Genuine Fiestaware
The word Genuine began appearing around 1940 or shortly before then. Homer Laughlin introduced this signature to combat the large number of imitations that followed the success of fiesta.
The New Fiesta
In 1986, when Fiesta was revived, the F in Fiesta was given a distinctive loop, making it appear uppercase. Also, Fiesta started using the Trademark (TM) and Registration (R) symbols after 1986.
Lead Free Fiestaware
The words Lead Free appeared after January 1992.
NOTE:
The original molds from the 30s were used in the production of the new Fiesta after 1986. This causes some problems with identifying the pieces as the earlier 1986 forward pieces had the same markings as the older pieces. Later on these indented pieces a ink stamp was also added. So to identify what you have you need to understand the colors used at the beginning and what colors were available in 1986.
Date Codes
Also in1992, Fiestaware began bearing date codes. The year is noted by two letters and the month is noted by a single letter. For example, KK is the year code for 1996 and G is the month code for July. A piece made in July 1996 would be stamped with KKG. Homer Laughlin has used date codes on commerical products since 1960, but these codes did not appear on Fiesta until 1992. Below is a chart for date codes:
| Homer Laughlin Date Codes for Year: | Homer Laughlin Date Codes for Month: |
|
|
This page does not cover all Fiesta signatures but it does give the new collector an insight into the different signatures and the date they were used. Having some background into signatures helps make you smarter when searching or buying fiesta. Even then with so many different pieces not marked it is hard to know what is old or new. Learning the different signatures and colors and when they were used can help you avoid the pit falls of losing money.