Show plate, to which class this object belongs, were displayed on side tables or on stands. Romans avidly collected them, and Martial reports that fortunes were spent for signed antique pieces. The prominence of silversmiths in the first century, and their importance in the economic life of the Empire, is borne out by measures Nero took in the rebuilding of Rome after the disastrous fire of 64 A.D. His plans allotted them between one hundred and fifty and two hundred new shops, and the export of silver plate at this time was an important part of foreign trade. Pliny the Elder has left us with an interesting and perplexing observation about smiths, saying that the route to fame for them is to work in silver, not in gold. “Curiously enough, none have become famous as gold chasers, many as chasers of silver.”