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Vintage Fiesta® Demitasse and Regular Coffee Pots
There were two coffee pots in the original 1936 Fiesta® assortment: the regular coffee pot and the demitasse coffee pot. At the time, coffee pots weren't a standard item in dinnerware lines. Fiesta® was the first Homer Laughlin shape to have a coffee pot and second to have a demitasse pot (the first being the Wells shape).
The demitasse coffee pot was discontinued in 1942, but the regular version was made until the late 1950s.
Demitasse coffee pots can be found in the first six glazes: red, blue, yellow, light green, old ivory, and turquoise. At least one is known to exist in rose ebony.
Regular coffee pots were made in the first ten colors: red, blue, yellow, light green, old ivory, turquoise, rose, gray, forest green, and chartreuse. There are two rare examples in collector's hands: one in maroon, and the other in medium green.
Fiesta® demitasse coffee pot in old ivory and regular coffee pot in turquoise |
The three different markings that can be found on the regular coffee pot.
The two HLC-USA marks were also used on the demitasse coffee pot.
HLC-USA, no rings |
HLC-USA, with rings |
Made in USA and HLC logo |
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Amberstone, Casualstone, and Fiesta® Ironstone Coffee Servers
When the Sheffield Amberstone line was developed in the late 1960s, the coffee pot and marmalade were brought back. Many Fiesta® pieces were restyled for the special supermarket promotion. In the case of the coffee pot, the finial was modified from its original flared version. The marking was removed, however, some older molds with the impressed Fiesta® logo were still used. The name changed from coffee pot to coffee server.
In 1969, the standard line of Fiesta was relaunched as Fiesta® Ironstone in three colors and used the restyled pieces from Sheffield Amberstone. Coffee servers from Fiesta® Ironstone were meant to be made in antique gold only. This was the same gold glaze used in the Coventry Casualstone line. A few rare examples in turf green exist.
Amberstone coffee pot (left), regular coffee pot in gray (right)
They are identical except for the finials |
Portion of a Fiesta® Ironstone advertisement
showing the restyled coffee pot from Amberstone |
Vintage coffee pot in chartreuse and Amberstone with old style finial |
Fiesta® Ironstone Coffee Servers in 1986 Glazes
The Fiesta® Ironstone coffee server was part of the reintroduction in 1986. Unfortunately, most of the pieces that required a lid, such as the covered casserole, covered sugar, and coffee server, had to be replaced since the older forms tended to warp because of the newer types of clay and firing temperatures.
Ironstone-style coffee servers were made in white, black, cobalt, rose, and apricot. They were never marked.
The Ironstone lid finial was changed in early in development. On December 31, 1985, a new lid was made that could do double duty for the Ironstone coffee server base and the vintage large teapot base. It had a flared finial very simliar to the one used on the vintage regular coffee pot.
Ironstone coffee servers from 1986, with either Ironstone or flared finials, were made for a very short peroid time.
1986 advertisement showing the Ironstone-style coffee server |
Fiesta® Ironstone coffee server in the 1986 white glaze |
Ironstone coffee servers in apricot and rose with flared finial lids |
Amberstone coffee server and Ironstone-style coffee server in apricot with no marks |
Contemporary Fiesta® Coffee Servers
On March 4, 1986, designer Jonathan Parry sketched a new coffee server to replace the older Ironstone version. It was modeled two weeks later on March 18th and put into production.
The coffee server was given the item number 493. It was discontinued towards the end of 2001 and made in the following glazes: white, black, rose, apricot, cobalt, yellow, turquoise, periwinkle, sea mist, lilac, persimmon, pearl gray, juniper, cinnabar, and sunflower. A few examples are known to exist in sapphire.
Jonathan Parry's sketch for the coffee server, dated March 4, 1986 |
Coffee server in periwinkle |
Marking used on all of the Jonathan Parry coffee servers |
Comaprison picture; left to right: demitasse coffee pot, coffee server, and regular coffee pot |
Spiegel was notorious for mistakingly photographing coffee server bases with sugar bowl lids in many of their ads from the 1990s. Below are portions of Spiegel catalog pages showing the coffee server with sugar bowl lids in rose.
Coffee servers were never meant to be sold this way. If you find a coffee server with a sugar lid, then it was probably a "marriage" of second quality ware by either a collector or dealer, not by a retailer, and certainly not by the factory.
Fiesta® Coffee Servers for the ELHSAA
Even though the coffee server was discontinued in 2001, the factory brought it out of retirement from time to time to create limited quantities in newer colors to be auctioned off by the East Liverpool High School Alumni Association (ELHSAA).
These colors include: shamrock, scarlet, ivory, marigold, chocolate, and flamingo. Chartreuse was also used as a limited auction color, but this was done while the server itself was still in production.
Coffee servers: chartreuse with yellow and cinnabar |
Coffee servers: shamrock, chocolate, flamingo, and scarlet |
B A C K
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