Look What Came in the Mail Today!!!

My first magazine from the Homer Laughlin China Collectors Association!

 These bright dishes just make my heart skip a beat, and then beat a little faster! Look at all of the colors the Harlequin ball pitcher comes in!!! I only have the yellow and orange. I'm gonna have to step up my searching to find the other colors!!!

Staying Home This Weekend…

Since I’ve been out and about for the past several weekends, I am staying in this weekend (except for volleyball Saturday night, and church Sunday morning). I had so much fun digging through my buffet cabinet the other day when we had a snow day, I decided to take a look around at what else I could find…

I headed downstairs to our family room, which has been taken over by teenage boys. I very rarely go down there any more, which is a shame, because it is a nice room that has a walk-out and a large window. You don’t really feel like you are in a basement when you are down there. I have a china cabinet, my Grandpa’s childhood school desk, Kevin’s grandparents old crank phone (that at some point they decided to turn it into a radio-I’m guessing in the 60’s or 70’s), and a curio cabinet that was a gift many years ago from my parents for Christmas. 

The best things down there (besides the boys & treasures), are the oak pub height game table with 8 Mission Style bar stools, the Mission style oak table, and the oak corner 3 piece desk that Kevin made (some of it from oak that was once trees on my grandparents property in Luzerne, that was milled into lumber).

 

This belonged to Kevin's grandparents. I'm sure the value has been reduced by the modifications they made to turn it into a radio several years ago.

This was my Grandpa's desk when he was a school boy. He will be 88 in May. 

This is one of many platters. When I ran a catering business, I was always on the look-out for clear glass platters and trays to use for serving. I don't even want to know how many I've accumulated over the years! The best part is that I got most of them at garage sales, for between a quarter and a few dollars!

This is a collection of Fostoria American or Cubist...I can never tell them apart! Just when I think I know the differences, I read something new and then I am more confused than before! Does anyone have a fool-proof way to tell the difference?

This isn't old, it looks to be 1970's. It was my first attempt at being crafty and re-purposing a piece of furniture. It used to be an end table with a second level that took up half of the length. I got it really cheap at an estate sale about 8 years ago. It didn't match anything in our house, and I tried to sell it in a garage sale-but no one wanted it. So, Kevin cut the top off for me (he is a very talented woodworker-some day I might show you all of the beautiful furniture he's made for our house), and I turned it into a stool.

This is the china cabinet that matches the buffet that I showed in an earlier post. It has been kind of neglected being in the basement and not being seen very often. Everything is just kind of tossed in-I'll have to fix that!

The bowl and pitcher on top are pretty old, we got them at a garage sale for $4. 

This is some more of my Fiesta collection. The white place settings I got on clearance for $8 and thought about reselling them, but my oldest son likes the white Fiesta, and wants them when he moves out. Isn't that pumpkin platter cute!?!?

The large stack of plates came in a box lot at an auction a few years ago. I got the whole box for $5 and there were lots of treasures in it!

A few platters...believe me, this doesn't even scratch the surface of the platters that I have.

This giant platter was only $4. I put a plastic pear in the middle so you could see how big it is! The Ironstone platter belonged to Kevin's grandma. She always had it up on her cabinets in her kitchen. She had the family convinced that it came over on the Mayflower! She called it her Mayflower platter. I think they all still think it is from the Mayflower.

Some pink! Most of this belonged to my Grandma on my Dad's side, with the exception of the middle bowl, which I think is Old Colony. That belonged to my Grandma on my Mom's side.

For a while, I really loved the blue Carnival glass. The oval dish came home with me from a Florida flea market-in my carry on bag on the plane! The candlesticks were my very first auction purchase-I got them for $10 for the pair.

I know it's kind of hard to see what the pattern is on these pieces.  They are Anchor Hocking Savannah. They aren't antiques, although the pattern has been discontinued for several years now. I love the whimsical little flowers in this pattern! I have punch bowls, large salad bowls, punch cups, cake pedestals, chip and dip sets, and serving platters (all from my catering days).

This cute little basket used to hold my business cards at the client's home when I was catering, in case any of their guests might want to have my number. There used to be two of them, but one broke right away. It is only about 4" tall and very thin glass.

Here is my curio cabinet. The top and bottom are cut off in this picture.

This is a soup tureen that belonged to my Great, Great Grandmother and was passed down to my Great Grandmother, then to my Grandmother, then to me. It isn't really  my taste, but with the family history-I really can't get rid of it!

The platter and cups and saucers are all garage sale finds. The bowl, plate and pitcher are handed down. My Grandpa on my mom's side says he got his cereal in the bowl with the plate and his milk was in the little pitcher every day when he was growing up.

Oh, gee...look! Another platter! The teacup set on the top right was a gift to Kevin (there are actually 2 of them). When he was in the Navy in California, we we at our apartment one evening when there was a lot of screaming and yelling and someone was banging frantically on our door. It turns out a little girl who had a really high fever was choking and convulsing. Kevin cleared her airway and saved her life! The teacup sets were a thank you gift from her parents.

There are actually 3 creamers in the lower left corner-all from my Grandma on my mom's side. The tea cup sets were one of (if not the first) things I collected. They were really cheap at garage sales, and I just loved them.

Nope! Not a platter! A relish tray!

It's fun to look at all of these things again!! I am reminded of some fun times with Kevin hitting the garage sales! He actually found the large pitcher and bowl set before I did, and came over to me quickly at that garage sale and said, "Come here! Come here! You are going to like this!" The same with a lot of the tea cup sets. It was neat to see how excited he got when he saw something I might like! He still does that when we are out garage sale shopping now. I'll have to take a trip out to the barn soon to take pictures of our inadvertent trunk collection from last summer. He was so cute when he found them! 

I wonder what other treasures I can find....

My Fiesta Story...Homer Laughlin's Fiesta Contest

Hey Fiesta lovers...GREAT NEWS!!! The Homer Laughlin China Company has announced a new contest! It's called "Tell Us Your Fiesta Story". They are asking for your story in 200 words or less, with photos (if possible), for a chance to win the newest (yet to be released) Fiesta color-before it is even in the stores!!

Follow this link to the contest entry page: http://www.fiestafactorydirect.com/t-fiestastory.aspx.

The deadline to register is March 20th. On March 30th, they will announce 25 winners of 2 place settings in the newest color!

I've already sent my entry-hurry and get yours in!! I'm going to have to rearrange some things if I win-LOL!

Digging Out and Around After a Big Snow...

We finally got some snow!

Here it is February, and we really haven't had much snow here in Michigan. We got about 8 or so inches yesterday and last night and had the first snow day of the year. Since I don't have four wheel drive and live on a dirt road with only one other home, and we are usually the last ones to get plowed - I decided to stay home and take the day off work.

I got caught up on, and inspired by all my favorite blogs, snooped around on Ebay for a while, did some laundry, and had a pretty lazy day.

As I was thinking of people digging out from all of the snow, I thought about digging around in my cabinets to take a look at some long stored away treasures.

This is what I found:

Here is my buffet cabinet that I inherited from my parents. They actually bought it along with a matching china cabinet and table from my Dad's cousins. They bought the table first. And once they stripped all of the antiquing and paint off and saw how beautiful it was, they went back and bought the buffet and china cabinet. When they retired about 8 years ago, the set wouldn't fit in their new home in the U.P, so we are the lucky owners now!

What could be behind the first door?

 WOW! I had no idea that it was so precariously stacked in there! I'm lucky nothing fell out when I opened the door and that everything was still intact. When I put it all back, I did a much better job.

 

When you see how much came out of this tiny little spot...

All of this was crammed into that tiny little cabinet in the buffet!

The sherbet cups in the back as well as the relish dish and the green plates, all belonged to my Dad's mom. When she passed away, I was in 11th grade. After the rest of the Aunts and Uncles went through her stuff, all that was left was her dishes. I remember sitting in her house all by myself, carefully wrapping boxes full of dishes and thinking, I don't know why I am doing this, I don't even like this stuff! Little did I know then, that my curiosity would get the better of me about 5 years later. I stored the boxes in my parents basement until one day, I took a better look and absolutely LOVED what I saw. That was the beginning of my love for glassware. Since then, I have collected many different things-old and not so old. The handled dish was a gift from my mom last year. I'm not sure if it is old or not.

 

All of the green dishes came from my Grandma, except the reamer. I bought that at a flea market, and experienced my first "as is" moment. It was one of the first pieces I bought, so I was pretty naive, and thought I had found a great treasure for $4. I didn't look it over very carefully and missed the huge chip on the rim. It wasn't until I got home and washed it that I noticed the words "as is" on the tag and the chip. I was disappointed, but I really like the piece.

Here are a couple pieces of my much loved plum Fiesta, and a bag with a broken dinner plate (I am hoping to someday make a cool mosaic with the broken pieces) in the same plum. It was my first ever broken item from Ebay. The pink pitcher and vase were from Grandma, the platter was a gift from my friend Cindy (it was her Grandmother's).  The creamers and sugars were from my early collecting days when I was drawn to them like a moth to a flame.

What could be behind door number 2?

WOW! Almost as much stuff as the first cabinet.

  

How did all of that fit in there?

The relish tray and the boopie glasses were from Grandma, the rest I've collected over the years or it was given to me. See, another creamer in the middle?

The green is Grandma's the tea cup and saucer a gift from Mom & Dad, the rest, I've found here and there.

The big basket is from my Mom. she bought it from an estate auction for her Aunt when I was pretty young. I know she paid $15 for it, and at the time, Dad wasn't very happy with her for spending so much. That was about the only thing she could afford as a keepsake though from her Aunt's estate. The smaller basket was given to me for selling some household items for a friend of my parents in a garage sale when his wife passed away. You can't really see the detail on the funky little retro cup and saucer-but it is pretty neat! It was a gift from my sister-in-law.

The amethyst creamer I bought while we were on the World's Longest Yard Sale. It looks really old, but so far, I haven't been able to find anything out about it. I don't think the reamer and measuring cup is very old. Then there is the amethyst Moroccan-LOVE it!!!

I couldn't resist a chance to show a picture of  my vintage Pyrex mixing bowl set! I have small pieces of the pink foam insulation in each bowl to lift them up (thanks Anne for the tip!) so I can see all of them at the same time. Underneath is a Pilgrim glass vase (from my friend Anne) that I got for a gift (a second one I found for a couple of dollars), and a Blenko crackle pitcher that was a gift when I left my position as the Special Events Coordinator in the Children's Ministry Department at my church. I don't really like this display, it doesn't flow together, but for a couple days...I'll leave it like this so I can enjoy my bowls!

I've looked over all of the upcoming Estate Sales in my area for this weekend, and none of them seem worth the drive, so I will probably stay home...who knows...maybe I'll dig through some more cupboards and show you some more of my collections!

Homer Laughlin China Company...oh, how I love your china!!

In 1871, brothers, Homer and Shakespear Laughlin, formed a partnership to sell pottery in East Liverpool, Ohio. The East Liverpool pottery industry, which had its beginnings in the 1840’s, was producing yellow ware from local clay rich in minerals. By 1870, the popularity of the yellow ware was starting to wane, as imports of a more sophisticated white ware was arriving from England.

The East Liverpool city council, realizing that change was needed, offered $5000 in start up money for someone who would build a pottery and produce white ware. The Laughlin brothers proposed to build a 2 kiln factory in 1873. They purchased their first piece of property on the Ohio River from Benjamin Harker (who’s own pottery was on the property next door) for only $300.

In just three years time, the Laughlin brothers had built a reputation for quality products and won an award for their white ware. In 1877, Shakespear Laughlin had had enough of the pottery business, so Homer took over the business and renamed it Homer Laughlin China Works.

In 1889, William Edwin Wells was hired to keep the books, but in a very short time, he was over-seeing the entire operation so that Homer was free to travel with his wife. On December 7, 1897, Homer retired and sold the business to William Wells and a financial partner, Louis Aaron.

By 1899 a second plant was built, and within 4 more years, a third plant was built. In 1903 a parcel of property on the opposite side of the Ohio River was purchased from the Newell family, in what would later be named Newell, West Virginia. The fourth plant was started between 1905 and 1906, and it was considered the largest pottery in the world. In 1907, they moved their headquarters to the new location.

In 1911, Louis Aaron was succeeded by his son, Marcus Aaron, and in 1914, the fifth plant was opened. In 1917, the average price for the pottery pieces was 72 cents per dozen-imagine how many pieces (16.7 million pieces) they had to sell that year as they surpassed the million dollar sales mark.

By the 1920’s continuous firing tunnels drastically changed the speed at which items were made. In 1923, they built their sixth plant, with tunnel kilns. The first line of pottery fired in the new tunnel kiln, processed in 1924. In 1927 the seventh plant, equal in size to the 6^th plant, was opened. In that same year, Frederick Hurten Rhead (who was the creator of the Fiesta pottery line) was hired as design director. This was a position he would hold for 15 years until his death in 1942. The Fiesta pottery line was marketed on the phrase, “The dinnerware that turns your table into a celebration.”

The original colors were; red (sometimes referred to as “radio-active” red, because it was made using uranium oxide), medium green, cobalt blue, yellow, and ivory. Turquoise joined the line up in 1938, followed by gray, light green, forest green, chartreuse and Rose.

In January 1930, W. E. Wells retired and was replaced by his eldest son, Joseph M. Wells, Sr. Marcus Aaron (president of the company) retired in 1940 and was replaced by his son Marcus Lester Aaron, who held that position for 48 years.

During World War II, the company’s focus shifted to manufacturing china for the armed forces. After the war, business as usual resumed, and in 1948, they were at the peak of production, producing over 10 million dozen pieces with over 3,000 employees.

During the 1950’s there was an influx of imported dinnerware, at such low prices, many potteries were forced to go out of business. The Homer Laughlin China Company changed their focus from consumer dinnerware to commercial restaurant ware. In 1959, J.M. Wells retired and the reigns of the company were passed to Joe Wells , Jr.

During the 1960’s and 70’s, HLC became a leading force in the food service china industry. The production of the Fiesta line, stopped in 1973.

In the 1980’s the company decided to switch production to vitrified china, using lead free glazes, and re-introduced the Fiesta line with new colors, using old and new molds and designs. In 1986, Joe Wells, retired and was replaced by his son Joe Wells III. By the end of 1988, then company president, M.L. Aaron retired and was succeeded by his son, Marcus (Pete) Aaron II. At this time, the company was being run by the 4^th generations of each family.It is still owned and operated by 4th and 5th generations of the families.

The Fiesta line was re-introduced in 1986, after HLC was contacted by Bloomingdales asking them to bring the vibrant dishes back. When Fiesta re-emerged, the first colors were; white, black, apricot, and cobalt blue, followed by rose, yellow, turquoise and periwinkle. As new colors arrived on the scene, some of the older colors were discontinued (creating a whole new niche for the pottery-the collectibles niche). More colors (seamist, lilac, persimmon, sapphire, chartreuse, pearl gray, juniper, cinnabar, sunflower, plum, shamrock, tangerine, scarlet, peacock, heather, evergreen, ivory, chocolate and lemongrass) were added and more were discontinued. Not only were new, lead free colors introduced, but the quality was dramatically improved as well. With the exception of heather, the last 12 colors are still in production today. When the new color comes out this spring, one color will be discontinued.

By 2000, the older, kilns in the last three plants were replaced with new, computerized, state of the art kilns. 10 years later, and the Fiesta line continues to flourish.

I recently saw on Facebook that the HLC Company is holding an essay contest! In 200 words or less, they are asking contestants to write about their experiences that brought you to your love of the pottery. I can’t believe how few words 200 words are!! The winners (25) will receive a five piece place setting of the new color, before it is even available for purchase. Hurry! The deadline to enter is March 20^th and the winners will be announced on March 30^th. I’m almost ready to submit my entry…I just need to add some photos of my collection to send along.

This is most of my collection, there are a few pieces not shown. How could you have a bad day when you open the cupboard and all of these cheery, bright dishes are there to greet you!?!