4, Franciscan Desert Rose Plates

FOUR FRANCISCAN DESERT ROSE DINNER PLATES - EARLY CALIFORNIA HAND DECORATED CIRCULAR MARK Four Franciscan Desert Rose dinner plates in hand-painted California earthenware, approximately 10-1/2 inches in diameter, with the pattern's molded scalloped rim and raised relief decoration. The painting on this group is particularly generous, with several large fully opened pink wild roses per plate, bright yellow centers dotted in dark brown, closed pink buds, broad green leaves, and a thorny olive-brown vine that wraps the entire rim. What sets this set apart from the other Desert Rose plate lots in this sale is the backstamp: instead of the brown dotted oval, these carry the earlier dark circular mark reading FRANCISCAN, MADE IN CALIFORNIA, U.S.A., HAND DECORATED, GLADDING, McBEAN & CO., OVEN-SAFE. That circular California stamp is one of the older Franciscan strikes and is a mark collectors of the pattern actively look for. These coordinate with the Desert Rose bowls, cup and saucer sets, gravy boat, cookie jar, and other serving pieces offered elsewhere in this sale, making this a good lot for a bidder building or completing a service. Excellent for holiday and everyday table use, cabinet display, or wall hanging. 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 lightly waved rim Each plate measures approximately 10-1/2 inches in diameter per the tape-measure photographs, with the hook set at the top rim edge and the far rim edge falling near the 10-1/2 inch line. Decoration is the full Desert Rose border: multiple opened five-petal pink roses with elongated bright yellow centers dotted in dark brown, closed pink buds, green leaves in two tones, and a continuous thorny olive to yellow-brown vine following the rim, all in raised relief under a glossy glaze Rim edges carry the pattern's olive to brown wash along the scalloped border Center wells are undecorated cream white with soft concentric shaping rings Undersides are fully glazed white with a recessed foot ring and small round stilt or kiln-support points, which are normal firing artifacts of the manufacturing process rather than damage Backstamp, photographed close up, is a dark circular stamp reading arched FRANCISCAN across the top, then MADE IN / CALIFORNIA / U.S.A. inside the circle, then HAND DECORATED, then GLADDING, / McBEAN / & CO., with OVEN-SAFE curving across the bottom of the circle. Beneath the circle is a faint line with a letter and one or two additional characters that are not legible in the photographs 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. The Gladding, McBean Franciscan archive documents the mark sequence: the dark circular stamps reading Franciscan, Made in California, U.S.A., Hand Decorated with the Gladding, McBean & Co. name are among the older strikes, generally placed in the 1940s through the 1950s, and collector references built on Lehner's encyclopedia of United States pottery marks assign that circular style to the late 1940s and early 1950s. The addition of an OVEN-SAFE line suggests these fall toward the later part of that circular-mark run rather than the earliest. The brown dotted-oval Gladding, McBean & Co. mark follows the circular stamp; Gladding, McBean was absorbed into the Interpace Corporation in the early 1960s, so INTERPACE ring marks are later, roughly mid-1960s through the 1970s, and Wedgwood-era Desert Rose marks read England or Portugal rather than U.S.A. Replacements, Ltd. catalogs and the Gladding, McBean Franciscan archive both document this progression and identify the raised relief hand-painted rose border as the defining feature of the pattern. The mark reading, era assignment, pattern identification, and all dimensions given here are offered as the consignor's photo-based opinion and are not guaranteed; part of the mark is faintly struck. Bid on the item as pictured. Condition Used vintage condition, sold as-is. All four plates were photographed as a stack, individually face up, in profile, and in close detail on the painted border, rim edge, underside, and backstamp. The glaze is bright and glossy, the cream ground is clean and even, and the painted decoration is strong with good color saturation. No chips, cracks, or breaks were observed in the photographs. Expect light overall utensil scuffing and faint flatware scratching in the plate wells consistent with actual table use. Scattered dark and tan specks and pinpoint iron flecks are visible in the glaze on several plates, including one or two small dark marks on painted rose petals near the rim, and are typical of hand-decorated earthenware of this age. Bright glaze points and small raised bumps are visible along the scalloped