Homer Laughlin by Steelite International HL2591636 Black Checkers 9 3/4" x 8" Ivory (American White) Narrow Rim Oval Platter - 24/Case

At Homer Laughlin, here we make Fiestaware as our main product but we make all kinds of fine china. The company has been here for over 100 years. If you see the hand and the pride that has gone into it, you would understand that people here present themselves that they do create a quality piece of ware and we preach that every day- that's what's going to keep us in business - the pride of your ware. It may look easy, but it's really not. I feel very proud at the end of the day when i'm done. I feel proud of what i have done today. We make our own tools for casting - this is just one of them, and it cuts the top of the ware so that it makes it easier to finish and it gives it a rounded look. I try to do a good job. I do a really good job and it makes me feel good. There is a lot of craftsmanship. We want our products to be a good, quality that people want. I am actually what they call a hand-liner- only i work in gold which is considered precious metals. I've been doing it for 37 years. Homer Laughlin used to be everywhere, now it's not that much anymore. Everything seems to be imported. When they import the dinnerware from say, China, or overseas, they are not held to the same standards for the lead content and stuff as we are here in the United States. If somebody serves me dinner when I'm out at a restaurant and i get an imported plate and it has a chip in it, i'll send it back. I won't eat on it. I don't know whether you've heard of plate flippers, but it doesn't matter where i go to eat i have to see where the ware is from. You'll become a plate flipper. You'll flip it over to see if it's made by Homer Laughlin. You're out in a restaurant and you flip the clip to see where it's made, or see if its made here. We flip the plates in restaurants to see what ware they're using - whether it's an import. Some people will tell them too - they'll say 'Why don't you get something made in the USA?" We are the last commercial pottery in the United States. It's a shame that companies have fallen to the overseas stuff, but we take very good pride and we feel that we do a better job than anyone when it comes to pottery. If you're buying fiestaware or china from Homer Laughlin China Company, you're not only buying the finest quality ware, you're also supporting quality people, manufacturing jobs. As you can see most of the people have been here fifty, forty, thirty years. You don't get up and do a job everyday if you don't wanna make sure its the right way to do it. And that's what we want to do - we want to do things the right way.