Fiestaware

I love dishes! I really don’t need any more.

 I already own a set of Homer Laughlin dishes in an off white color, the pattern is called Colonial. I was researching the dishes online and found out the factory wasn’t too far from where Harvey is working in Pennsylvania, and that they were the maker of Fiesta Ware. So I decided we needed to make a trip. Last weekend we went to Newell, West Virginia to the Homer Laughlin Factory and store to pick out new Fiesta ware dishes.

Do you remember Fiesta Ware? We had a set of Antique Gold dishes and I recall the pitcher and its unique shape. If I remember correctly, we bought them at the grocery store (Mayfair Market), where you would get the accessories at a special price like .79 cents and once you got hooked buying the accessories you would end up buying the whole set of dishes. A little research shows that they were made in that color from 1969-1972.

The product was discontinued in 1973 and reissued in 1986 with new contemporary colors to mark its 50th anniversary. This year they are celebrating their 75^th year of Fiesta Ware.

We programmed Homer Laughlin in the GPS and started out for a beautiful drive, about sixty miles from New Stanton, PA.

Many long brick buildings which have been there for many years.

This is the parking lot, which borders on the Ohio River, there were many buildings side by side that were identical.

The Broken Ware Garden was on both side of the entry.

As we walked in the door we entered the retail part of the store, where everything is new. We looked around and saw all the new colors.

Not sure what this color is but isn’t it gorgeous?

Now into the seconds room.

Wow! This was an experience! Since it was our first time there we had no idea what to do. But around us were people who you could tell were experts at the seconds. They had cloths and were sifting thru dishes polishing and looking for flaws. I pick up a few dishes and the only thing I can think of to get the dust off the dishes with was my sweatshirt, real professional looking Margaret! The other problem is the stacks of dishes, as you sort through them looking for the color you want you have to pile them in another pile and I was worrying about the pile getting to high and all the dishes tumbling into the floor.

I had an idea the color I was wanting before we arrived, so after sorting through dishes for half an hour we decided that this could be an all day process, so we made the decision to buy the 4 place settings new and buy the accompanying side dishes and platters in the seconds room.

The platter and the canister in the back is a Red color called Scarlet, although in this picture it is showing a pink color. The blue dishes are a color called Peacock. I love the idea of mixing the colors.

This picture is the four place setting, I had to take them out of the box and play when I got back to the room.

We are here in New Stanton for another week, then we are moving close to Beaver Valley while Harvey works at the Beaver Valley Nuclear Plant for two weeks. That is a lot closer to the factory, so I plan on making another trip, and loading up on more of the seconds. I will probably have to ship them home because our car is already loaded with dishes and a big composter in a box that we bought at Costco, so I don’t think I can stuff much more in there.

Hugs,

Margaret

Advertisement