SCORE! (Just Need More)

[danemodsandy]

I had a very helpful text with photo from Ben (swestoyz) today, telling me that he thought something I was looking for was at Stuff, the consignment chain store.

Uh, YEAH, it was something I was looking for - nine dinner plates in Corelle's Snowflake Blue pattern. It's one of the original four Corelle Livingware patterns introduced in 1970 (the other three were Winter Frost White, Butterfly Gold and Spring Blossom Green), and it's the hardest to find, because it was the poorest seller and therefore the first Corelle pattern ever to be discontinued (in February of 1976).

I ran like the proverbial bunny to Stuff, where I got the lot for only $8.99. This was a major boost for my collection of the pattern, which was not off to a good start - I only had six cups, six saucers, a sugar bowl minus the lid and two bread-and-butter plates. Now I am in much better shape - this is enough to begin actually using.

Public thanks to Ben for the texted photo, and I'm hoping to fill this service out with more soon. A stock photo of the pattern is below:

 

[jeffg]

A quick eBay check netted some interesting Snowflake Blue pieces, including napkin rings (a bit too Latter Days imo . I've always loved Livingware, the reverse patterns (for Snowflake Blue I think it was called Blue Garland) even moreso. Somehow I still remember the discussion about it in our family around 1970. My mom was like most others at the time: everything was big and bold (from hair styles to huge racing stripes on cars etc), so the similar Livingware patterns sold more. Especially the Butterfly Gold. People thought the larger patterns were giving them more for their money. Funny how the smaller/simpler patterns are more attractive today.

Also no offense meant to anyone but the pattern always struck me as Islamic. I think it's the scrolled line with dots above and below.

 

[danemodsandy]

I Think....

....The reason that Butterfly Gold and Spring Blossom Green sold so well was that they were basically Harvest and Avocado. Since many housewives cannot trust themselves to coordinate other colors with their appliances (and for good and sufficient reason, too), matching those appliances was important to them. Winter Frost White would have been popular with the "good taste" contingent, who wanted modernist simplicity.

Snowflake Blue was the odd pattern out. Intended to give Corelle a blue-and-white offering, it didn't go with the era's trendy appliance colors, and the pattern didn't relate to anything blue-and-white fans had ever seen before. Corelle corrected that problem when they replaced Snowflake Blue with Old Town Blue, which is still in limited production for Corning outlet stores.

I like Snowflake Blue because it's simple and quiet and is not an imitation of anything else, the way Old Town Blue is; that pattern is based on old Meissen blue-and-white, which many people know as "Blue Onion." A photo of Old Town Blue is below:[this post was last edited: 2/17/2013-20:14]