Any Other Fiestaware junkies on here?

[jskeen]

I'm posting this in deference to my better half, just to see if there is anybody on here that happens to share the fiestaware bug. For those who don't know (and if you exit this thread quickly enough, you might avoid infection), Fiestaware is a line of vintage dishes and serverware made by the Homer Laughlin pottery company since 1936. It is known for it's bright solid color glazes and art deco inspired designs. It is collected, traded, obsessed over, and hoarded by more people than probably any other brand of kitchenware. My lovely wife has had me scouting for the stuff for years, and has an entire cabinet dedicated to displaying her vintage pieces (separated from the newer pieces we use all the time).

Anybody else out there that has "a fiestaware problem" or is currently in 12 step programs for fiesta recovery, go ahead and post up some pics of yours.

 

[tonyb]

I’ve become a fan in recent years, although I don’t own a single piece of genuine Homer Laughlin Fiesta.*

However, available at the Dollar General store is what I call Faux-esta. Similar style, similar bright colors, but only three of them. And I doubt they’re of similar quality. But they’re only a buck apiece.

Bauer Pottery has similar dishes as well. But they’re real spendy.

*I’ll take that back. I do indeed have a genuine Fiesta coffee mug, in a dark blue, with “Minnesota Public Radio” emblazoned across it. I must have found it at a thrift store some time back.

 

[Vera Godfrey]

I have newer Fiestaware, but I do love it. I only have a few pieces as my mother (who was going to buy me more) didn't like the colors I wanted. *sigh* My kids fight over who gets what plate. lol

 

[tonyb]

All I’ve seen at Dollar General are dinner plates, salad plates, and cereal bowls, and only in blue, green, and orange.

But again, they’re only a buck a throw.

 

[tonyb]

Racine’s, a mid-range restaurant here in Denver, uses Fiesta. I’m pretty confident it’s the same Fiesta available to the home consumer.

Sam’s No. 3, a three-restaurant chain here locally, uses dishes that look a lot like Fiesta, but it ain’t.

 

[3fingers]

My wife has quite a bit of her grandparents Fiestaware. We have also put together our everyday dishes from modern pieces bought on sale at different times. There's not a huge difference in the old and new (other than the radioactivity ) but I tend to prefer the original colors.

 

[Bamaboots]

Damn, way to bring my divorce back to the forefront folks! During my marriage the missus was an avid collector of the Laughlin stuff. Had cabinets full of it in various colors. I like it and it's serviceable, tough and has a diner sort of feel to it but it's dinnerware to me, right there a notch above paper plates, but that's just me. I left without any Homer Laughlin pieces or regrets about it.

 

[Desert dog]

Damn, way to bring my divorce back to the forefront folks! During my marriage the missus was an avid collector of the Laughlin stuff. Had cabinets full of it in various colors. I like it and it's serviceable, tough and has a diner sort of feel to it but it's dinnerware to me, right there a notch above paper plates, but that's just me. I left without any Homer Laughlin pieces or regrets about it.

I eat off fiesta ware almost every night. She has new and vintage. My wife loves vintage kitchen ware. Fortunately she's into vintge silverware now, it takes up less room. I'm with you Greg, it's just something to eat off of. I like seeing her enjoy it though.

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[Farace]

My wife has quite a bit of her grandparents Fiestaware. We have also put together our everyday dishes from modern pieces bought on sale at different times. There's not a huge difference in the old and new (other than the radioactivity ) but I tend to prefer the original colors.

My partner, before I met her, had some of the original Fiestaware, and one day she set a pitcher and a salt and pepper set on a sheet of photographic paper in her darkroom and left it overnight. Next day she developed it. Where the pitcher had been sitting there was a faint ring. But where the salt and pepper shakers had been sitting had a huge aura radiating out from them, with sharp rays. She sold the shakers the same day.

 

[tonyb]

This thread popped up when I visited here this morning. (I don’t know how or why that happens, but my life is none the poorer for that lack of knowledge.)

I’ve acquired a bit of Fiesta since 2019, when this thread took a nap. I’ve found most of it on Facebook Marketplace, for an average of maybe a couple bucks apiece. There’s more in the dishwasher; a couple of platters are atop a cabinet (where they mostly collect airborne cooking residue); and I’ve given some to a friend, a lovely old gal (“old gal”?; hell, she’s my age) who regularly feeds more people than I do. Like me, she’s not a “collector” per se, but, like me, she needs dishes and Fiesta is indeed good stuff. It’s quite durable. I’ve yet to see a chip in any of it.

All of my stuff is post-1986 (Fiesta originated in 1936, was retired in 1973, and resurrected in ’86), so it’s not particularly desirable among the collectors.

I’ve read that Homer Laughlin sold Fiesta to a British outfit in 2020, but the Fiesta tableware line is still made in Newell, West Virginia.

 

[tonyb]

A couple days ago I picked up 20-some pre-1973 pieces for 25 bucks. The gal selling ‘em knew what she had but let ‘em go at that price anyway. She’s a collector, with more than 300 individual pieces, all of them more desirable among the collectors than the stuff she let go.

 

[Bugguy]

My wife is the practical collector in the family. While I collect items that have no particular purpose or improve our life, my wife only searches for what she feels we can use today, Homer Laughlin fiestaware passes her screen and is fully rationalized as something(s) we need to own. Several weeks ago we had business in a South Carolina town I'd never heard of. Walking through some antique stores, she found several booths with fiestaware coffee mugs. As opposed to the monster mugs I gravitate to, she thought the size was perfect. We now own a set - only 6 because its only the two of us, our kids and maybe another couple. (You wouldn't want to own too many.) I need to admit, I like them. But, I've been admonished not to buy any more - to fill out a collection. So.... here they are:

 

[tonyb]

^^^^^^^

Coffee cups (not mugs) I offered to the friend I alluded to a few posts up this thread, who, like me, is something of a Fiesta fan but not really much of a collector. She declined the offer; she already has more than enough cups.