Vintage Green Fiesta Production: 1936 – 1951
How Green Were My Dishes?
Green was one of the original five colors in the Fiesta dinnerware line, and part of the first production beginning in 1936. The Collector’s Encyclopedia of Fiesta by the Huxford’s quotes Fredrick Rhead in his notes
“With the (colors) red and blue apparently settled, we decided a green must be one of the five colors. We speedily discovered that the correct balance between the blue and the red was a green possessing a minimum of blue. We had to hit halfway between the red and the blue. We had some lovely subtle greens when they were not placed in juxtaposition with the other two colors, but they would not play in combination.”
These notes show that the original design team at HLC expended large amounts of energy into what would ultimately be the entire Fiesta color palate, which explains why grouping together the original colors in Fiesta looks powerful. You can see this notably in the multi color assembly of the vintage relish tray, although these were originally sold in one color. Rhead speaks of the Fiesta colors like an astronomer in Ancient Greece might think of the harmony between the planets. Perhaps this explains why some Fiesta collectors have been known to be so obsessive that they divine the motion of their plates as portents to real life events. (Just kidding. Any connection between astrology and collecting Fiesta has been thoroughly debunked.)
Green was produced until 1951, when HLC decided to add and delete colors. Green was replaced in the 50’s with forest green, and then in the 60’s with the infamous medium green.
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