3 Desert Rose Cup Sets

THREE FRANCISCAN DESERT ROSE CUP AND SAUCER SETS - EARLY GLADDING, McBEAN & CO. BACKSTAMP Offered here are three Franciscan Desert Rose cup and saucer sets in hand-decorated California earthenware, six pieces total. Each footed cup carries the pattern's signature molded and hand-painted branch handle, formed as a thorny rose stem in olive green, with open pink wild roses, closed buds, and glossy green leaves wrapping the outside of the cup. The matching saucers repeat the border on a molded scalloped rim, with a recessed cup ring in the center and a soft green-brown thorn vine following the rim edge. The saucers carry the earlier Gladding, McBean & Co. dotted-oval backstamp in brown rather than the later Interpace mark, which is the older and generally more collected version of the mark on this pattern. These sets coordinate directly with the Desert Rose dinner plates, bowls, and serving pieces offered elsewhere in this sale, so a bidder can build out or complete a service across multiple lots. Sold as a lot of six pieces, three cups and three saucers. Description Three (3) Franciscan Desert Rose cups and three (3) matching saucers, glazed earthenware, hand decorated Cups are the standard footed teacup form with a flared bowl, short pedestal foot, and the pattern's sculpted branch handle molded as a thorny rose stem and painted in olive to sage green Each cup measures approximately 2-1/4 inches tall to the rim and approximately 3-3/4 to 4 inches across the mouth per the tape-measure photographs; the tape was laid vertically alongside one cup and horizontally across the cup mouth. Width across the handle was not measured with the tape Saucers are round with a molded scalloped and wavy rim edge and measure approximately 6 inches in diameter per the tape-measure photographs; saucer depth and cup-ring diameter were not measured with the tape. Bidders should verify all dimensions from the photographs Cup decoration is a single open pink five-petal rose with a yellow center dotted in dark brown on the front, flanked by green leaves and thorny brown-olive stems, with a closed pink bud on the opposite side; cup interiors are plain cream white Saucer decoration is the standard Desert Rose border of open roses, buds, leaves, and a continuous thorny vine following the rim, with the plain cream well and recessed cup ring left undecorated Rim edges carry the characteristic soft green-brown wash along the scalloped border Saucer backstamp, photographed close up and enhanced, reads in a brown dotted oval: the company name across the top of the ring, partially struck and reading as GLADDING, McBEAN & CO., with MADE IN U.S.A. across the bottom of the ring, a small and at upper right, and inside the oval the script Franciscan over EARTHENWARE. A single small letter, reading as R, sits directly beneath the oval, and a faint lighter line of characters below that reads approximately H 1 2 with two additional indistinct characters Cup mark is a small, lightly struck brown stamp with no oval, reading MADE IN over U.S.A. with a single small letter beneath; the strike is faint and incomplete in the photographs Small round stilt or kiln-support points are visible on the glazed undersides; these are normal firing artifacts of the manufacturing process, not damage Attribution note Desert Rose was introduced in 1941 by Gladding, McBean & Co. of Los Angeles, California, and became the best-selling pattern of American dinnerware ever produced, with California manufacture continuing into the mid-1980s. Gladding, McBean was absorbed into the Interpace Corporation in the early 1960s, so backstamps that still carry the GLADDING, McBEAN & CO. company name in the ring, as these saucers do, predate the INTERPACE ring marks and are generally considered the earlier and more desirable strike by collectors. Later Wedgwood-era marks show England or Portugal rather than U.S.A. Replacements, Ltd. catalogs and the Gladding, McBean Franciscan archive both document this progression of marks and identify the raised-relief hand-painted rose border and sculpted branch handle as the defining features of the pattern. The mark reading, era, pattern identification, and dimensions given here are offered as the consignor's photo-based opinion and are not guaranteed; portions of both marks are faintly struck and bidders should judge them for themselves from the photographs. Bid on the item as pictured. Condition Used vintage condition, sold as-is. All six pieces were photographed as a group, individually, in profile, and in close detail, including the undersides and both marks. The glaze is bright and glossy, the hand-painted decoration is strong with good color, and no chips, cracks, or breaks were observed in the photographs. Expect light overall use wear, including faint gray utensil or spoon marking and light scuffing in the cup interiors and saucer wells consistent with actual table service. Scattered dark specks, pinpoint iron flecks, and s