FIESTA WARE COLORED MY WORLD

Picture from zetsydishes.com

A friend and I were talking about how much we love Fiesta Ware and how much the both of us have. Not much here on my part but enough to make me have happy memories of my parents having the whole set of it when I was six. My mom’s male cousin had given us the set and to me, it was like looking a huge box of crayons only they were dishes. My eyes were full of wonderment and awe. Seemed to me that every color in the rainbow and then some were in those dishes, pitchers, cups, saucers and in the salt and pepper shakers. It was love at first sight on my part.

As a child I loved drinking milk from a purple cup one day and then an orange one the next day. That was and is the beauty of Fiesta Ware: You never get tired of it because there are so many colors. I can still see our kitchen table set ablaze with those dishes—it was breathtaking.

My parents had that set forever and then for no reason at all, my mom decided to give them back to her cousin. I was heartbroken. Why didn’t she ask me is a question I will always have for there is no one to answer that now. So long ago.  Her cousin moved to Florida and took the Fiesta Ware set with him and heaven only knows what he did with it. Probably sold it.

I did learn that Fiesta Ware was made in West Virginia where I have always lived and it is still in production through the Homer Laughlin Company. But the really old pieces such as we had are either retired or highly sought after by collectors. Google it and see what old Fiesta Ware is worth: You might just be surprised or perhaps you already know the answer.

There is no use in crying over spilled milk as the saying goes but I will say that I owe my love of color to those Fiesta Ware dishes: They sung to me and released creativity in me like nothing else. Since then color has been a high point in my life in decorating and in my paintings. Funny how inanimate objects can produce such an effect on a child and now an adult but they did. And so I owe a huge thank you to the Homer Laughlin Company for producing them in the first place and to my mom’s cousin for giving us that rainbow set. I am forever grateful for who likes dull? Count me out on that.

Sherry Hill