Cake Pan Collectors???
Decorating By chrissysconfections Updated 2 Jul 2007 , 1:50pm by chrissysconfections

First off I'm not sure I'm posting this in the right place but hopefully the moderator's won't shoot me
I hit the mother load last night at a garage sale that was just setting up. I had read in the paper that they were selling "cake decorating" items and my DH and I thought since we'd be busy this weekend and in that area last night we'd see what we'd find. We certainly got more then we bargined for!! The woman was a heavy decorator in the 70's to early 80's before she gave it all up but she kept everything for her eventual grandchildren. They have just built a new house so they were selling everything to downsize. She sold us 5 HUGE garbage bags FULL of character pans and regular pans, a huge box of wilton books, AND a huge box of cake toppers and accessories all for $100!! Most of the character pans, if not all are retired and unused!! she stored everything in totes in her garage so other then some dust they seem to be in good condition. I haven't gone through them all yet but I know some are things I've never heard of before. One set still unused and in the orginal box appears to be a round mini tier set in sizes 8"x1"-cup cake size.
My question is this....is there anyway to find out what these things are worth?? My DH and I planned on looking through them and keeping the ones we want and perhaps selling the rest...especially any duplicates we don't need. I know someone had mentioned on here before being a pan collector and I was just wondering how we could find out what a good price to sell them at would be or IF we should even sell them.
Thanks for any input!
p.s Does anyone know if there is a way to clean the yellowish-brown off pillars and plates? There was a couple sets with swans and cherubs in there too but they weren't all kept covered so they turned. I was hoping to salvage them though!


Ebay is your best bet as far as checking prices and selling, the chance that someone will be willing to pay what some might be worth locally isn't very good.
Some pans aren't worth much at all because they made so many.
Some pans from that era that are worth a little (or lot) more: the frog, dragon, wizard, any star wars, mini tiers, precious pony. There are several more but these are some I've noticed.

I agree, you can find almost anything on e-bay. As far as the yellow-turned items. Soak them in Oxy clean. On my 25th anniversary I wanted to use my original cake topper on my 25th anniversary cake. I soaked it in oxy clean. It didn't come out white, so I didn't use it. I have heard that it works on some.
By the way, you got a GREAT deal!

I recently cleaned some of my older pillars and plates by soaking them overnight in my kitchen sink with bleach. Most everything came out white with a little additional cleaning and a toothbrush. Those that didn't, I just through away. Great find though and good luck. I understand the original Mickey Mouse pan, the one with just his face and a band hat, is collectible but not sure of its worth.

Congrats on your great find !!
I just "inherited" allot from my MIL who is the one who introduced me to cake decorating when we got married 26 years ago. Last week she gave me her hexagon and round pan sets and is looking for her heart pans. Also, her old Wilton "briefcase" style caddy full of tips! She also gave me a Bugs Bunny pan she used for my oldest son's first birthday--25 years ago!
Sounds like you realy hit the jackpot!
OH, the mini tier cake set--I have one that my Mother gave me--it was given to her when she was little--probably elemetary school & she's 75 now. It is a 4 pan set from 8" to the tiniest at the cupcake size. The box says " Maid of Honor" as maybe the brand but there is nothing on the pans. There are cake and icing recipes on the back of the box. It's the pans I used for the whimsical cake I use as my avatar--didn't want to waste alot of cake just practicing-LOL! So, my pan set is at least 65 years old!
Good luck on your search for the value of the old ones you have.

Thank you all very much! We've had a chance to go through them and were rather surprised at what we found. I had a total of 4 mini tier sets...2 the heart and round, complete with plates and pillars from Wilton, the other 2 are 4 piece rounds but I'm not sure who made them, they were both in their orginal boxes but there was no info on them, just mailing addresses no company names.
I did have a Mickey Mouse pan but it's his full body. I believe it was from the 70's but I'd have to look at it again to be sure.
Thanks again!!

there is a lady on the wilton site that has made a book on all the old pans I can't recall her name but maybe you can do a sherch on there forum for her




there is a lady on the wilton site that has made a book on all the old pans I can't recall her name but maybe you can do a sherch on there forum for her
Jeanne Gibb's did that book. It's a great book, has hundreds of pans in it and the appox. vaule they are worth.
You can find it here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/0764318578/?tag=cakecentral-20


Thanks, Texas Sugar I drew a blank on her name

Wow, what a great find. Isn't it exciting to buy/get surprize packages? Going through the bags is like opening Christmas presents-only better. I recently recieved a few bags from a friend-her grandma passed away & she brought all "grannies baking stuff"...it was such a nice thought & I had a blast.
One tip on checking Ebay-(and you all probably know this) is to check the completed autions to see what items actually sold for versus list price. Sometimes that's quite surprizing. Have fun, Gail

Gail~ I didn't know that, how do you access that?
I always look to see if there are any posted and what the bidding is like...if ppl are even bidding and so on. I never knew you could check completed ones.
Thanks!

Ebay DEFINITELY. I paid $100 for a pan once and it was well worth it too! It paid for itself the 1st week. I've also ended up with a bunch of pans from bids that have sold in large quantities. I have a Playboy pan that I have never used, Minnie Mouse, old Barbie etc. I have duplicates as well. I haven't been on there in awhile but you wouldn't believe how much a pan could go for. Look at me, I paid $100 and barely got it. LOL. If you sell some, let me know, I'm sure I can find something I'd love to buy. (can you tell I might be a pan addict
)

http://www.cakepans4less.com/ This site has several character pans for sale. I think they are overpriced but you could get an idea of the worth of some of them. I have the Collector Book by Jeanne Gibbs and the Mickey Mouse one with the band hat is only listed as being worth $7.95. If you would like me to look up some of the pans for you just email me.
lionladydi@centurytel.net
Diane

Gail~ I didn't know that, how do you access that?
I always look to see if there are any posted and what the bidding is like...if ppl are even bidding and so on. I never knew you could check completed ones.
Thanks!
Go to the following link:
http://search.ebay.com/search/search.dll?satitle=wilton+cake+pans&catref=C3&from=R2
On the left hand side in a vertical column they have listed:
Matching Catagories
Related Guides
Search Options
Under the Search Options is where you can do a pretty detailed search-check what you want to see and search. There is a liitle box for "Completed Listings" which will tell you what sold and the price it sold for. I think it even shows items that were listed but didn't sell.
When I buy from Ebay, I usually want something now-I don't like waiting, so there are search options for items ending soonest, get it fast items, buy it now, free shipping. Even if you want something quite heavy that can't be shipped, there is a box to check to show items in your area only-within a certain mile range. Play around with all those, its kind of interesting.
Good Luck,
Gail

Thank You All!!
I am going to be selling some of these I think. Right now I know I'm gonna sell 2 of the complete wilton mini tier sets (heart & round)...plates and pillars too. Also the one mini teir set that isn't wilton.The character pans I'm gonna have to look into though.
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