- Welcome to Amy! One of our six bloggers trying out for a NY spot. Comment away...
Earlier this summer, I spent a weekend in the beautiful Huerfano Valley in southeastern Colorado. When our hostess passed out coffee mugs in the morning, I was struck by how perfectly the mug seemed to mimic the natural surrounding. Even in my yet uncaffeinated state, I noticed the mug seemed sturdy and rustic, yet elegant. So when the coast was clear, I snuck a look at bottom, (a very bad habit!) and read the name Frankoma, which was scratched into the clay...
John Nathaniel Frank, who moved to Oklahoma after attending the Art Institute of Chicago, founded the company in 1938. He started by mixing the tan-colored clay from Ada, Oklahoma with a butter churn. Noting the color of the clay can help approximate the date of a Frankoma piece because after 1954, the company began using red clay from Sapulpa, Oklahoma.
Frankoma prices can range from $6 for a mug (http://www.goantiques.com/detail,brown-frankoma-mug,1025311.html) to $800 for a Bucking Bronco Figurine (http://users.2z.net/hyperexp/forsale.htm) made from Ada clay. The Company stayed in the Frank family until 2005 when it was purchased by Det and Crystal Merryman.
You can purchase Frankoma pottery directly from www.frankoma.com, or start competing with me on Ebay. (http://shop.ebay.com/items/_W0QQ_nkwZfrankomaQQ_armrsZ1QQ_fromZR40QQ_mdoZ)
(Image: sproutgrrl)
- Amy Azzarito
(This is the second of four posts by Amy that we'll be posting over the next two weeks)
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Great post! What a lovely photo. I might just be one of your eBay competitors soon!
view mistabelle's profile
Thanks for sharing this! I have a Frankoma piece (a spoon holder thingy for the stove top) that I received from my Grandmother. It sat on her stove for as long as I could remember. It has more sentimental value and now I might be in the market for more!
view thelittlestmonster's profile
I don't think looking at the maker's mark is such a social sin.
Frankoma shows up pretty often at shopgoodwill.com, as well. The green shade is the most common but there's a great orange as well.
http://www.shopgoodwill.com/viewItem.asp?ItemID=3927458
view Palmetto's profile
Ha! My grandparents live in Ada, Oklahoma and for the last three months I've been enamored with Frankoma and never realized it had any ties to such a midwestern town.
Thanks for the history lesson. I'm off to enlighten my family.
view racheloncegentry's profile
My grandmother has been collecting Frankoma forever - complete orange and green sets. Lucky for my aunt, they will go to her (she loves them), but I am hoping for a little hot chocolate pot that holds dear memories. Funny to think these are collector's items...to me they are just "grandma's dishes". :)
view tara1979's profile
I love the "prairie green", and have been collecting it for a while. I like to mix the simpler plate shapes, like "lazy bones," "plainsman" and the one that looks like a dogwood blossom, whose name escapes me. But no wagon wheels, thanks anyway.
view paintitbright's profile
I have two boxes of Frankoma I inherited from my grandmother. She was from Kansas and my grandfather was from Oklahoma. I should sell it because I don't really use it. I like it though, some cool pieces.
view atomicranch79's profile
Thanks for this post! Recently, I bought a Frankoma owl toothbrush holder at an antique shop in New Orleans. I love the light green glaze! The lady who sold me the owl gave me an impromptu history on Frankoma.
view JessieMo's profile
I think I have one at home...time to punch out yet and find out? I like it even more now that I got a bit of history about it.
view Conrad's profile
Vintage is the best, and knowing the back story even better!
view design_scouting's profile
I have a Frankoma piece that I am trying to date. The mark is Frankoma 5W it is incised on unglazed tera cotta on the bottom. Can you help me? Thanks, Lisa
view aquafinn's profile