4 Desert Rose Plates

FOUR FRANCISCAN DESERT ROSE DINNER PLATES - INTERPACE MARK, HAND-DECORATED CALIFORNIA EARTHENWARE Offered here is a matched set of four Franciscan Desert Rose dinner plates in hand-decorated earthenware, the best-known and best-selling American dinnerware pattern of the twentieth century. Each plate carries the familiar embossed and hand-painted border of open pink wild roses with yellow centers, closed rose buds, glossy green leaves, and a continuous olive-green thorny branch that follows the molded scalloped rim. The wells are plain cream white with soft concentric shaping rings, giving the roses room to read from across a table. All four are marked on the underside with the Franciscan Interpace-era backstamp, placing them in the California-made period of production. These plates coordinate with the other Desert Rose serving pieces, bowls, and cup sets offered in this sale, making them a practical add-on for a bidder assembling or filling out a service. Excellent for holiday and everyday table use, a China cabinet display, or wall hanging in a kitchen or breakfast room. Sold as a lot of four pieces. Description Four (4) matching dinner plates in the Franciscan Desert Rose pattern, glazed earthenware, round with a molded scalloped and wavy rim edge Each plate measures approximately 10-1/2 inches in diameter per the tape-measure photographs; the tape was laid across the face of one plate with the hook set at the rim, and the opposite rim edge falls at roughly the 10-1/2 inch line. Plate depth and rim width were not measured with the tape. Bidders should verify all dimensions from the photographs. Decoration is the standard Desert Rose border treatment: multiple open five-petal pink roses with yellow pollen centers dotted in dark brown, tight pink buds, broad green leaves in two tones, and an olive-brown thorny vine that wraps the entire rim; the relief molding under the glaze gives the leaves and branch a raised, hand-modeled feel Rim edge carries the characteristic soft green wash along the scalloped border Center wells are undecorated cream white Underside is fully glazed white with a recessed foot ring Backstamp, photographed close up, reads in a dotted oval: INTERPACE across the top of the ring and MADE IN U.S.A. across the bottom, with a small at upper left and a small at upper right, and inside the oval the script Franciscan over EARTHENWARE. Below the oval is the number 20-73, and beneath that OVEN SAFE, COLOR FAST Small round stilt or kiln-support points are visible on the glazed underside; these are normal manufacturing artifacts of the firing process, not damage Attribution note Desert Rose was introduced in 1941 by Gladding, McBean & Co. of Los Angeles, California, and went on to become the single 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 carrying the INTERPACE company name in the ring, as these plates do, generally correspond to the mid-1960s through the 1970s. Marks bearing the earlier GLADDING, McBEAN & CO. name are older, and 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 mark progression and identify the raised-relief, hand-painted rose border as the defining feature of the pattern. Condition Used vintage condition, sold as-is. All four plates were photographed front, back, in profile, and in close detail so bidders can judge the surfaces for themselves. The glaze is bright and glossy overall, the painted decoration is strong with good color saturation, and no chips, cracks, or breaks were observed in the photographs. One plate shows a distinct dark brown to gray streaked scuff running across the rim through one of the pink rose petals, along with a smaller brown spot nearby - this appears consistent with metal utensil marking, surface abrasion, or a stain in the glaze rather than a loss, and is shown in the close-up photographs. Expect light overall utensil scuffing and faint flatware scratching in the plate wells consistent with actual table use, along with scattered dark specks and pinpoint firing flecks in the glaze. Faint minor glaze bumps, tiny pinholes, and slight color variation from one hand-painted plate to the next should be expected on hand-decorated earthenware of this age and are not considered flaws. The scalloped rim edges, the high points of the molded leaves and branch, and the outer rim points are the areas most vulnerable to nicks and flakes on this pattern, and bidders should inspect those areas closely in the photographs. No repairs, fills, or overpainting are noted, and no crazing is clearly visible. Photos are part of the description. Notes for bidders Vintage earthenware of this age is best hand washed in warm water with mild soap and dried promptly. Avoid abrasive scou