Collectors
The sheer beauty of the animals portrayed fuelled a growing interest in collector plates
In the 1970s and ’80s, collector plates were very popular. Almost every home you’d visit had some mounted either up on the walls or organized nicely on shelves for all to enjoy.
I grew up admiring the dierent collections of images that people would choose to display. Usually, each plate was also trimmed in 24-karat gold for an added special touch of beauty.
I always knew one day I’d have my own small collection. That opportunity came knocking in the early ’90s through the Franklin Mint company. My collection began with the acquisition of two collector plates bearing original works of art by Wayne Weberbauer. They were named “Afternoon Swim” and “Playing Cat and Mouse” and depicted a mother tiger and her cubs in water and snow.
I have always had a love for cats. As a child, it was house cats, but as I grew, so did my fascination for the larger felines of the animal kingdom. They have always amazed me, from the impressive size of their paws and their beautiful faces to their strength, speed and ferocity along with their grace and beauty. With such a range of colours—whites, tans, oranges and blacks—and dierent patterns of solid, striped and spotted fur, there are just so many variations, yet all beautiful in their own ways.
I was thoroughly impressed with my first couple of mother and cub plates. So much so that when I was sent a leaflet for the “White Tigers” collector plate, created by award-winning wildlife artist Michael Matherly, I accepted. Again, I was impressed with the beautiful paintings on the plates. I then was oered an additional five amazing works of art in the “Majestic Cats” plate collection by the same artist in a special
commission for the National Wildlife Federation. I found myself quickly accepting, as they were painted to complement the first plate.
The set featured mother tigers, lionesses, leopards, cheetahs and jaguars with their cubs. I couldn’t wait to receive them all! I loved how they depicted the mothers protecting and caring for their cubs. With this set, you could easily distinguish the dierent patterns of the majestic felines’ coats. The long black stripes of the tigers, which are also imprinted on their skin, mark each tiger uniquely with its own pattern, as fingerprints do for humans.
The slight dierences in the spots of the leopards, cheetahs and jaguars always intrigued me as well—the cheetah with its evenly distributed spots; the leopard with its flower-like patterns, called rosettes, in large numbers with a lighter shade of colour inside; and the jaguar’s larger rosette markings but in fewer quantity. Some of their spots also have dots inside and are outlined.
The third and final collector plate I purchased was “Tiger in Paradise.” It bears an original work of art by professional photographer Ron Kimball. I sadly decided this purchase would mark my limit on collector plates. I have a small living space and it has always been important to me that I am able to display my plates for people to see. Unfortunately, over the years, I’ve come to realize that I’m missing a plate of the beautiful male lion, with its gorgeous mane. He would be a beautiful addition. Maybe one more plate to make it a nice even ten?