• Home
• Salt & Peppers
• Catalogs
• Newsletters
• Articles
• History
• Research

A Frankoma catalog history

Because of factory fires and the general ravages of time most of the early written history of Frankoma pottery is lost. Some of the best and certainly the most reliable information is in their catalogs.

Frankoma did not issue catalogs in a regular manner until the late 1950’s, so for the first 25 years catalog availability is hit and miss.  I believe John Frank issued a new catalog when he had a pressing need to sell his production, not as any regular and predictable part of a business plan.
John Frank started his own pottery in 1933 as a cottage industry with himself, his wife and a couple of high school students doing the work.

By 1936 the marketing had moved beyond the retail shop.  Shops across Oklahoma wanted to stock his items so the first catalog became necessary.  Original copies of this catalog are exceedingly rare.  I have never seen one.  Fortunately Sue Cox in her first book printed a complete copy of the 1936 catalog.

In 1938 Frank issued a supplement to the first catalog.  I believe it is only a few pages.  It is more rare than the 1936 catalog. I have not seen a copy of it either. Of course in the fall of 1938 Frankoma history took a sharp turn when the plant burned.  Frankoma would not need a new catalog until 1942.  A second war catalog appeared in 1943, not much different from the prior year.  Those two catalogs presented the new lines of colored dinnerware that in time would make Frankoma famous.

From 1944 through 1947 Frankoma focused on dinnerware production and did not issue general catalogs. In 1948 John Frank was able to expand the factory to produce a wider range of wares.  A new catalog for 1948 displayed those wares to the wholesale trade.  Frankoma was by then a large company.  Frankoma would issue a catalog or supplement in most years now up until the Frank family lost control of the company in 1991.

Some catalogs still have other documents included such as a sales letter, an order blank, or other offerings. I will post these with their appropriate catalog where available. Keep in mind that items not bound in the catalog might be from other years. Most have some date indicator.

Some years have supplemental catalogs and I will post these within the appropriate year as separate files. Examples are the Christmas gift catalog of 1953 and the Sculptor catalog of 1973. I will post undated and unidentified items in a separate section

After the new owners arrived the catalog sequence becomes difficult to track. I have catalogs for 1991 and 1992. I also have a set of sales sheets and a price list from 1995. At some point all of the information migrated to the web. I doubt that copies of the web site are available to the public.

I will post as much information here as possible. I recently received permission from Mr. Ragosta, the owner of Frankoma, to post all Frankoma catalogs. I will start with the earlier catalogs and work my way forward. You will need Adobe Reader to view the scans.