Franciscan Desert Rose Collection

A huge mix-and-match collection of Franciscan Desert Rose popped up on Craiglist the other day. If you're in Hollywood you might look it up. I especially like this quote from the seller, "the reason i have so many plates is i had to buy people's entire collections just to get their serving pieces."
Been There, Done That!

Brock of California

This afternoon I was down at my local Old Dishes Superstore, aka Sacred Heart Thrift Store, and found a great old plate by Brock of California.  This was the California Farmhouse pattern...ya got a donkey pulling a hay wagon to the barn...not exactly mid-century modern.
Bertram J. Brock produced his dinnerware in Lawndale from 1947 to 1980 and also used the name Southern California Pottery.  Most of the Brock patterns were rural in nature incorporating various farm scenes. But a couple of patterns break from that and I think they're quite nice.  First, there's Aloha, which as the name indicates is a tropical pattern of palm trees swaying in the South Sea breeze. The other, which I think is just wonderful, is Brock Manzanita. This is a real stark design...a lone leafless manzanita in black and platinum plus a few cactus.  This patterns has aged well and still looks great (to me).
California Farmhouse and the other rural patterns are pretty easy to find.  Manzanita is kind of tough to locate.  And Aloha is really quite scarce.