Saturday at the Swap Meet - Franciscan Tiempo Find!!

Not much action at the swap meet this morning. The only thing I picked up was a really nice Franciscan Tiempo Square Salad Bowl in the Gray (Stone) color. It was covered in dirt and buried in a pile of junk, but it appears to be in perfect condition.



Tiempo is part of Franciscans Metropolitan shape. The line was designed by Morris B. Sanders in 1949. Metropolitan was a duo color line. In 1949, Tiempo, a single color line in the same Metropolitan shape was introduced and eventually issued in 8 solid colors. Tiempo was discontinued in 1954 and because of the relatively short issue period is considered somewhat scarce in any color.

Franciscans Metropolitan and Tiempo lines were typical of solid and duotone color lines that almost every major pottery in the U.S.A. issued during this period that were intended to give the consumer the choice of mixing and matching place settings on the table. I see a resurgence of this preference among homemakers today. This is an excerpt from a Gladding, Mcbean & Co ad in the "China, Glass & Lamps" trade journal Sept. 1950.

"Truly beautiful simplicity of line in New and sparkling House & Garden colors makes Franciscan Tiempo correct for formal as well as informal table arrangements. Each shade is so basically excellent it is perfect used alone. Yet any two ... or three ... or even the four colors may be combined. And like all Franciscan dinnerware, Tiempo is extremely resistant to chipping, crazing and cracking."

I have a fairly large selection of Franciscan in my store.

Buy Franciscan China in Quality Junk at Atomic Mall

Thanks for listening...