Texasware Texas Ware Dallasware Melmac Tech Giant of It's Day Plastics Mfg Co

 

A look inside a boxed set of Texasware Melamine Dinnerware from a set I had.

Gary Joy wrote me on February 14, 2015 saying, "My grandfather started Plastics Mfg. Co. in Dallas in the late 40s - my father ran the company until his death in 83. For many years it was the largest manufacturer of melamine dinnerware in the world, as well as the only plastic dinnerware sold at Neiman-Marcus! I worked in the outlet store while in college in the early 70s ..."

As I was reviewing his correspondence I never thought for a minute that they meaning the PMC molding company could have been the largest manufacturer in the world of melamine dinnerware back in their day, but this sure explains why there is so much of it.  If we compared this company to the "Big Tech Giants of Today" the only thing we could say is Google, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter.  

On one of my first podcasts I talk about the beginning of Melmac brand, and soon that manufacturers like PMC got wise and made their own powders/molding resins and what essentially happened is you had molders selling melamine dishes not having to buy the powders from American Cyanamid. 

Small attentions to detail in the design of packaging, and brochures involved were often overlooked by the unboxing process, but these things took time to design. 

So essentially the giant PMC company had a huge army of employees doing this :

Making Powders

Design Concepts of Dinnerware

(this part would be mold making I wonder if they did?)

Molding Dishes

Designing Boxes and Packaging Materials, Pamphlets and Store Signs

Quality Control

Marketing and Distribution

A start to finish conglomerate if you will.  Even if they did not have a machine shop to make their own molds, then still they cut out so many middlemen by doing the marketing, molding, and distribution themselves.   

Design and placement was key.

Kudos!

Imagine the accomplishment back then of getting your plastic dishes into Neiman Marcus! Competing with mid century modern ceramic and china designers like Eva Ziesal, Bauer's Art Pottery, Homer Laughlin and even the ceramic designs of Russel Wright.  If that high end department store housed only Texas Ware melamine that is saying something. 

Others have written me about their "seconds" factory store which was right down / across the street.  It seems they had so many they had to open a store for it.  Not to mention millions of pieces of Texasware and Dallasware are still in existence today. 

Do you love Texasware or Dallasware? 

See my post on Texas Ware Factory Tour Here. 

listen to my vintage podcast here.

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Collecting Plastic Salt and Peppers

These lovelies available at Cedar Run Vintage on Etsy.

There is a whole world out there of vintage plastic salt and pepper shakers just waiting to be found or collected. So many varieties, and some extremely collectible and rare.  You never know what may crop up out of someone's attic or cabinet.  For instance, these lovelies may have been purchased for sale individually in stores. You just never know.  What does their history tell us? Without investigation or research, we may never know!

This rare set is available on Etsy at the CedarRunVintage shop for $50.

For a short time, Texas Ware melamine introduced a line of ice cream cups and sherberts with melamine bases. These salt and peppers I spotted on Etsy (below) look almost identical. It would be strange to find out these were a sample or rarity of sorts--did someone put the lids on, could they have been mini shebert cup samples?  Especially since they don't really match. Or were they made this way, and just look like the Texas Ware stuff? You just never know really, what you may find n the world of salt and peppers.

Buy these at RustyCow shop on Etsy!

Then certain designs, patterns, figural shakers can go for lots of money depending on who made them and how scarce they are.  Let's not mention salt and peppers make cute gifts and novelties for that special someone. These Venus styled figural shakers (below) are a real treat for only $7.50 at ShopatGeris on Etsy.  These would be a great topic of conversation wouldn't they?  The front of the box says Gay and they date back to 1948!

Courtesy: ShopatGeris on Etsy

For the sake of all things plastic fantastic, I just have to add in that sometimes the plastic maker will be a part of history. Look at these older and harder to find vintage plastics  dating back to 1929-1940s era from Carvanite. (below) which had ties to Eastman Kodak. These are pure deco styled and look much like a bakelite material. Just lovely in color and preserved all these years.

These are available at CollectMemories on Etsy at $55 a true gem in the vintage plastic world.

Whatever kind you like, the possibilities are endless. There's a whole world of salt and pepper shakers out there just waiting for you to be had. Especially for the collector who likes to keep things under control, a small curio on the wall may be just the ticket.

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Imperial Ware Melmac and Wee Little Butter Pats did Texas Ware Make This...

Imperial Ware...

The Pretend Den has some for sale, and shows how lovely this can be.

Look at the butter pats at Delectable Accents!

This really great set of Imperial Ware melmac is up for grabs on Etsy, at DelectableAccents .  The really cool thing about it is the what-I-think-are butter pats to the lower left. Note how they are tiny coaster-sized items, often used FOR coasters or candy dishes, but back in the day certainly meant for butter! I've only ever seen them in a few vintage melmac lines, as most have been lost or misplaced over time.  (Let's not forget melmac was a bit pricy back then, so the optional "butter pats" weren't always a heavily bought item. They usually measure around 3" or under.)

Yes, just close your eyes and imagine how it must have been. A pat of fresh churned butter was just waiting on your lovely melmac butter pat to be spread lovingly on Granny's fresh baked buns. Of course those would have had their own place on the bread plate.

See the speckles, these $18 at RetroChalet!

Imperial Ware was speckled in pastel colors of blue, white, pink and yellow. It's fun to collect a whole set and still easy to assemble. Mr. Melmac had suggested that it was made by the makers of Texas Ware (PMC Manufacturing Company).  Not much in the way of original boxes or paperwork has been found. I did see an old store ad, once, showing it but not naming the maker.

Courtesy:  Ira Mency

I've seen two totally different backstamps for the line.  One says "Imperial Ware" in cursive, (above--I think this is an older mark) and the second showing "Imperial" in cursive but "melmac" in blog letters as this (below) is the second...
 

"The Pretend Den" took this photo of one of the backstamps."

As with any melmac, I'm often suprised if you look hard enough you will find the needle in the haystack. Let me just say this is an oddity and so lovely if I do say so myself. They are very modern design saucers backstamped Imperial Ware, but I have no earthly idea why. So lovely!  Get them while you can!

Imperial Ware Oddity, so lovely, Available at Vintage Goodies.



Texasware Melmac and the Mug Trees : Texas Ware Never Ceases to Amaze Me

Amazing, the metal mug tree was sold in a set of four "melamine" Texas Ware Mugs.

I was surfing around Genoa City Delights shop on Etsy and found this cool set of Texas Ware melamine mugs in the original package. These are probably later years (not 1950s) but what's cool is they are perfect for coffee being "stainproof!" What's odd is that they come with a metal mug tree! I've seen these trees before, usually holding Fire King mugs.  This is a real steal from this shop, the entire set boxed and in the original package is only $10~!  Buy it here!

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