that I had found at a local antique mall.  I just didn’t know what it could have been.

Was it part of a lamp?  Could it have been a beverage dispenser or a paper clip holder?  I was just plain stumped.

I looked high and low to what this could have been.  I looked online, I looked at some reference books, and I even asked a few people around where I live.  Then it hit me like a ton of bricks—it’s a homemade Loving Cup trophy.

I’ve seen a loving cup used a couple of ways.  I’ve seen it used as a trophy that’s given to the winner of a competition or even used at weddings as a shared drinking container.

What time frame was this piece was made you say?  The piece has marks “FORBES SILVER CO / JOHN T McLELLAN / PATENT APPLIED FOR” on it which helps give me a time frame when the pieces were first made  (which date to about the 1880’s).

From the patina that’s on it, I’d say that everything was “upcycled” into this current form in the early 1900’s.

It’s always fun to me to try and find out what a piece was used for, even when it becomes something cool like this.

What kinds of fun items like this that you have come across that has stumped you?