Boonton Boontonware Melmac Rare Orange Bowl

Orange Melmac Bowl for sale @RetroChalet

Information Wanted. Have you seen this? 

Sometimes I see things and wonder how they are what they are, or why they are what they are.   Even I, after collecting so many years have no idea how this can be possible. 

It's no secret that this Boontonware melmac bowl's shape and thickness should actually date it to the 40's or 50's to the earlier lines of plain BOONTON (marked as such) used in restaurants and institutions, yet the design is slightly different. 

However, there is a hallmark was used for a short number of years "for industry standards" giving it an even smaller window of production.

The problem? The color.  This color technically should be later, perhaps even 60's.  There is evidence of this orange in some lines, mainly SOMERSET, but the items are not molded as thick, with as much melmac.  They are thin and not as bulky.

So it's a mystery, for sure.

Very odd coloring for such a thick Boontonware bowl.

So I ask you, why is the orange on this bowl?

It could be several reasons and perhaps we will never know why. 

1. An employee could have made the bowl for himself or herself. 
2. A customer wanted some bowls made and asked for test of the color. 
3. Perhaps a line was made with this exact bowl, but if so where is it? 
4. The factory was testing various colors to debut in a new "fall line". 
5. It was something molded for samples to customers or employees. 
6. It is a part of a short lived melmac set by Boonton we have not yet found.

What do you think? 

Stop by and let me know facebook.com/MelmacDinnerware