COLLECTING COOKIE CUTTERS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT

Chances are you have at least one cookie cutter in your kitchen drawer already.  Perhaps it's a gingerbread man that you bring out every Christmas season.  Or maybe a treasured cutter that came from your mother or grandmother.

Collecting cookie cutters is a pleasurable hobby for many people.  Why not consider this for yourself or as a fun activity or hobby that can be shared with a young child.

Some of the benefits of choosing to collect cookie cutters:

• Only a modest budget is needed to get started
• Their small size doesn't require a lot of space for storage
• Cutters can be utilized in the kitchen in your baking
• A huge selection to choose from
• Old cutters are still easily found
• New cutters still being manufactured every day

GETTING STARTED

There are a wide variety of cookie cutters available and you might wish to narrow your focus by choosing one theme, motif, material or season.

TYPE OF MATERIAL

TIN COOKIE CUTTERS - These figural cookie cutters were made in the 19th and early 20th century and usually had flat backs with or without strap handles.  They were made by tinsmiths and come in a wide variety of shapes.  these cutters usually have a very primitive appearance.  They are usually 3/4-inch to 1-1/8-inch deep.  Air holes usually range in number from one to several, as shown below.  Sometimes the air holes are small punched holes arranged in a pattern, such as a star pattern below.

ALUMINUM COOKIE CUTTERS - Many of the cookies cutters made from the 1930s onward are produced from stamped aluminum.  The handles are in various forms: pinch-it strap handles, punched out slits, riveted-on strips and small wooden knobs.  These could be found individually in a variety of shapes and also in themed sets such as Christmas, Bridge or Numbers.  The details on these cutters are not very defined, they are usually shallow and they have dull edges.  The deeper cutters were used for cutting canapés.

PLASTIC - Plastic cookie cutters made from molds began to appear in the 1940s and this is the predominate method by which new cookie cutters are produced today.  The plastic cutters can be found in an assortment of colors that range from transparent to opaque, with the depths ranging from very shallow with details to approximately 1 inch thick with no details.

THEMES AND MOTIFS

There are many possibilities available should you decide to collect a particular theme or motif of cookie cutter.

Build a collection around a single theme:  Holidays, Animals, Nature, Seasonal, Circus, Biblical, Disney or other animated characters, Comic strip characters and Sports are just a few that you'll find.

Choose a certain shape and see how many different ones you can find:  Stars, Hearts, Hands, Cats, Santas, Leaves or Gingerbread Men.

You might choose to collect only animals or those with a circus theme if you frequently bake cookies for children--these are two topics that kids are always delighted with no matter what the form.  Numbers and alphabet sets are fun for kids too.

Cookie cutters based upon seasonal themes and holidays are abundant:  Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, Halloween, 4th of July and every other small holiday in between are represented by hundreds, if not thousands, of antique to modern cookie cutters.  There are snowflake cutters for winter, sunflower cutters for summer and pumpkin cutters for fall.  Check out the cookie cutters of other countries as their holidays are often different than those in the U.S.

COOKIE CUTTER SETS

Collecting cookie cutter sets in their original boxes is also fun because you get the additional benefit of the vintage graphics and illustrations.  The front of the box for the Easter set below suggests that the cutters could also be used for cutting cheese, cranberry jell, thin slices of bread or art clay.  They may also be referred to as cake or sandwich cutters.

Set of 6 Metal Cooky Cutters for Easter

WHERE TO FIND COLLECTIBLE COOKIE CUTTERS

You get your collection started by buying new cookie cutters or searching for old ones in thrift stores, garage sales, flea markets or antique stores.

The best source in the world for old cookie cutters is here.

SART YOUR COLLECTION NOW! -- HAVE FUN!