Nostalgic Figurines

Vintage cake toppers are back in vogue

It’s wedding season! Perfect timing to discuss your vintage cake topper. The history of wedding cakes dates back to the Roman Empire, but cake topper decorations appear to go back only to the 19th century.

As wedding cakes became fancier in design, families of the betrothed couple would often incorporate both symbolic and actual objects pertaining to the marriage into the decoration of the cake. Flowers, bells, rings and, eventually, a likeness of the bride and groom might adorn a cake. This trend became increasingly popular. In the 1920s, author and etiquette expert Emily Post declared the tiered wedding cake a must-have tradition, complete with a figure of the bride and groom perched on top.

As demand for these matrimonial figurines grew in the 1920s, Sears, Roebuck and Co. included a page in their catalogue for wedding cake toppers in a variety of styles. After World War I, these figurines could also be purchased with a groom in uniform. As time went on, a wide variety of customized options were offered as the cake topper designs became more elaborate and even humorous.

Bride and groom toppers were manufactured from wax, celluloid, plaster, porcelain, paper and more. Although cake toppers are still being manufactured today, the vintage and antique examples are back in vogue as they bring a bit of nostalgia to anyone’s wedding reception (“Something old, something new…”). At our shop we recently sold an antique cake topper in its original box to a customer who was buying it as a gift for an engaged couple. This wedding season look to incorporate something vintage or antique into your reception or try a gift registry at an antique shop!

Your wedding cake topper is from the 1950s and appears to be made of painted plastic and fabric. I would value it at $15.