A seller on eBay is claiming that Frankoma is
discontinuing Desert Gold and Prairie Green glazes! Is
this true?
Here it is straight from the horses
mouth . . .
Subj:
Frankoma Glazes
Date: 08/23/2000 8:36:23 AM Central Daylight Time
From: ksteeples@frankoma.com (Kandy Steeples)
To: ffca4nancy@aol.com
Dear Valued Customers and Friends,
We regret to inform you that Frankoma will no longer be producing
Prairie Green/Desert Gold glazes.
We are unable to obtain the raw materials necessary to produce the
quality product you have come to know as being synonymous with
Frankoma Pottery. Therefore, we have elected to discontinue these
glazes at this time.
We apologize for any inconvenience this might cause you and appreciate
your understanding.
Thank You,
Kandy Steeples
Retail Operations Manager
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I frequently get e-mails and letters from people asking if Frankoma Pottery dishes are "safe to eat off of." I guess I've answered at least a hundred of them!
The latest was from a woman who was delighted to receive from a neighbor a huge set of Frankoma dinnerware. The reason the man dumped them is-he went down to WalMart and bought a metal tester and was alarmed that his cheap little testing device told him that his Frankoma was 600% over the required limit for titanium. Well! This lady loved her dishes, but naturally she wrote to us to get the story from the horse's mouth.
Folks, Frankoma Pottery dinnerware and artware are entirely safe from any kind of metal poisoning! Never in the history of Frankoma, from 1933-1991, has there ever been a proven claim concerning the safety of its products.
In fact, John Frank was a leader in the voluntary testing of glazed American-made dinnerware by established, authoritative testing laboratories. He was one of the founders of the U.S. Potters Association, which was a voluntary membership group that was formed with the blessing of the prestigious American Ceramic Society in testing their individual products.
As far back as the late 1940's and early 1950's, many imports-especially from the South American countries-were being brought into the American market and were not food safe. They usually consisted of a very high talc clay body, with very low-fired, brilliantly-colored glazes. For instance, a plate would have bright yellow flowers with green leaves, and possibly some bright red colors in the pattern on the face of the plate. I'm sure you've all seen pieces like this. These were the kinds of items that could possibly create a lead poison situation for the consumer.
The U.S. Potters Association was independently formed in order to have their wares tested-effectively and efficiently-to assure the consumer that those companies' products were safe to use in the home. This all took place long before there were any government standards, back in those "asbestos-and-lead-based-paint" scare days.
The government slowly became involved, and they moved to set standards. And with time, those standards have continued to become more and more rigid, and stricter and stricter. Even before those government standards were set, Frankoma Pottery was far below the levels the government required.
There has been so much hype about the dangers of pottery glazes, that the consumer has naturally become paranoid. All kinds of little test kits can now be purchased to test your dinnerware. But let me assure you that they're not worth your effort to carry them home! This is a long and complicated testing procedure that must be done, under controlled conditions, by a professional testing laboratory, such as U.S. Testing Labs.
Actually, you can feel pretty safe with any American-made product in this respect. Please remember that it's the low-fired, bright-colored glazes that can create this kind of problem. Before glaze is fired to a temperature of around 2,000 degrees F., the materials in glaze are not safe. But, like some uncooked meats, once you cook it, there's a chemical change in the analysis. After glaze is fired to maturity and is bonded to the clay, rest assured there is no longer any lead release-or any other metal-that could be dangerous to humans or animals.
Do I hear the dinner bell? Then let's all sit down and eat!
The color is called
Prairie Green,
and color is not a
pattern.
All five patterns of dinnerware were made in Prairie Green,
along with many other colors as well. In order to identify your dinnerware, first look at the bottoms
and determine the color of the UNglazed clay—light tan
(Ada clay, pre-1955) or brick red or reddish (Sapulpa clay,
post-1955). The value
differences vary somewhat, and both are listed on the values page.
Next,
If you have a pre-1955 Ada clay set, the plates may not have
stock numbers on the bottoms, only a very small incised
metal-stamped “Frankoma.” Those were made before the hydraulic presses came into being,
and it was not possible to put stock numbers in the molds. However,
all other items in your set should have stock numbers on the bottoms.
Dinnerware
stock numbers begin with a number, followed by one or two letters.
If it begins with a “94,” your set is the Wagon
Wheel pattern; if it begins with a “4,” your set is Lazybones
pattern; if it begins with “5,” it is Plainsman;
“6,” is Westwind; and “7”
is Mayan-Aztec. Color of glaze may or may not be significant in determining
values.
Members of FFCA, may
place a FREE ad in the Prairie
Green Sheet in the “Wanted” section. This buy/sell/trade publication is read avidly by FFCA members
in over 40 states. Many
of our members are also dealers. Chances are you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for.
You can also begin haunting yard sales, flea markets, antique
malls and estate sales in your area. Frankoma shows up frequently in these places, and quite often
you’ll find complete sets of dinnerware.
Another
way is to click on FFCA HOME at top of this page. Scroll down
and find PGS FLEA MARKET and click on those words. Search
through the “For Sale” ads and see what sellers are offering.
There’s almost always Frankoma dinnerware listed for sale. If
you don’t find what you’re looking for, you may place a free
“Wanted” ad. Include your name, phone and/or e-mail address
(some people actually forget to!). This is a service FFCA
provides for members and non-members alike. This is a very
popular way to buy and sell, visited by collectors all over the U.S.
Good luck!
Frankoma
Pottery (post-1991) is once again producing several of the old
Frankoma pieces. They have recently brought back some of the early
sculptures of Joe Taylor, along with the Plainsman and Mayan-Aztec
patterns of dinnerware. However,
it may be difficult to match your older tableware from what is
produced today, due to differences in manufacturing processes.
Prairie Green and Desert Gold have been discontinued.
We would refer you to the many
excellent Frankoma references currently
available. An excellent example is Gary Schaum’s book in which
everything is listed by stock numbers with values. If you’re not interested in becoming a Frankoma collector,
but would like to know the values of those pieces not listed, ASK
DONNA!
Pre-1955 Frankoma
items are slightly higher in value than post-1955 Sapulpa clay
items—in most cases. To determine which clay your piece is made of, mere look on the
bottom at the Unglazed clay. If it is light tan, it is Ada clay; if it is brick
red, Sapulpa clay; if it is merely reddish, it could be 1970 or older,
as the Sapulpa clay had begun by then to fade in color. Items with light red clay are often mistaken for Ada clay.
However, there is a simple way to tell, which is about 98%
accurate. Wet your
finger and touch it to the unglazed clay. If it does not change color, chances are it’s Ada clay.
If it turns darker, it is probably the later Sapulpa clay.
Gary
Schaum’s 1997 book, Frankoma
Pottery – 1933 through 1990 – Identifying Your Collection,
Including Gracetone, is a book we recommend for both
beginning and experienced collectors. Schaum has endeavored to show photos of every piece produced by
Frankoma from its beginning, and he almost accomplished that, with few
exceptions. He has also
listed for you all glazes used by Frankoma, with dates of production.
The indexes at back of book are by category (bookends, salt and
peppers, art ware, sculpture, etc.) and also by stock numbers in
numerical order—with values. This
book, plus the new Gibb Green/Steve Littrell The
Frankoma Video---Glazes - Colors - Marks
and you’ll have a first class Frankoma education and will be able to
speak Frankoma with the old-timers!
Phyllis and Tom
Bess’s books, Frankoma Treasures
(with regular updated price guides) and Frankoma
and Other Oklahoma Potteries, are excellent Frankoma
references with pictorials that are beautiful and helpful additions to
any Frankoma collector’s reference library. If you’re on a budget, you’ll want to order these next.
If
you have still have problems identifying your Frankoma, ASK
DONNA!
That’s the
stock
number, or sometimes referred to as the mold number. If you’re going to collect Frankoma, that’s the language
you’re urged to learn to speak! It’s easy once you get the hang of it.
Telling us you have a “kind of round-ish vase that
hangs on the wall with bumps on both sides at the top, and it’s kind
of bright off-blue,” doesn’t tell us much. When you speak Frankoma, you’ll say,
“I have a #193
Ram’s Head Wall Vase in Turquoise.” If you had looked closely at those
“bumps,” you
would have recognized them as ram’s heads, and you could have looked
under “R” in Schaum’s book and found the photo on Page
83. Knowing how to “speak
Frankoma” will enable you to communicate in a common
language with collectors worldwide, and we’ll all know exactly what
you have.
Some
of the earlier Frankoma pieces, for one reason or another, may not
have stock numbers on the back or bottom. But they were all assigned stock numbers and can be found in
the catalogs, which few people have. That’s why we have reference books
for you.
We have provided value guides for Christmas
Plates, Political Mugs, Collector
V-Vases, which we’ll keep updated for you. We hope to add
new value guides in the near future.
Please
note--Please take into consideration that the values of collectibles are
always volatile and could, and usually will, vary with time according to
availability and demand.
Mr. Frank found a
great deposit of clay near Ada, Oklahoma, soon after he began teaching
at the University of Oklahoma (1927). He used it for his classes there, and he used it when he began
Frank Potteries in Norman, Oklahoma, in 1933. In fact, clay from the same deposit was used exclusively in the
production of Frankoma Pottery until 1955. This clay had to be dug out of the ground like digging
trenches. After many long
years, the quality of the clay had begun to decline, and more and more
tree branches and trash had accumulated, which had to be cleared away
to find the clay—and Ada clay had to be trucked 150 miles to
Sapulpa. So in 1955, Mr.
Frank began searching for another source of clay that was compatible
with his methods of pottery manufacturing.
And lo and
behold, the perfect clay was found right in the middle of
Sapulpa, only three miles from the Frankoma plant. This clay was dark, mineral-rich, brick red clay, from the same
source used by the local brick company to make bricks. For the purpose of pottery making, of course, the clay had to
be much more refined, but that was not difficult to do. And so late in 1954 (most historians round it off to 1955),
Frankoma converted to using red Sapulpa clay from Sugarloaf Hill.
Instead of having to dig it out of the ground, it was “sliced”
from the side of the hill. This wonderful clay was so mineral rich, it greatly enhanced
the richness of all the glazes—but especially the rutile (roo-teel)
glazes that Frankoma had become known for (Prairie Green, Desert Gold,
Woodland Moss, Peach Glow, Brown Satin).
How can you
tell the difference? Look
at the bottom of an Ada clay piece at the UNglazed clay.
It will be a light tan, or sometimes called a “honey”
color. Sapulpa clay
will be brick red in color, and the closer to 1955 that it was made,
the darker it will be. For
about 10-12 years, it remained dark. As the years went on, it soon began to fade in color as the
hill was slowly being used up. There
were (and are) still veins of it in the ground leading away from the
hill, but the rich redness became a lighter red, and some fired even
pinkish by the early 1970’s and on into the 1980’s.
Once
in a while, the later Sapulpa clay fired light enough that it is
mistaken for Ada clay, and someone will jump for joy at having found
what they believe to be an older piece. But there’s a test you can give it, which is about 98% fool
proof, and you need no special tools or chemicals. Just wet the end of your finger and touch it to the unglazed
clay. If it’s Ada
clay, it will not turn color. If
it’s Sapulpa clay, it will turn darker.
August 04, 2001
