Saturday, August 29, 2009

What's a Sherbet Plate? Depression Elegant Glass Plates

As food options and lifestyles changed, the plates that people used changed too. We'll explain plates used in glass patterns from the 1920s through 1970s.
Elegant glass companies in the 1920s and 30s had to overcome consumer resistance to the notion of eating off glass plates. Most people who could afford glass from hand houses such as Fostoria or Cambridge used china dinnerware. Yet the same consumer would happily buy glass stemware. One method glass firms used to gain acceptance was to market plates as liners under a stem. Thus the sherbet plate was born!
Sherbet or ice cream was a treat, often home made, that was served in special dishes. These look like little bowls on a stem, or like a short, wide goblet. These sherbets are not very stable if someone rested their spoon in them, so adding a plate underneath was a practical solution. Once finished eating, one could put the spoon on the plate and avoid spotting the tablecloth. Sherbet plates are about 6 inches in diameter in most patterns. They are about the same size as a saucer but don't have the inset to hold a cup.
The plates shown below on left and in center are Cameo yellow depression glass and Moonstone (opalescent hobnail) glass from the 1940s.

Orignal From: What's a Sherbet Plate? Depression Elegant Glass Plates

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