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Homer Laughlin Fiesta Dinnerware

Value (2013) | $1,000 Retail – $2,000 Retail
Watch  

GUEST:
This all belonged to my aunt, who finally had to go into a nursing home 24 years ago. And when we had to close up her home, we were all asked, "Do you want anything?" And I had loved the Fiestaware ever since I was a little girl, and asked if I could have it. It's my everyday dishes.

APPRAISER:
Great. And I think there's nothing wrong with using it every day. Fiestaware was made by the Homer Laughlin Company in their factory in West Virginia. It was introduced in 1936, originally with five colors. And here you've got ten different colors represented.

GUEST:
I have ten, yeah.

APPRAISER:
Let's look at a piece and see what the mark looks like. Here it says "HLCO," which stands for "Homer Laughlin Company." "Fiesta, made in USA." There's several variations on the marks, and some pieces are unmarked, but it really doesn't matter particularly whether it's marked or not to most Fiesta collectors. The two most common colors are the ones that are near you: the turquoise and the yellow color.

GUEST:
Those are the ones I have the most of.

APPRAISER:
The red color was discontinued because there was a scare about radioactivity and things relating to...that would hurt people's health. But later on, it was reintroduced again. Some of the unusual colors that are a little hard to find, here is the dark green, the gray, the rose, the chartreuse are a little bit hard to find. The way you get a value on a big set like yours...and by the way, how many pieces do you have?

GUEST:
107.

APPRAISER:
That's a massive set to have inherited. The values depend on the rarity. Some of the small pieces like the plates, which are fairly common, in common colors, they sell for $10 to $20 each, depending on which color it is. The luncheon plates and dinner plates and cups and saucers start to be $20, $25, $30, sometimes $50 or $60 on some of the rare colors on the dinners, which is each. And that's for pieces, of course, in perfect condition. These bowls here are kind of hard to find. A lot of them got chipped and broken over the years.

GUEST:
They do break easily.

APPRAISER:
These little nappies here sell for $20, $30, $40. This bowl here sells for $25, $50. And this bowl here is pretty hard to find. Sells for, like, $40 to $75 each, depending...

GUEST:
I have eight of those.

APPRAISER:
Depending on the rarity. You don't have a lot of serving pieces. You just brought one here. That one is pretty hard to find, to put fruit in or something like that. Sells for around $175. So if we add up all the pieces in your set to get a total, which I sat down and it took me about 20 or 30 minutes to figure it all up, the value of your set, if you went and bought it from a Fiesta dealer piece by piece by piece, it would be between $2,500 and $3,500 for your set.

GUEST:
I had no idea it could be worth that much.

Support provided by: Learn more

Appraisal Details

Appraiser
David Lackey
Pottery & Porcelain
David Lackey Antiques & Jewelry
Houston
David Lackey Antiques & Jewelry
Update (2013)
$1,000 Retail – $2,000 Retail
Update (2012)
$1,500 Retail – $2,500 Retail
Appraised value (1998)
$2,500 Retail – $3,500 Retail
Featured In
Vintage Hartford (#1726)
Event
Hartford, CT (August 22, 1998)
Category
Pottery & Porcelain
Period
20th Century
Form
Dinner Service
Material
Pottery

Executive producer Marsha Bemko shares her tips for getting the most out of ANTIQUES ROADSHOW.

Value can change: The value of an item is dependent upon many things, including the condition of the object itself, trends in the market for that kind of object, and the location where the item will be sold. These are just some of the reasons why the answer to the question "What's it worth?" is so often "It depends."

Note the date: Take note of the date the appraisal was recorded. This information appears in the upper left corner of the page, with the label "Appraised On." Values change over time according to market forces, so the current value of the item could be higher, lower, or the same as when our expert first appraised it.

Context is key: Listen carefully. Most of our experts will give appraisal values in context. For example, you'll often hear them say what an item is worth "at auction," or "retail," or "for insurance purposes" (replacement value). Retail prices are different from wholesale prices. Often an auctioneer will talk about what she knows best: the auction market. A shop owner will usually talk about what he knows best: the retail price he'd place on the object in his shop. And though there are no hard and fast rules, an object's auction price can often be half its retail value; yet for other objects, an auction price could be higher than retail. As a rule, however, retail and insurance/replacement values are about the same.

Verbal approximations: The values given by the experts on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW are considered "verbal approximations of value." Technically, an "appraisal" is a legal document, generally for insurance purposes, written by a qualified expert and paid for by the owner of the item. An appraisal usually involves an extensive amount of research to establish authenticity, provenance, composition, method of construction, and other important attributes of a particular object.

Opinion of value: As with all appraisals, the verbal approximations of value given at ROADSHOW events are our experts' opinions formed from their knowledge of antiques and collectibles, market trends, and other factors. Although our valuations are based on research and experience, opinions can, and sometimes do, vary among experts.

Appraiser affiliations: Finally, the affiliation of the appraiser may have changed since the appraisal was recorded. To see current contact information for an appraiser in the ROADSHOW Archive, click on the link below the appraiser's picture. Our Appraiser Index also contains a complete list of active ROADSHOW appraisers and their contact details and biographies.

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