Calendar Plates

I had never seen a calendar on a plate until I found one at a Tallahassee thrift store last week. I was struck by the date on the calendar, 1911, and with an unbeatable price (25 cents), I couldn't help but pick it up. The enscription at the bottom reads 

"J. W. Collins & Co.

Everything to eat and wear
Tallahassee, FLA."



I wasn't able to find much information about calendar plates, but this website for antiques said they were popular between 1906 and 1929 and often featured the name of a store with a picture, exactly describing the appearance of my new plate. However, searching google images for calendar plates, most of them looked much more ornate than mine, and often the calendar was shown circling around the plate, not clumped in a rectangle in the middle of it. I did find one other plate online very similar to mine, gold rim and all, but not much other information about it, except that it was from 1907.

I also tried searching for J.W. Collins & Co. without any luck. There were no markings at all on the back of the plate. I guess the origins of my 99 year old Tallahassee treasure, and the idea behind the creation of calendar plates will remain a mystery!