Everyone Used It In The 70s: The Adorable Thrift Store Find We Want For Parties

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It doesn't scream '70s style at first glance, but Arthur Court fish platters were de rigueur during the disco period. These cast aluminum fish-shaped serving vessels might have been common enough at the time to fade into the background, but after half a century or more, people are rediscovering their charm. Display your party apps atop an Arthur Court platter, and you'll have a handy serving dish and a conversation piece combined into one charming item. This popular '70s platter typically is made of unpainted aluminum and is shaped like a round or ovoid fish complete with fins, face, and tail. If you can snag one at a thrift shop or online, it'll be the pièce de résistance that brings your dinner gathering or vintage garden party to life.

Spotting an Arthur Court platter on a thrift store shelf would be fortuitous, but they're also pretty easy to score on Etsy and eBay. The pieces aren't unreasonably priced, either. The nautical-themed plates and more are still manufactured and sold today at outlets like Macy's and Wayfair. You can snag vintage Courts online for as little as $5, but most are priced between $20 and $100.

It's possible that the '70s were the weirdest decade for styles and trends, but Arthur Court's designs have changed little over the last 50 years; they look as timely today as they did half a century ago. The dishes typically have date stamps, and the design has remained more or less unchanged since the 1970s. So, although finding an older production year is a fun bonus, there's no need to limit your search to pieces made only during the 1970s.

Sea life is a running theme with Arthur Court, but it's not only fish that you'll find stamped with the Court pedigree. Rabbits, turkeys, pigs, horses, and plenty of botanicals also adorn these dishes. Avid thrifters are squealing with glee to find these other designs on Goodwill shelves, but it's the ones decorated with sea dwellers that are trending the most on social media. Crabs, shells, fish nets, and sea stars continue the seaside motif, but it's the fish dishes that win the charm contest, at least on these platforms.

Along with platters shaped entirely like fish, you might stumble upon trays with plain centers surrounded by fish or rectangular servers covered with overlapping schools of fish. TikTokers and Instagrammers are showing off several platter designs; some have stone eyes , and occasionally, the stone has come loose and been lost over the years. Others feature etchings, and nearly all are precisely detailed. Less common are trays or plates with embossed koi, crab-shaped handles, sea horses, octopi in relief, or sea turtles.

While serving hors d'oeuvres on an Arthur Court platter adds instant whimsy to your gathering, these pieces are also worthy of hanging on a wall when they're not in use. A metallic, wall-mounted fish fits in perfectly in a beach house or to zhuzh up a boring gallery wall.