Fostoria Melamine Dishes 1957

Fostoria Melamine Backstamp courtesy of Vintage Cleveland on Etsy.

"Fostoria Announces Melamine Dinnerware," so the headlines read in an article in a Crockery and Glass Journal in Aug. 1957.  Wow.  I have written before on Fostoria Melmac, as I believe it's scarce and hard to find even though it was produced well into the early 1960's (Former Plastics Historian Robin Ptacek confirmed to me once that produced 1958-1962).  Molded for the Fostoria glass company, it was a solution to targeting those who wanted super duper melmac dishes.   At one time when melmac was at it's height, glassmakers and melamine dinnerware manufactures were fighting for the market share.

Here is a pic of the mugs from the top and underside. Note how thick the bottoms are. Pic: RetroChalet

Here is a prime example where one company thought outside the box, instead of Fostoria glass bashing melamine it jumped onto the bandwagon, tapping into the best of both worlds (selling glassware and melamine).  Now it's highly unlikely in my opinion Fostoria molded their own melamine, but contracting a firm to mold it for them in accordance to superior specs and design standards would have been probable.

Fostoria Melmac Platter on Etsy, @FleasToButterflies

Fostoria's dishes are heavy, elegant, and in shapes that are so sophisticated, that one wonders is this really plastic? See above, so lovely is the platter!  Perhaps that's why they called it Fashion Flair, and showed it integrated with their very own glass wine goblets.  This just goes to prove that melmac and glass can go hand in hand. 

1958 Ads were all over promoting Fostoria's new line of Melamine, originally announced in 1957 you can see the design I'm speaking of here.

The designs I've seen are lovely and well thought out. The top of the dishes featured here are white with design and undersides are solid pastel blue to match the cups, making a two tone color scheme.  These are pretty enough patterns which are integrated subtly onto modish shaped components. The below set was found at VintageCleveland on Etsy!  That set is now long gone, but compiling a whole set in good condition is a real find. 

Fostoria Glass Go-With Tumblrs

Evidence suggests Fostoria glass company embraced having melamine so they could also sell go-with tumblr, which are rare and hard to find indeed. They are etched with patterns and may match some of the lines. Perhaps if you are collecting Fostoria melmac you can find matching beer glasses, pilsners, or these squatty crystal drink glasses to match your line! 

As for melamine, the only  examples I found of this same line were badly stained, damaged, and when I dropped a plate, it shattered in half.  Perhaps the "unbreakable" melmac of the super duper 1950's was cut with something else in these dishes.   Perhaps one could still piece together a set but it would take you some time.  Finding a nice set like this is a rarity these days. This is a great thing for Fostoria Glassware collectors to add to their growing collection. 
Need to know more on Fostoria? .

History on Fostoria Glass Company here. 
See all my articles on Fostoria Melmac Here.

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Last checked for Quality 10.30.16

Fostoria Glass Company Melmac Dinnerware Melamine 1958

Pom Decors in Harrisburg, PA offers this melmac plate, pattern name "Kismet" by Fostoria!

Fostoria Glass Company... one of the smarter glass manufacturers. I think it's funny that when melmac first came onto the market and gained momentum, there was a slew of dinnerware companies trying to "tarnish it." Yes, those makers of fine china, ceramics and even pottery makers said how horrible it was...in fact there was a real coalition formed against the melmac! An anti-melmac campaign if you will.  Well, you can imagine from the bazillions of dishes floating around today how well that actually worked. 

Melmac bowls are freeform and china-like from 51VC

I suppose we can say the melmac won for a bit. I would have loved to see the executive's faces in some companies, years later and perhaps with their tails between their legs make the decision to move into melamine. Many of these same dinnerware makers (Stetson, Fostoria, etc..) who trashed it at first decided to sell lines of their own melamine. If you can't beat them, join them....For it was a grand day that they had to succumb to tapping into the never-ending market of plastic dishes.  For some of them, their decision to do so was made a bit to late.

Fostoria's mark is the same as their china!  Photos above and below: Junky Vagabond

Junky Vagabond has this sweet yellow Fostoria melmac!

People say that Fostoria got into the melmac scene sometime in the 1950's. I found an exact reference in an Industrial Design (Volume 5, circa 1958) book where Fostoria Management declared they wanted to have their own melamine lines. They were going to market it via their various marketing channels including department stores and gift shops. It's safe to say mid 1958-1960's this was indeed the case.  Fostoria put out a lovely and high quality product. I am unsure who the designers actually were, but if you look closely at the styles, they had to be very upscale. No "stock patterns" here.

Fostoria had two-tone melamine and gorgeous designs, but finding good examples can be hard. These : RetroChalet

The sheer problem with this decision is that it came too late.  This small production window of melamine by the company makes Fostoria melmac rare. It's somewhat hard to find in good shape considering most people bought it to use it. The designs however, are exquisite. Most of the solid colors like pink, taupe, blues or yellows are somewhat translucent if you hold them to the light. Patterns like the above and below scream FUN FIFTIES and MOD SIXTIES--no decals or mass produced designs.  Sadly we'll never see half of what was produced as it's probably been used, abused and scratched to hell and back. Collectors of both Fostoria glass or melmac dishes would give their right leg for a full set of mint condition, making Fostoria melamine highly collectible and expensive. 

Treasures n Tidbits has these rare pieces of Fostoria available.

So the one question that people ask me is why wouldn't Fostoria melmac last? Considering they were a leading glass maker with a great reputation and following, why is it so rare?   Truth be told their introduction of melamine just came too late on the market in a time when production costs were higher and melamine powders weren't getting any cheaper. If you figure a set of melmac would cost just about the same as a set of fine china, you do the math.  Now, some blame the death of melmac on Corelle --but I disagree. You'll have to hear me rant about that in another post.  In the meantime, those holding Fostoria examples should covet them indeed.