Here’s a classic piece of crystal depression glass, a center handled sandwich server tray decorated with cut flowers and bands. The flowers and leaf sprays are cut – if you look closely they appear scooped out of the glass – not etched with acid. The bands are made from individual narrow straight line cuts that are either close together or slightly separated. It’s an effective and pretty design.
Floral and Band Cut Crystal Center Handled Server
Back in the day everyone had pieces like this. The center handle makes trays like this easy to pass and to hold without having to grip by the food – it’s sanitary – plus the center handle gives it a classy air. The glass companies made center handled servers with all sorts of decorations, from simple, classic designs like this to ornate etched patterns to gold trims or painted flowers.
Today you might find plates drilled to fit metal handles but one-piece, all-glass servers like this one are not part of most dinnerware or glassware patterns today. It’s a shame since they are fun, amazingly useful, decorative and have a lovely, classical vintage look.
I figured our server is from Westmoreland based on the handle shape, but am not sure who did the cut decoration. The server is listed on eBay here.