Original Packaging Ups Melmac Value but Don't Ask Me What It's Worth

Credit: AmandasTresors offers this texasware item mint in package cost $225

Update:  The Item Sold within 48 hours of me posting it and networking it. Congrats to the lucky collector who has this great item in their stash now!

Here's some information you can use.  I hope you find it helpful!  Readers may get upset that I don't answer emails about the value of their melmac. Let me explain why. I'm not an appraiser LOL. 

When I started the blog, I didn't anticipate the amount of exposure it would get, I was simply writing about something I loved and passing the time.  I share FREE information to the reader based on my expertise and collecting over the past 3 decades.  I'm glad you landed here, and I'm glad your reading. I don't get paid to write, so it is just a hobby for me. 

It got a little crazy after a million people landed here, which I am really wowed by to this day, some of them started to think I just did nothing but appraise plastics. Now I get 50-200 emails weekly asking me questions on melmac and sadly I am just a girl with a life and family a job and can't possibly respond or answer them all even as much as I would like to talk about melmac. There will be and there has been months of inactivity based on the fact I run a full time  bbq business with my husband, that has nothing to do with plastic. 

Not just that I'm a much too busy girl, but the value is subjective. Let me explain. 

Since I collected Russel Wright, back then, I would pay TOP DOLLAR for something to complete my collection in mint shape. Yes, he was a great designer, and yes the pieces were hard to find; however; that doesn't mean what I paid is technically worth that, because other examples may be found for less.  That doesn't mean you would consider paying that. Or the next guy. So on, and so forth. My friends still refuse to pay top dollar for plastic, because they claim "it's only plastic" and swear examples are out there to be found for less. 

So in fact, the value of melmac is subjective based on what's trending, what condition, what markings, what colors,  who's collecting, who wants it, and if this particular style was featured on some hip and trendy magazine cover or tv show. 

I have written a helpful article on What is My Melmac Worth that you can read. 

Also, part of the reason I don't answer all those emails is because part of the thrill of collecting melmac is the hunt to find your pattern name or style, which I'll write more about later.  

 Today however, I wanted to explain that packaging certainly ups the value of the item.  The reason is simple, back in the day melmac wasn't cheap, in fact it was sometimes as pricey as china. 

Housewives bought the melmac to use, not to covet like we today do as collectors.  Often times the original packaging got discarded or lost. Many times melmac came in display boxes and those are worth their weight in gold to collectors.  

Today I found this item on Etsy.   In this case, I ask you, the reader, would you pay the seller's asking price for the Texasware listed here in this blog post? I found it on Etsy and to be honest, I'm not a Texasware Collector, but it seems rare to have this type of sleeve in existence.  Perhaps if I was a texasware collector, I'd want this example for my collection, granted I get the three bowls too, so maybe it's not so pricey as one may think.  I guess we will know, how long it takes to sell, after posted here. 

Too much, not enough, or just right? You be the judge. You may also like this information I recorded on my podcast about texasware: 

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.

find out more

Texas Ware Employee Story by Derrel Lyon

Texas Ware bowl by That Retro Chick on Etsy.

This story was left to me on one of my articles. I share it with you now and have made only minor typographical changes. It's stories like these that give good happy vibes on Texasware history.  Thank you to Derrel Lyon for sharing!

"My Story by Derrel Lyon"

I worked in the molding department at Plastics Mfg. Company (makers of TexasWare) from 1972-1980. My dad Bill Lyon worked there starting in 1946 at the Trunk Avenue  plant and ended up working there as a quality control supervisor until 1980 at the Westmoreland Rd. location. 

It was sometime in the late 1950s when the new plant was built on S. Westmoreland in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, Texas. The compound finishing (melamine raw material) building was added in the 1960s. 

As a quality control supervisor, my dad was the one who looked over the rejected, pre-molded, melamine pills to be ground together to be used for the speckle ware mixing bowls. (like the one above) , 

Some were solid color, but most were whatever he selected of several colors of rejected melamine material put into a grinder and reprocessed into pills to be molded. As a molder, I occasionally was assigned to work the steam heated, compression hydraulic press that molded the mixing bowls. Since the melamine pills for the mixing bowls were made from rejected materials, about a fifth of the bowls that were molded had big bubbled places where the plastic "popcorned" .These bowls were totally rejected on the spot, by knocking out the bottom of the bowl on the corner of the metal work table, and then thrown into a bin.

Editor Note: OMG. Imagine all these imperfect lost melmac bowls !

Dallas Ware was the heavier, more commercial use products ( mixing bowls, lunch trays etc.), while Texas Ware was the lighter weight home dishware.   

Dallas Ware made a whole slew of industrial products for schools and cafeterias. These trays are from MizRed Etsy shop.

The dinner plates with the varied designs were made in two steps. Eight (hockey puck shaped) melamine pills were heated in a (very early version) microwave oven, then each pill was placed in the center of double stacked molds. The press closed with a huge, powerful, hydraulic scissor jack. 

After closed the dishes cured in the mold for about a minute. When it opened, silk screened overlays (with the designs printed on them) were placed on top of each dish plate, and the mold closed again for about 30 seconds.

The dishes were then removed from the mold using compressed air. The excess plastic (flashing) around the edges was knocked off, and at the end of the shift the stacked dishes were carted to the finishing room to grind and buff the edges. My brother worked in that department! 

I know some machines and molds were already being shipped to Mexico by the early 1980s which was the beginning of the end for Plastic Mfg Company.

Thank you so much Derrel Lyon!

You can find TexasWare on Etsy, see some sellers below who sell TexasWare, search their shop or click on the photo to go to Etsy to find some texasware!

The Making of the Texasware Mottled Melmac Mixing Bowl

Speckled Texasware Mixing Bowls from Etsy Shop Museum of Kitsch

Speckled and Spattered the Texasware Bowl Comes to Life

Thanks to this blog and my articles on Melmac on the web, I have heard from readers all over the world, and I have been fortunate enough to hear from the grandchildren of the owner of Plastics Manufacturing Company, who produced Texasware melamine dinnerware among other plastics.  "Gary Joy's" grandfather started the company, but dad also worked there, up until he passed in 1983.  The company was since sold but technically heir to the original owners, so pardon the reference.

"My grandfather started Plastics Mfg. Co. in Dallas in the late 40s - my father ran the company until his death in 1983. 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 - Gary Joy "

In simple terms, back in the heydey, PMC was the BIG BOY of dish production. Smaller molders would buy melamine molding powders or melmac formula powders to mold plastic dishes; but not PMC! They were making their own powders and dishes. In technical terms, they were producing laminating paper, laminating resins, melamine moulding compounds, urea molding compound and 135 resin  of production to name a few circa 1979.

I will simply state that this simple story is a great example of America's industrialism and a family run business. Thank you so much for reaching out to me, my readers will love this story.

Pic: By U.S. Air Force [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Gary Joy wrote that it was Granddad who started PMC in the late 1940's .  He had been manufacturing B17 bubbles during the war. We know that WW2 Dated 1939-1945 and in case you are wondering, this would be the gigantic Boeing B17 airplane (see aboved.

When Granddad switched to making tabletops for awhile, and finally mainstreamed into dinnerware, I wonder if perhaps this move would be the most profitable one at the time? Perhaps really, the most historical decision he ever made.   Every time I look at a Texasware dish now, I will wonder what possessed a man who was molding aircraft parts and laminated tables to dabble in the dishes?

The Making of the Texasware Mottled Mixing Bowl

When her father went to work for the Company, he was an innovator and she explains, "He did things other companies could not do. Dad took a bunch of scraps and made the first speckled bowl. He brought it home and Mom thought it was hideous. "

Poof , just like that, a speckled bowl was made.   Isn't that ironic, throwing a bunch of scrap pieces together and making history? Perhaps some of the best creations are made in error, or on the fly.  Texas Ware's mottled mixing bowls have become a collector's dream and I'm very thankful (for once) we have a man who didn't listen to his wife's opinion on style and design. These treasures may have never existed.

But Wait Who Was First?

Back in the day I was in a group of four friends and we vehemently discussed melmac and for the sake of journalism, our big discussion was who was first to market.  In this instance, I think it's important who was BEST to market.  I have seen early examples of Boontonware mixing bowls and later examples of Brookpark mixing bowls (closest in design and confetti mottling to Texasware-see below). Perhaps you will agree PMC / Texasware was known for these bowls.

Even more confusing, I see so many speckled, confetti, or spattered melamine dishes erroneously tagged Texasware, as there is a plethora of people who assume anything with speckles is called Texasware, which it's not.

Now granted, for the sake of unbiased reporting, I can't be certain this was "the holy grail" of speckling, and keep in mind this wasn't uncommon for employees at plastics plants or even companies to make "end of day" dinnerware with left over scraps. I've seen early examples of Beetleware with speckles plus a lot of glittery 50's flexible kitchen plastics.  I've written about Russel Wright's speckled melamine items circa 1953 and Northern Melamine's end of day wares, so we could get all technical on who put the first bit speck or stipple or mottle in the dish or in the plastic,  but we won't go there because who has time for that?

First mottle in plastic? I wouldn't be surprised if a defunct plastic molder made a sewing button and was first to spatter or speckle plastics, out of pure necessity and need for buttons hence, perhaps we will never know.

I'm simply discussing the magnitude of the design impact of Texas Ware Bowls.  So call it what you will, Spatterware , Speckled, Mottled, Confetti, or even Dabbled or Spotted, but you will not find anything as amazing. 

Look for yourself, anything similar to the Texasware in the bowls you see on this Etsy page or just so-so blazay-blazay spatters and speckle?

Above:  Speckled Melmac for sale on Etsy search term : Spatterware+Melmac 

Below we see Brookpark's examples and they look much like Texasware, only different being PMC's design was more footed and thicker on the bottom ridge.   See for yourself and would you agree that these bowls are simply stunning?

Retro Replacements has these for sale, look like TexasWare but they are Brookpark.

Texas Ware Bowl lovely at best.  Note the footed ridge. Found:  @mightyMODERN

Boonton's Mixing Bowl note, this is heavy mottling, most I have seen are less mottled and less prominent. This is a beauty found @PieInSkyVintage

I guess that's more about bowls that you want to know, but as someone famous once said there are no mistakes in life, just happy accidents. 

Thanks for reading!

Part Two Coming Soon   Wait for Part Two, where Gary Joy explains more about the Small Fry Originals...Coming soon....

I encourage sharing of my blog but please note if you wish to reference any part of this article you must adhere to my Content policy. Thanks.

Melmac Morphed: The Divided Grill Plate

Courtesy: OldBoldReadytobeSold on Etsy

Ah, yessssss.........the melmac grill plate. Perhaps one of the dinosaurs in melmac history.  When melamine was just emerging for dish use, the divided grill plate or compartmental tray was used early on in mess halls, cafeterias, and hospitals.  Although it still has the same "industrial" look to it finding good examples that aren't all scratched up make them one of melmac's rarities.By the mid 1950's many companies had the grill plate as part of their melmac lines.  

Arrowhead divided grill plates, $38 for the stack at OldBoldReadytobeSold on Etsy.

 Edward Don and Company were making compartmentalized plates and selling them to the restaurant industry. Russel Wright's grill plate made in the Meladur line was quickly absorbed by General American and sold outright to cafeterias, hospitals and institutions. Mallory Randall was making grill plates in their Malloware line.  Boonton Molding Company was also cornering the market, offering a more "chunky" version, chock full of melmac!

Boonton divided grill plates are chunky and heavy @ RetroChalet.

From a distance, they looked exactly like their china or heavy duty ceramic cousins often used in diners and roadside cafe's.  Not often bought by the consumer, these bulky plastic models were mainly used for industrial use.   It wasn't long before most top popular lines were merging them into their catalog.

We can't forget about Texasware!  These only $25 from AuntSistersPicks on Etsy. PMC, their molder, also offered them in their DallasWare line.

MORPHING...

During the same time, however, similiar or morphed variations thereof would emerge that would indeed appeal to the modern housewife. Take for instance,  some form of space age plastic fondue dishes like the ones below.  Perhaps not melmac, but close...and a must for entertaining!

Set, $19, TatterandFray

What about picnic sets? They were the rage.  Often sold in camping and travel magazines, one would use these not only for picnics but for camping or RV use. Picnic sets applied the same principal of a cool divided dish or tray .  They are still readily found and some are as pristine as they were in the 40's and 50's.  Most are polystryene or thinner plastic than melamine, but still adorable!

Retro compartmentalized lunch plates, $12, by JumpShipZon.

Regaline picnic set, $14, CashmereJellybean

Of course over time, many shapes, styles, and plastics emerged as divided dinnerware solutions. Perhaps not directly related to the grill plate, except by association or particle composition only, but cool nonetheless.

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE:

PiratesB00ty offers this pristine picnic set, Fremware, $16

Prolon lunch trays, $28, by Especial Ethel

Purple TexasWare Melmac

A steal at $57, here, as purple is hard to find!

Source: etsy.com via Cindy on Pinterest

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!

!

Shades of Mottled Melamine - Confetti, Spatterware, End of Day and More

Gorgeous Bowl by JeremySmith1985

 It's no secret that I love the mottled melmac. Confetti, spatter, end of day, or whatever you want to call it it's probably at the tops of my list. Maybe because it's different, not boring, and and technically, there would be no two exactly alike.   Of course, for me, they remind me of a time in my childhood.

Creating something yummy with Mom in the early 1970's in my Texasware bowl. 

Most often we think of the large TexasWare and Brookpark mixing bowls when we think about confetti ware--exactly like the kind I used as a kid with my mom!  These nesting bowls are still very collectible today, and look just lovely in your kitchen holding fruit or snacks!  They are great to mix dough in !

This is most likely Brookpark, but is just as lovely and found at AtHomeinNapa.

Many other things came out in "mottled" plastic, from ashtrays to adorable cups!  I've seen a few mugs too,  lots of military ware out including tumblers, mugs, and mess hall dishes.  I think Halsey may still be making them.

Melmac cups like these were used in bathrooms and as premiums by Kraft Foods.  This by RetroChalet.

I've seen some office ware, nut dishes, and lots of school cafeteria trays!  Normally we see the compartmentalized tray, like this one :

Mottled Tray by CarpeBellus.

But once in a while you get lucky and find them without compartments that make them ideal for putting things on, from lunch....to boudoir items!

Lovely Mottled Tray by Nanas Mercantile!

Lovely tray by RetroChalet, probably not melamine but hard plastic, still lovely.

I suppose I really think the best bet when going for mottled is the bowls. You can use them for so many things.  This salad set below is a huge find, and at a reasonable price.

Lamoyne's original molds are being used, get this at OrangeDoorVintage.

Originally styled by Kaye Lamoyne for Branchell, it was sold in Color-flyte colors. Later after Lenox acquired Branchell, the molds were sold and the items reproduced by gosh-knows-who.  This is Lamoyne's design!  This would look great on your patio for a summertime picnic! With mottled melamine, you can't go wrong--all of it is lovely.

Rare mottled mixing bowl by Miramar of California, a harder to find line at Designs4Justice!

Read more about Confetti Plastics and End of Day Melmac Here!

Funky Dallas Ware Atomic Mid Century Modern Trays Texas Ware Does it Again

Just when I think I can't see anything cooler from Texas Ware along comes these trays.

These trays are funky and atomic, and I only had a few of them, from the Derek Schultz Collection.  I shared the love with plastics Researcher Christopher McPherson, and only have a few left to sell.  Oddly I cannot fathom what they were, an experiment or a special order for a customer.  I know schools or industrial institutions were not using such funky shapes! They are 13" round and super heavy.  Would be great for entertaining, snack trays, or backyard bbq's! If you know anything about these do let me know! They are backstamped Dallas Ware, by Plastics Manufacturing ....(aka Texasware!)

The Allure of Texas Ware Melmac : an Ira Mency Reflection on Plastics Manufacturing Company thanks to Google Earth

The Allure of Texas Ware Melmac.....

Little Ira Mency mixing cookie dough with her mother circa 1979.

Yep, that's a rare photo of my childhood, with a putrid 60ish kitchen.  However, the focus here is the spatter ware Texas Ware "garbage bowl." In 1979 my very young Italian mother was trying to teach me how to cook some type of bread .  Far be it for me to actually learn (I ended up marrying a chef!).  In a time before "health department guidelines" my best memory is squishing the dough in between my fingers and mushing it in the several sizes of Texas Ware mottled melamine bowls.  (Perhaps this fueled my desire to eventually become an artist, I don't know.)  Texas Ware, (and Dallas Ware) melamine is found everywhere still to this day, from the second hand shops to the estate sales.  

A photo from  a Texas Ware "garbage bowl for sale" courtesy of  SusanAntique on Etsy.

Enter the "garbage bowl" as donned by Rachael Ray.  A collector of original Texas Ware melmac herself, she released her own line of made-in-china mixing bowls.  Not only do these bowl serve as use in the kitchen for picking up your snippets and peels and eggshells but ironically were originally called "garbage" or "end of day" by the factory and employees themselves.  Quite possibly because they incorporated leftover "pucks of melamine" or "powders" that were leftover from other jobs or wouldn't be used.  Frequently the most devine in design comes by accidentally on purpose.  Ray's replica's blew out of stores went to back order, like this one, sold out at QVC:

The "fake" Texas Ware lookalike as released by Rachael Ray, on QVC, still pretty in design.

Back to PMC (Plastics Manufacturing Company) of Dallas.  This huge conglomerate manufactured Texas Ware and original Dallas Ware* (*now manufactured by Carlisle Company) ranging from packaged dinnerware sets to cafeteria trays was last located at 2700 S Westmoreland Rd in Dallas, TX 75233, (below)  Images courtesy of Google/Driving Directions.  CLICK HERE TO USE THIS TOOL.

Let's zoom in to what I think is Texas Ware, corner of Hansboro and Westmoreland reveals a 2700 block sign:  (Courtesy of :  GOOGLE MAPS )

This image from Google Earth: Corner of Westmoreland and Hansboro Street.

 

Sneak around back and notice what looks like a "grain feed".  
Was this for melamine pellets?

I interviewed someone (Paul Rothstein) for my Russel Wright research as he was owner of a Canadian Plastics Company, and he told me that Texas Ware was THE BIG BOY of melamine.  He told me, "They had even found a way to manufacture their own melamine powders, making their production costs go down.  Additionally they had a "seconds" thrift store across from them, where they sold the factory imperfections or unsold stock. "  From the view above, (Hansboro Road) you can walk down a little further thanks to GOOGLE EARTH and see what appears to be smokestacks in the distance which would be located further up on Westmoreland.  Everything I find says they started in 1946.

Ariel View HERE of corner of Westmoreland and Glenfield.  
Time to make the plastics?

I also went to the end of the large conglomerate on Westmoreland, and went down Glenfield,

Now, granted, I don't know if that is or was Texas Ware, but in my dreams it the below update says so... and I certainly would appreciate any information you have.  Granted, I was really confused because earlier on there was a different address from m.  Enter Everyday Art Quarterly from 1946, and through the mid fifties, just as y research this ad from Life Magazine 1956 gave an address of 825 Trunk Avenue in Dallas Texas.  Could this have been just a sales office, or possibly the headquarters prior to the Westmorland address? Here's an ariel view of the place as it stands now leaves it hard to tell.    A quick search of the Dallas Historical Society gave me no information, oddly. 

 

Update: According to the reader below, his comments give us a great story of when he worked at Texas Ware. 

He says: 

 

In about 1967, when I was in high school, I had a summer job at Plastics Manufacturing Company. The pictures you have are in fact the plant where I worked.

As I recall, the dry plastic pellets would be used to fill a small mould which would be compressed into a "brick", maybe about 2" square by 1 1/2" thick. These would be weighed on an over/under scale to check them for proper weight. The bricks would be stacked in containers and sent to the moulding department.

Here, there were large, heated presses. When the press would open, you would place a brick in the center of the plate mould and the hot press would close and mould the plate. When it opened, if the plate was to have a design, the operator would place what looked like a piece of wax paper with the design on it on the plate and the press would close again and melt it into the surface of the plate. From here, the plate would get the flash ground off the edges, inspected and packed.

I've always been fascinated by manufacturing processes so this was very interesting to me. Although this was only a summer job, I can't say it was a great experience. The air was thick with plastic dust and at night I would go home with nose bleeds. I never saw anyone with a respirator. Thank goodness there is no way you could run a plant today with these conditions. I always wondered if the plant was shut down because of environmental concerns. The plant is pretty much in the middle of a residential area and has been vacant since PMC left it.

Thank you whoever you are, I wish you would contact me so I can interview you.

Unconfirmed Rumor:  Someone told me that Texas Ware was sold to Worthington Plastics in 1966era but I have been unable to confirm that information when in fact there is evidence that Texas Ware was still being produced thru the 70's....so I am wondering was this a situation where Worthtington secretly bought them out (as many companies do to keep afloat) and kept the Plastics Manufacturing Name and the Texas Ware lines and no one knew?

Trunk Avenue Location If you want to navigate this map 

yourself, GO HERE, courtesy of Google Maps!

COOL TEXAS WARE LINKS: 

 

• Here is an article about Texas Ware that goes onto give excerpts of Texas Ware memories (Not sure if I believe that the broken dishes were busted up and remolded -- as I thought thermoset plastics like "melamine" cannot done that, but who am I to say.  Sure would like to see one of those plastic chunk bowls!

  • Here are all my posts on Texas Ware on this website..

• Here is a great article on How to Identify your Texas Ware...  by Tera Crain.  Though she does warn of Dallas Ware being made by Carlisle Company now, I want to reiterate that originally it was made by PMC.  So, do check out your backstamps to see if yours is "authentic PMC!"

Time for shopping!  Enjoy!

Vintage Texasware ORANGE cof... Bluebernicevin... $12.40	Retro Texas Ware Melmac Conf... bigfishlilpond $40.00	Peachy Picnic Texas Ware Set... SpooningShop $28.00
ONE Texas Ware Stacking Lunc... thewildplum $7.00	Texas Ware Fork and Spoon Pa... bythewayside $15.00	8 Texas Ware Dessert Bowls FoundAlchemy $7.95
Vintage Texas Ware nesting b... FunkyAttic $15.00	Vintage Texas Ware Confetti ... StoneSchoolVin... $20.00	Set of 10 Texas Ware PMC Tea... modapple $40.00
Vintage Texasware Melmac Dis... RomanceWriter $12.00	Rare Pink Texas Ware bowl se... RetroChalet $22.00	1954 Print Ad Texas Ware Dis... retrovisions $10.00
Texas Ware Serving Bowl Set ... vintagebitsand... $24.00	2 Melmac Texas Ware Bowls - ... VintageHillbil... $8.00	Vintage Green Confetti Bowl ... susantique $39.95

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