Wednesday, October 21, 2009

VTT - Autumn Leaves & Vintage Melmac Dishes



It's a little early for Thanksgiving Greetings, but I thought the leaves on this old Thanksgiving postcard went nicely with my vintage Melmac dishes that also have an autumn leaves pattern. The photo of my dishes shows what is left of my garden in the background. My marigolds froze, but most of my other flowers survived the snow and frost we had last week.



These dishes are what remain from a large set of Mallory Plastics dinnerware that I bought new at a bargain store in 1968. I still have 2 serving bowls, 6 dinner plates, 6 small plates, and 7 fruit dishes. The set also included cups and saucers, tumblers, and some accessories that I got rid of because I never used them. This set has survived a lot of careless handling. I recently discovered that it is easy to remove stains and dirt embedded in scratches and markings with baking soda and a soft toothbrush.

The images below show the markings on the backs. This set is probably an unusual combination of pieces. The large green serving bowl is marked P. R. Mallory Plastics Inc. Chicago 41, Ill. the other green and yellow dishes just are marked by Mallory. The green dishes are marked Mallo-Ware; the yellow dishes are marked Mallo-Belle. The dinner plate is not marked with a company or trade name.

According to a Mallo-Ware Website, the marking on the large green serving bowl is an older marking than the others. The colors are identified there as Ice Green and Buttercup Yellow. I couldn't identify the pattern on the dinner plates. I did see many other patterns of autumn leaves on Melmac dinnerware when I searched eBay. In researching vintage Melmac, I also found a blog that shows a lot of vintage magazine ads for Melmac by various makers: Retroamerica.



large Mallo-Ware serving bowl with handles



Mallo-Belle serving bowl without handles



Mallo-Belle fruit dish



small Mallo-Ware plate



Melmac dinner plate with autumn leaves design


Vintage Thingies Thursdays

16 comments:

  1. What a nice variety of Melmac dishes. We had some of those years ago, but have them no longer. Yours are very vintage. It is hard to believe you have already had a hard freeze. I hate cold weather.

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  2. What nice dishes. I love dishes that are made in the USA :-)

    Jocelyn
    http://justalittlesouthernhospitality.blogspot.com/

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  3. Growing up using melmac dishes, I never cared one way or the other about them, but now I love them so much, and I always buy them when I see them!
    Happy VTT!

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  4. I love melmac dishes, too. I have a number of bowls and platters that I use. I see sets of them at yard sales, but I hold back and don't get them, because I'm running out of room.

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  5. gorgeous postcard & those delightful dishes bring back memories of my 50s childhood :)

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  6. I love Melmac! Don't have any though. Always such beautiful pastel colors. Plain, simple and unbreakable! What's not to love!

    P.S. Thanks for the link to Retro America - I will have to spend some time there.

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  7. Boy does melmac bring back memories. I just love your postcard. I have an English Setter and am always on the look out for hunting dog stuff. The fact that there's a woman shooting instead of a man is very interesting. You don't run across that very often. Thanks for showing it!

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  8. Love your dishes, I have seen several pieces lately at sales, I love the leaf pattern. Thanks for sharing today! Have a great fall weekend and a happy VTT!

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  9. I've heard of Melmac but never paid much attention to it. Thanks for posting and for the photos of the back of the bowls. Very interesting. Love the colors.

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  10. OH, wow! Those dishes are really fantastic! I love them!

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  11. Love the mallo-ware! Beautiful colors!

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  12. Thanks for introducing me to Melmac dishes. I love the colors.

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  13. have to love that melmac dishes I have seen many sets with style of thier own

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  14. Love the postcard. The dishes are quite nice, it's good that you enjoy them rather than have them sit on a shelf gathering dust!

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  15. I love the postcard--it's never too early for Thanksgiving!

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  16. The leaves DO go great with your Melmac!

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