At the end of September 1934, Frederick Rhead worked on several 9" plates with various types of flutes on the rim as well as versions with floral embossing on the verge. J.M. Wells approved a fluted plate with embossing on October 5, 1934 and ordered development to commence. Rhead was very optimistic about the shape stating, New shape is different from anything on the market. Other potteries were producing embossed shapes and lines with flutes, but there wasn't anything quite like Coronet.
Modeling the rest of the Coronet shape was put on hold for several weeks while the Art Department worked on expanding the Marigold line which had recently been put into production as well as some oven ware pieces for Royal Metal. At the end of November, work began on what was then called the "fluted" or sometimes "paneled" shape. It wasn't until the first week of December that Rhead starts to call the line, "Coronet." He notes special backstamp drawings for both Coronet and Royal Metal begin delivered to The Quality Stamp Company (producers of backstamps for many potteries in the area) on December 4, 1934.
by the end of January 1935, most of the Coronet pieces were finished. There was only on problem item; the handled soup bowl. The original plan was to make a cream soup cup - a low bowl with handles at either side. However, this was changed to an onion soup. Onion soups are usually taller than a cream soup and have lug handles (in the case of Fiesta, the onion soup was made with a lid.) The Coronet onion soup was modeled in December 1934, but on January 1, 1935, Rhead notes trying a replacement. He took the lug soup, cut of the lugs, and applied the sugar bowl handles. He never mentions this version again.
The final two items modeled for Coronet were in March: the coupe soup and the open sugar. Originally, Coronet had a covered sugar, but the open sugar from March of '34 was released into production in July of the same year. Should you find a Coronet sugar without the inner flange to hold a lid, then it is an open sugar.
Some of Coronet's first treatments were hand-painted embossing work. Polychrome, a combination of yellow, green, blue, and red, was the first of these and Rhead notes in January 1935 testing various colors. On the 24th he wrote: At [plant] 6 started line of girls working on Coronet Polychrome. Other color of embossing would follow in the same manner as those on Marigold and OvenServe. Coronet is found mainly with decals, but there are silver and gold stamp treatments which mimic the floral verge embossing. A few underglaze treatments were also used.
Coronet in solid colors is not easy to come by, Melon yellow, sea green, and ivory are the only ones found thus far. These are marked with either the standard Coronet backstamp or a Wells Art Glazes marking. At one point, Rhead suggested making an inexpensive line of Coronet in Fiesta glazes. Rhead never writes of producing Coronet samples in Fiesta glazes stating such a line would, "cost as much as Fiesta."
Coronet was produced well into the 1940s. Unfortunately, its backstamp doesn't have a date code so approximating when it was discontinued is difficult. The 1951 edition of The China and Glass Red Book, a trade journal listing all shapes made by potteries, listed Coronet. However, in the 1952 edition, it is no longer available.
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