Can you help me identify function and mark on this ceramic set?

Ah oh - am I right in thinking no one out there can help me ID either the function OR the brand of this?

some sort of food gets stuck on the spike then can be poured into the smaller bowls?

Sorry, not something I’ve seen before, but if it’s 70s in date then I’d guess it’s a pineapple that’s stuck on the spike, which cheese chunks around it?

is it big enough to take a pineapple?

No. I should have provided dimensions sorry.

The biggest piece is about 6 inches long at longest point and 2 1/2 inches wide at widest point. The little boat like cups are about 3 inches long and 2 inches wide at widest point.

Do you think the big piece is missing a handle or something?

No.

That central metal piece looks as though it is grooved, and not a spike. So I suspect another piece would have been screwed on top of it. The little dishes look like sweetmeat or hors d'oeuvre dishes, and I think that the central piece would have been like a tiered cake stand, but for 'nibbles' at a party or pre-dinner occasion.
Looks bang on 1970's. Probably Italian, would have been considered quite posh back then. Anybody remember the play 'Abigail's Party' ? Exactly the sort of event that this would have been used at!

Advocado bowls? Devilled eggs?

Ahhhhhhh the 70s

https://www.pinterest.co.uk/pin/271130840042678967/?lp=true

thank goodness we don't eat that swill any more!

Who’s “we”? I love pickled onions and cheese.

The dish is too small to be the bottom tier of a server, and the shape is more like a pourer.  I just wondered about a handle.  You could pour from it without a handle, but then why the metal bit? Um, I will feel bad if we find out it's an ashtray....

Maybe that’s what’s missing? A handle?

Yes the pouring shape for both the larger dish and all the small ones has been perplexing. Unless it’s purely decorative

Just in case a few more photos helps spur any thoughts...

Sorry posted the same image twice! The one with mark and number is the bottom of the largest piece

NaomiM wrote:Who’s “we”? I love pickled onions and cheese.

after Brexit we may all be eating like we did in the 70's while we watch the t.v news about IRA bombings

I have always assumed that the 8 shaped bowls were for the 1970s invention, the avocado pear. If so, then after Brexit we will need to set up our own farms to produce them...……………………………………… and get foreigners workers to come over and pick them for us.

Is it big enough for the classic cheese and pineapple hedgehog ie a citrus fruit covered in tin foil then stuck with cocktail sticks with cheese and pineapple on ( looks a bit to classy for that though) maybe it’s just a candle holder 🤷‍♀️

I think the smaller one are for lemons, its possible the larger one had a handle and is a tray for your disguarded lemons to be taken away