HLC FIESTA KITCHEN KRAFT COVERED CASSEROLE

“The line name and design is still owned by the original company that produced and marketed it: the Homer Laughlin China Company of Newell, West Virginia. Except for minor adjustments due to manufacturing requirements, the design of the original shapes remained virtually unchanged throughout its original production lifespan from 1936 to 1969, although as home decorating color styles changed, the solid color glazes used on Fiesta changed too. The texture of the original glazes, and throughout the life of vintage Fiesta was semi-opaque. Smooth and glossy, but without any shining glare, more eggshell-like, and the ware does sometimes show "glaze curtains", areas of uneven glazing where a heavy application meets a lighter one.

At its initial introduction in 1936 Fiesta was produced in five colors: Red (orange red), Blue (cobalt), Green (light green), Yellow (deep golden), and Old Ivory (yellowish cream). By 1938, two years into production, a sixth color was added: Turquoise (robin's egg blue). With the exception of the Red, this color assortment remained in production until approximately 1950.

By 1950, home decorating styles and colors had changed also, and so the Homer Laughlin Company in an attempt to reinvigorate sagging sales, discontinued some original glaze colors and replaced those with four new trendy colors. The original Blue (cobalt), the original Green (light green), and the original Old Ivory (yellowish cream) were discontinued and were replaced by Rose (dusty brownish), Gray (medium), Forest (dark green), and Chartreuse (bright yellowish green). In addition to these four new glaze colors, two existing glaze colors, Yellow and Turquoise, continued in production keeping the color assortment in production and available during the 1950s to six different glazes”.

Fiesta pieces were glazed on the underside, so before being fired, each piece was placed on a stilt to keep it off the floor of the kiln. The stilt was made up of three sager pins positioned an equal distance from each other to form three points of a triangle. If you inspect any piece of fiesta, which has a completely glazed bottom, you will notice three small blemishes in a triangular pattern.