Where Have All the Servers Gone?

My mom always said “If you find something you like then better buy two because they won’t keep making them any more”. Have you found that too?

This is especially true when we look at vintage glass, all the different pieces that were common in the 1930s and we don’t see today.  One type is center handled servers, like this one from Cambridge Glass.

 

I’m not sure what we should call these. Center handled servers? Center handled trays? Sandwich trays?

Glass companies in the 1930s sold these as sandwich trays or for small cakes. Today we use them as serving plates.  They are so pretty with cookies or sandwiches or even veggies.  Plus they are practical.  That center handle means no one will touch the food by accident, and the slight slope helps keep things on the tray and not on the floor.

Cupped servers like this Art Deco decorated green depression glass one from Paden City are great for corn chips or fruit slices.

What do you think this yellow Cambridge Glass one was for?  Relishes?  Salad dressing?  Today we like to dip food – you could put the dip in one side and celery sticks in the other.

These pieces are some of my favorites in depression era glass. I love the styling, the colors, the way they are all so different. Glass companies used the same basic shapes over and over, but they added decorations or used different colored glass.

Today we use the handle shape plus other clues to identify the maker if we cannot tell by the decoration. The key hole shape in the two Cambridge servers is distinctive. Lots of companies made pretty handles but only Cambridge had quite this style. Likewise, the rounded top on the green Art Deco one points to Paden City.

We cannot identify every center handled server but by using the handles as clues we can often zero in on the likely maker.

Do you have any of these signature pieces from the depression era?