Possible tea strainer?

[taniwi]

Hi all! I was going through my grandmother's silver pieces for their long due cleaning, and came across this:








My parents and I think that it's a loose tea strainer, but the three oddly shaped holes on the rim have us at an impasse.

My father thinks that the holes mean it's a part of a larger piece. My mother and I both think that the holes are merely for decoration.

Any suggestions on what it actually might be? Or if there's any purpose to the three holes?

Thanks,
Tabetha
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[JLDoggett]

It would be used to make a single cup of drip coffee. The ground coffee would be added to the strainer, the whole would be placed over a cup and boiling water added. I have seen them in aluminum, mostly from the 1920, but never one is sterling. Can you post a picture of the marks?
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[taniwi]

I called up my father and asked for him to try to find any marks (since I'm away at college). He and my mother both looked the piece over and and think that they've found marks, this is what came through on the photos that they sent me (the second photo/link is slightly better in quality/readability):



http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f313/ ... lhelma.jpg

At one point we were discussing whether or not it was silver plate, since we just refer to it as "grandmother's silver." We do know that there are two possible places that my grandmother could have gotten it: Philadelphia around 1928-35 or Germany, either before or after her time in Philadelphia.

Thank you so much for your help!
Tabetha
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