Thursday, November 08, 2007

So Long, Persimmon!

This afternoon, I got a call from friend and fellow Fiesta collector, Denise from New Mexico. When I answered the phone, she uttered those fateful words: "They're retiring persimmon".

Bad news, indeed. Aside from being my favorite Fiesta color, persimmon is one of those few colors that goes with everything. It works equally well with pastels, jewel tones, and brights. It can be used on both an Easter table and a fall-themed Thanksgiving table. And when mixed with sunflower, chartreuse, turquoise, persimmon creates a fun summertime motif.

I also find persimmon to be a suitable stand-in for pink when Rose isn't available. And it did a pretty good job of filling the red void before scarlet was introduced.

Denise also informed me that the flower pot, bulb candleholders, Monarch Vase, and--another personal favorite--the Royalty Vase will be discontinued as well.

On the bright side, the discontinuation of these items means clearance prices on remaining stock. I guess I'll be watching for sales at Dillard's and the Homer Laughlin China website. Maybe I'll pick up a persimmon Royalty Vase for my double retireds collection.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I thought of you first thing Val-
I know you are crushed- I have very little persimmon for some reason- I got on a chartreuse and juniper binge for a while and have way too much juniper actually. Time to pick up that persimmon for me now!

Ms. Val said...

Lots of green there, Denise. You and Teri will have a lot to talk about when you visit next month.

As for the demise of persimmon, I'll get over it. Having been in production for 12+ years, there's a lot of it floating around out there. With the help of ebay, persimmon will never become rare.

I can't wait to see what the new color will be. I'm hoping for some variation of antique gold...or perhaps a Hershey bar brown. That would look HOT with turquoise.

MG said...

Having been in production for 12+ years, there's a lot of it floating around out there.

Persimmon was made right after the lilac hoopla. I remember when it was first released, people went crazy and hoarded it. Collectors did the same thing with chartreuse, but after that, the craze died down with each new color. You're right... there is a lot of it out there and there will never be a persimmon shortage.

ChristopherM said...

Val, like Denise, you're the first person I thought of when I read about persimmon. It's never been one of my favorites, though I have been appreciating it a bit more lately. I was hoping they'd get rid of cinnabar, which I think looks like a blood clot.

Ms. Val said...

Mark--
Thanks for the history lesson! As a relatively new collector, my knowledge of the Fiesta market is mostly limited to the last 3 years or so.

Christopher--
Thanks a lot for that visual!!!!! :-P Now I'll never be able to eat off of a cinnabar dish ever again! Good thing most of my cinnabar is limited to a place setting, jumbo bowl, 2 juice pitchers (from the BC liquidation) and a carafe.