The Dish Patch, Drawing Board to Production, Newsletter

The Dish Patch Newsletter on From Drawing Board to Production written by Jo Cunningham and Darlene Nossaman.

Published by Robbins Nest

The Homer Laughlin China Company has always advertised their wares with pride of workmanship.  The following advertisement was used for several years and seems to sum up the feeling of the company for their ware.

As early as 1876 when Mr.  Homer Laughlin first set the standards for production, he wanted to prove to the American customer that his company´s wares could be, and were superior to those produced by the foreign markets, mainly France and England.  Homer Laughlin back stamps are a valuable tool in identification as most often, they not only give the name of company, but shape name, date item was produced, and sometimes pattern name or number.  Nearly all back stamps on Homer Laughlin ware were applied with a rubber stamp in ink or gold.

In order to obtain back stamps that would be accurate, informative and attractive, many sketches were made before the final drawing was chosen.  Sometimes the company would patent the back stamp, or shape, but not always.  It seems the company would prefer to patent a shape or back stamp when they felt strongly that it would be a best seller, or wanted to protect their investment.

In 1937 the company developed and produced several new shapes, two being Tea Rose and Nautilus Eggshell, both developed by Frederick Rhead.  The first mention of Tea Rose shape is a 4" plate, and is found in Rhead´s modeling logbook in May 1937.  As with sketches for shapes, several back stamp drawings were made in April 1937 before the one was finally chosen.

The drawing with the X was the one selected to be applied to Tea Rose.  Tea Rose shape had a short production run, and not many patterns are to be found on this shape.  Left to right, 7" plate with Rose and Starflower pattern, saucer with W5923, 7" plate with Medallion pattern.

Nautilus Eggshell was one of those shapes destined to become popular by the consumer and was produced for several years.Here again, several drawings of the shape and back stamp were done before one was chosen.  On November 8, 1937 the first drawings for Nautilus Eggshell were done by Mr.  Stapleford to be submitted to the Patent Office.

But it would be January 26, 1938 before a final sketch of the Nautilus Eggshell back stamp was accepted.  The one marked with the X, is the back stamp chosen by Mr.  Rhead or maybe Mr.  W.  E.  Wells.
Some examples of Nautilus Eggshell shape and patterns are shown in figures 5 and 6.

Figure 5 (left) is a Nautilus Eggshell 7" plate in Golden Dawn pattern and named Coronet when sold by Montgomery Wards.  Figure 6 (right) is a 10" dinner plate in pattern number N1785.

More information and photos of Tea Rose and Nautilus Eggshell, along with over 150 other shapes and lines and over 800 pictures with identification can be found in the book, Homer Laughlin China Identification Guide by Jo Cunningham and Darlene Nossaman.  This book can be purchased from Robbins Nest, host of this newsletter.