Collection: Pesach/Passover

Silver Seder Plates: Sterling, Plated and Silver-Tone

“Silver” is doing three different jobs in Passover listings, and the difference between them is worth several hundred dollars.

• Sterling silver is 92.5% silver throughout, hallmarked 925. It tarnishes, polishes back indefinitely, holds resale value, and is priced largely by weight. This is the material of the pieces people keep for fifty years. In this collection the sterling silver is in the wine service — the Cup of Elijah and the kiddush cups — with the wider range in sterling silver Judaica.
• Silver-plated means a base metal, usually nickel or brass, under a thin electroplated layer of real silver. New, it is hard to tell apart from sterling. Over years of use the plating wears through at the rim and the contact points; it can be re-plated, but not polished hard. It costs a fraction of sterling.
• Silver-tone, nickelplate and polished aluminium contain no silver at all. They hold a bright finish permanently with no polishing, which for a plate that comes out once a year and has food on it is arguably the sensible choice.

For a seder plate specifically, the practical argument runs against sterling more often than people expect. The plate holds a roasted egg, bitter herbs, charoset and salt water for one evening a year, and the finish that survives that best and asks nothing of you afterwards is a hard-wearing metal rather than soft silver. The seder plates here reflect that: Michael Aram’s molten and palm six-compartment designs in metal, the stacked copper-and-glass combination, the retro plate sets, and an aluminium plate under $100.

Where sterling silver genuinely earns its price at a seder is the wine. The Cup of Elijah sits on the table all evening in full view and is the piece worth putting real silver into, which is why it is the most expensive item in this collection. The same logic applies to kiddush cups, which come out every Friday night rather than once a year, and to candlesticks.

Matzah Plates, Trays and Covers

Three matzot sit on the seder table alongside the seder plate, and they need somewhere to go. A matzah plate or tray is that somewhere; a matzah cover is the cloth that goes over them, usually with three compartments so each matzah is separated. Several of the seder sets here include the cover as part of the set.

Most people discover they need one on the night. The seder plate gets bought first because it is the obvious centrepiece, and then the matzot end up on a dinner plate borrowed from the kitchen — which works, and is also the gap that makes a matzah plate such a reliable gift for someone who hosts every year. Several pieces here solve it in one purchase: the retro seder-and-matzah plate sets pair the two in matching designs, the stacked copper-and-glass combination builds them into a single tiered piece, and the four-piece Pesach seder set includes the matzah element.

If you are buying separately rather than as a set, match the material rather than the pattern. A metal seder plate beside a ceramic matzah tray reads as two unrelated objects on a table where everything else is deliberate. Note that a matzah cover and a challah cover are different pieces for different meals — the challah covers are with the Shabbat boards.

Passover Gifts, by Who You Are Buying For

The useful question is not “what is a good Pesach gift” but “what does this particular table not already have”.

• The host you are eating at. They own a seder plate — that is why they are hosting. What they probably do not own is a matzah plate or a Miriam’s cup. Both are inexpensive, both get used at the meal you are sitting at, and both fill a real gap instead of duplicating something.
• A couple setting up their first home. A seder plate is the anchor piece and they will use it for decades. A complete four-piece set is better value than the plate alone and means they can host in their first year rather than their fifth.
• Parents or grandparents who host every year. They have the essentials, so the gift has to be an upgrade: a serious plate to replace a serviceable one, or the piece the table never had — the Cup of Elijah in sterling silver, or a kiddush fountain that pours for the whole table at once.
• Someone hosting a large seder for the first time. A kiddush fountain, without hesitation. Pouring wine for fourteen people one cup at a time is the part of the evening nobody enjoys, and a fountain with eight cups handles it in a single movement.
• A friend or colleague who has invited you. Bring something for the table rather than the household — a matzah plate or a decorative seder piece. Wine is the obvious choice and also the one thing where kosher-for-Passover certification matters, so a piece of Judaica is genuinely the easier gift.

Roughly what things cost here: seder plates from under $100 to about $425, complete seder sets around $190 to $240, kiddush fountains from about $160, and the sterling silver wine pieces from around $500 upward. Orders over $99 ship free — see the shipping policy. For a gift that spans the whole year rather than one evening, the Rosh Hashana collection and the menorahs work on the same logic.

What a Seder Table Actually Needs

If you are hosting for the first time, this is the whole list. Not all of it needs buying — a fair amount is already in the kitchen.

• A seder plate with six sections, for zeroa, beitzah, maror, chazeret, charoset and karpas. The one piece you cannot improvise convincingly.
• A matzah plate or tray, plus a cover, for the three matzot.
• A kiddush cup for each of the four cups of wine. One good cup for the leader and glasses for everyone else is normal — the full range is in kiddush cups.
• A Cup of Elijah, filled with wine and set out for the prophet. Traditionally a distinct and more ornate cup than the ones guests drink from.
• A Miriam’s cup, filled with water, if your seder includes the custom. Newer than Elijah’s cup, and common at egalitarian seders.
• A small dish of salt water for karpas, and a bowl and jug for the hand-washing. Ordinary kitchenware is fine for both.
• Candlesticks, since seder night begins with candle lighting like any festival meal — pairs are in candlesticks.
• A haggadah for every seat, ideally the same edition so the page numbers match when someone reads aloud.

The efficient route for a first seder is a combined set: the four-piece sets and the retro seder-and-matzah pairs here cover the plate, the matzah element and the cover in one purchase. Families who host every year tend to build instead — a proper plate one year, the Elijah cup the next, a fountain when the guest list outgrows pouring by hand. Both approaches work. The only difference is whether you want the table finished this year or assembled over several. If you would rather talk it through, call the shop on (516) 437-5466 or use the contact page.