Nifty vintage pottery or ceramic tile which could be used as a trivet, plaque or hot plate made by Villeroy & Boch. Square, measuring just under 6 inches each side (about 5 15/16 inches), with a depth of 1/8 inch. While we don't know the age of this tile (we would guess it dates from the later half of the last century), it has an antique-looking blue and white design. Visually broken into 9 mini-tiles via lines and corner décor, there are 9 scenes of people (all men), buildings and locations. Included are scenes of a castle front, water well, Dutch windmill, a man pushing a cart with some sort of supplies in it, and other scenes of men walking, reading a proclamation and strumming an instrument like an old-fashioned guitar.

The backside of the tile is fully marked in a raised fashion, showing both the Villeroy & Boch name and a VB insignia in a circle with water waves. There is also a raised "D" and the raised numbers 25, 51 and 76. There is no country of origin marking on the tile, although Villeroy & Boch is a German (Germany) company. There is a nice weight to this piece, weighing a little over 7 ounces unpacked.

We've provided 8 images to show the topside from several angles and lighting. It was hard to show the raised markings on the backside, so we tried with differing lighting in several images. Please note that the camera lighting creates white "hot spots" on the topside smooth, glazed surface (the backside is not glazed). Please use the zoom feature to examine closely.

Very nice, very usable & displayable condition, but not mint with some expected age/storage/use wear. The topside has a number of large crazing lines in the glaze, but is not all-over crazed. There are some minor, tiny edge chipping & flaking in the four corners (amount differing by corner, with the most in the upper right corner which may be a flat angled chip here), but not bad. There is also very tiny edge flaking/chipping along the other topside outer edges. As you can see in the images there are some blue smudges on the backside of the piece and some other dirt here. Nothing unexpected for an older piece which comes out of a home and was likely used.

We will be listing several other vintage and/or antique tiles. If you are interested in more than one tile, please contact us prior to placing the order. The system has been set up to provide shipping costs for just one tile and will not automatically give you the cost savings you would get by shipping more than one tile in the same package. We would be pleased to provide that for you.