Duncan & Miller Canterbury Ruby Handled Cake Plate
Fortunately still possessing its sticker, the maker of this handled cake plate can be identified as Duncan & Miller, notable maker of elegant glass during the Depression era.
Dimensions: 13-1/2" X 10"
Condition: Excellent vintage used shape (sticker intact)
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The Duncan & Miller Glass Company was once known for its superb glassmaking artistry and design. They accomplished this not through specialized glass-making techniques or equipment but by employing only highly skilled labor. The typical Duncan piece took nearly a dozen different skilled workers to produce, a very labor-intensive and expensive way to make glass at a time when the industrial revolution had brought cheaper and more efficient ways to produce goods, and competition from Asia was threatening most of the industry.
Despite being made during the Depression era, this is not Depression glass. This was higher end glass, glass that was not given away for grocery store coupons or at gas stations. This is Elegant Glass, glass made by hand and crafted by skilled artisans. This was glass meant for those with means and not every day use.
The vast majority of Canterbury was made in Crystal. Other colors produced were Sapphire blue, Cape Code blue, Chartreuse yellow, Cranberry pink, Jasmine yellow, and, of course, Ruby red. All pieces can be found in Crystal, and I suspect the can't be said for colored pieces. It seems most of the colored pieces were made in later years once ownership of Duncan & Miller assts passed to US Glass in 1955. Today there seems to be very little demand for clear glass, making demand for colored pieces costlier to supply. The red is a deep ruby red, characteristic of ruby red glass of the time and not the flashed ruby or lighter cranberry that is seen in glass of the late 20th century.
This Duncan & Miller Canterbury Ruby Handled Cake Plate measures 13-1/2" X 10". It is in excellent vintage used shape with no chips or cracks to note.