A Large Wedgwood Majolica Oyster or Mussel Server, the lobed dish molded with twelve fish head-shaped wells glazed in green, with a central dipping well, the reverse with impressed marks, 'WEDGWOOD,' and three letter date code for 1878. Several important innovations in Victorian Britain help to explain the proliferation of elaborate servers for exotic seafood, the new canning industry, and railroad expansion, which allowed for shellfish to be delivered fresh the same day. And as Dawes points out:

"The variety of seafood that Victorians discovered and enjoyed at resorts soon became acceptable for formal dining and precipitated a new market for tableware...."

Nicholas M. Dawes, MAJOLICA. New York: Crown Publishers, Inc., 1990, p. 40, Figure 61.