Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Temporama - A Retro Find!

I found some Temporama dishes at my local thrift store last week. I'd never heard of Canonsburg Pottery or Temporama, but was instantly drawn to the retro pattern & colors. It has a circular pattern of squiggles, sunbursts, lines & snowflakes in turquoise and tan.Since I'd never heard of the pottery company or the pattern before, I did some research. Here's what I found out:

Canonsburg Pottery was started as Canonsburg China Company in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania (outside of Pittsburgh) in 1900 by John George, but the name was changed in 1909 to Canonsburg Pottery. In 1959 they bought the molds & equipment from the Steubenville Pottery Company when it closed down and continued making some of their patterns under the Steubenville name. Canonsburg went out of business in 1978. Though Temporama is very 1960s in style & color, Canonsburg is probably best known for its floral patterns.

At the thrift store, I got 2 small oval platters, an egg platea gravy boatand a covered casserole
I priced them and put them in the shop, but have 'seller's remorse'! As I write about them and look at the pictures again, I want to go right back and get them to keep for myself.

13 comments:

Zootsuitmama said...

Hey I got that egg platter at a thrift store last Summer, too! I also have a cool coffee pot with that design! I mix and match it, and love the design and patterns on them!

Tinyholder said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
bopfish said...

I was just posting about my Temporama gravy boat with it's light blue under plate at my mid century blog. Check it out bopfish@blogger.com

Pinkadot Quilts said...

I saw an entire set of these dishes at a thrift store last month! I did like them but have no room to keep them.

jessica91980 said...

I used to have this entire set! I found it at a Salvation Army in the middle of nowhere PA, and purchased it for about $15. I was 15 at the time. Now, at 32, I have had pieces broken or stolen by bad roommates, the gravy boat stolen by an ex boyfriend (weird, huh?), and am down to 3 dinner plates. But, I am starting to piece the collection back together! What a wonderful pattern!

Auju Sazu said...

Do you know if these are these dishwasher safe? Thanks a bunch. Can't find any info anywhere...

wendoxia said...

I just scored service for 12 at a local thrift store and I cant decide whether to keep it all.. sell half... its so adorable i cant stand it!
I also learned that it was a 1960s era supermarket premium, somewhere...

Anonymous said...

I have a collection of temporama from my Grandmother.I am starting to add more pieces. I notice some are marked and some are not. Are the unmarked ones fake reproductions?

Anonymous said...

I have around 132 pieces of the Temporama collection plus 8 vinyl placemats in the same pattern but can't find anything on the placemats, I have looked on every site I can find. Love your site.....

Unknown said...

I have this entire set I'm selling. Plates,cups, sugar container, and creamer.

Unknown said...

Do you still have this available? If so, where can I purchase and what’s the price? Thx!

Anne@Kitschy Vintage said...

@ Unknown, 8-14-20....
I can’t reply directly to you and you didn’t leave your name, but I’m answering here in a comment. The original pieces in this blog post are long gone. I have an egg plate, some bread plates and coffee cups in my Etsy shop. You can find a link at the top of this page

corrina said...

Is anyone worried about this dinnerware being radioactive?

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