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Cake plates are a must-have hostess item. Just about every contemporary manufacturer of china and housewares from Martha Stewart to luxury china companies like Spode and Wedgwood and the whimsical MacKenzie-Childs have elevated cakes to a new height with a wide variety of pedestal cake plates in all colors and patterns.
Vintage and antique enthusiasts have long appreciated the presentation appeal of a well-placed cake on a lovely glass stand. My own personal favorite is an Imperial Glass creamy blue pedestal cake stand, passed down from my mother. The Bellaire, Ohio, glass manufacturer is famous for its milk glass and this one is done in a lovely shade of robin egg blue. It serves birthday cakes with class.
Another wonderful example of Imperial cake stands is the Candlewick glass variety, one of Imperial's calling cards and made from 1939-1981. I've seen these at local antiques shops, but do be careful when shopping for Candlewick since other glass houses made similar clear glass with the bubble look and you need to know your glass or shop with reliable dealers.
The ever-respected crystal manufacturer, Waterford of Ireland, has a variety of first-class cake plates available on the retail market, too, that are perfect for a connoisseur of cake stands. New ones often feature stainless steel cake knives and servers to go along with the plate. These can be quite expensive, even though they are new and sell for several hundred dollars. Limited edition Waterford cake plates, like the 12 Days of Christmas version, sell for thousands of dollars when in great condition (with knife).
Old cake plates most often come without covers or domes, though the clear glass versions can be found with domes, and were designed to be used in bakeries. The prettiest plates don't have dome covers so that you have to transfer leftovers to a sealed container or eat all the cake at one serving, which isn't a bad idea. (Who's dieting if you're a cake plate collector anyhow?)
Our own Centre Market shops are a great place to look for vintage cake plates. And if you're more inclined to use a cake plate sans pedestal, these are easy to find, too. I have several Fiesta versions of this style that I use often.
I also checked online while writing this column and there are plenty of vintage cake plates listed on eBay right now. The one I'd like to get for my collection is a vintage revolving musical cake plate that actually plays the Happy Birthday song. EBay has one of these listed, too, made in Hong Kong, for only $18!
Many old versions of cake plates were originally designed with small serving plates and other accessories. If you find a version of these, with all accessories intact, it increases the value significantly.
Antique glass versions of cake plates often date to the Depression era and include many different colors by well-known names. Some feature a metal pedestal, others an apron edge that hangs down. Cake plates come in different shapes too, usually round or square, with round being most common.
Additional features might be a decorative base with a design like a pineapple or a ruffled edge that is very pretty. Our own Central Glass of Wheeling made many beautiful colored glass cake plates with pedestals in its most popular patterns like Pressed Diamonds and Buttons and Bows.
Cake plates are collected by enthusiastic fans of glass who appreciate the beauty of elegant tableware, and since Victorian glassware was so plentiful and featured a different dish for everything from celery to oysters, 19th-century glassware is a rewarding collectible to seek and display.
Pedestal cake plates make impressive wedding gifts, too, and always make a sweet statement on a summer table.
For comments or suggestions on local treasures to be featured in Antique of the Week, Maureen Zambito can be reached via e-mail at: zambitomaureen@hotmail.com or by writing in care of this newspaper.