4 Franciscan Desert Rose Saucers

FOUR FRANCISCAN DESERT ROSE SAUCERS - HAND-PAINTED CALIFORNIA EARTHENWARE Four small Franciscan Desert Rose pieces in hand-painted California earthenware, approximately 6-1/2 inches in diameter, with the pattern's molded scalloped rim, raised relief rose-and-vine border, and a shallow molded center well. The well ring reads as a teacup seat, so these are catalogued here as saucers, though a bidder using them as bread and butter or dessert plates will find them equally at home. Each carries the full border treatment: opened pink wild roses with bright yellow centers dotted in dark brown, closed pink buds, green leaves, and a thorny olive-brown vine wrapping the rim. The undersides carry the brown dotted-oval Franciscan mark with the GLADDING, McBEAN & CO. name in the top ring, which places them in the pre-Interpace California production run. These pair directly with the Desert Rose cup and saucer sets, dinner plates, bowls, gravy boat, and cookie jar offered elsewhere in this sale, so a bidder assembling a service can pick up matching pieces across several lots. Sold as a lot of four pieces. Description Four (4) matching Franciscan Desert Rose saucers, glazed earthenware, round with a molded scalloped and lightly waved rim Each measures approximately 6-1/2 inches in diameter per the tape-measure photograph, with the hook set at the near rim and the far rim edge falling between the 6-1/4 and 6-1/2 inch marks. Shallow molded center well with a raised circular ridge of the type used to seat a teacup foot; the well interior is plain cream white Decoration is the standard Desert Rose border in raised relief under a glossy glaze: opened five-petal pink roses with elongated 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 scalloped rim Rim edges carry the pattern's olive to brown vine wash Undersides are glazed white with a recessed foot ring and small round stilt or kiln-support points, which are normal firing artifacts of manufacture rather than damage Backstamp, photographed close up and enhanced, is the brown dotted oval reading GLADDING, McBEAN & CO. in the top ring, MADE IN U.S.A. in the bottom ring, with the copyright and registered symbols beside Franciscan in script over EARTHENWARE, and a small faint letter struck beneath the bottom ring Below the oval is a faint hand-painted line of roughly four characters, reading approximately 6 D 7 6, that is not clearly legible even after enhancement. These are decorator or line marks and are not readable with confidence from 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 mark sequence is well documented by Replacements, Ltd. and the Gladding, McBean Franciscan archive: the earliest strikes are dark circular stamps reading Franciscan, Made in California, U.S.A., Hand Decorated with the Gladding, McBean & Co. name, generally placed in the 1940s into the 1950s. The brown dotted oval carrying GLADDING, McBEAN & CO. in the top ring, as found on these saucers, follows it. 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 usually add a two-part number with OVEN SAFE, COLOR FAST. Later Wedgwood-era marks read England or Portugal rather than U.S.A. The mark reading, era assignment, pattern identification, piece designation as saucers, 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 pieces were photographed stacked, individually face up, in raking-light profile, and in close detail on the border, rim edge, center well, and backstamp. The glaze is bright and glossy, the cream ground is clean, and the painted decoration is strong and well saturated. No chips, cracks, or breaks were observed in the photographs. Expect light overall use wear, including faint gray scuffing and utensil or cup-ring marks in the center wells. Scattered tan and dark specks and pinpoint iron flecks are visible in the glaze on several pieces, typical of hand-decorated earthenware of this age. The olive-brown vine wash along the outer rim edges shows thin and lightly worn spots in places, most visible in the close-up rim photographs; this is normal for the pattern where the rim gets handled and stacked. Glossy high points and small glaze bumps are visible along the scalloped rim edges in the raking-light shots; these read as reflections and minor glaze irregularities rather than chips, but bidders should inspect those edges closely and judge for themselves. Noticeable variation in brushwork, rose size, leaf