Is my small mango dish made by Bitossi?

[ellevh]

I bought this small mango dish maybe a decade or more ago from an op-shop. The brown stem at the top of the dish was broken when i bought it. The colours are yellow, orange and greens with a white space on the underside of the dish. There are visible brush strokes on the yellow part of the underside. It is glazed all over, even on the white part on the underside. It has the word "Italy" with the number 291 written/painted on the underside in black underneath the glaze. I always wondered 1) how old it was 2) who made it and 3) what such a small dish would have been used for (candy?). Any suggestions?

After a bit of googling and going around in circles i thought i'd put it to the community for some ideas. Being broken I imagine it's worth nothing to little even if it were a reputable brand. Just for interests sake, could it be made by Bitossi? It is missing any stamps or the "B" that i've seen on some items.

[siddieswans]

I would very much doubt it is Bitossi. It is not the type of ceramic they produced, not does it have their quality. There were probably 100s if not thousands of small unnamed potteries who marked their wares with numbers and the word Italy in black - I don't think anybody knows whether the numbers have any significance. They were largely producing goods for the tourist trade. I would think this is 1950s 1960s - as to its purpose, it may have been intended for preserves, condiments, nuts, maybe as you say, candy. You are right in thinking that as it is damaged it has little to no value (except to you of course). Others may have different ideas.