Question:
I have about 11 or 12 dinner plates that are the institutional speckle pattern. There is no design. Some are stamped on the bottom, and some are not. I bought them about 20 years ago at the Red Wing Pottery facility in Red Wing. They were sitting outside in a bargain corner. Are they worth anything? Do you know a collector who would want them? They are just sitting in a box. Thank you. Gretchen

Answer: I can’t be certain of the identity of your plates without a photo or some additional details. The "institutional speckle pattern" is most likely a beige fleck glaze, which was used as the background color for several dinnerware patterns such as Bob White and Round Up. The only pattern with the beige fleck glaze and no hand painted decoration was Hotel & Restaurant — a line of sturdy dishes designed for the restaurant trade. The plates have a narrow ribbed band around the rim but are otherwise quite plain. Most likely your plates are from that pattern and if so, they have a rather low value. Perhaps $10-15 per plate but I expect you would have difficulty finding a buyer. They don’t hold much interest for collectors except for those who seek one dinner plate from each Red Wing pattern.

It’s also possible you have a plate that was glazed at the very end of production. Red Wing Potteries closed in 1967. When the decision to close was made, much of the remaining greenware was quickly finished with plain beige fleck rather than the usual colors and artwork of the pattern. These Red Wing pieces in unexpected colors can be confusing to collectors. Values for items in this category vary but tend to be lower than the same item with the standard pattern colors.

Larry

Note: Our Kids View program at our event uses these blank plates for various activities for our young collectors. If you are interested in dontating them to the RWCS Kids View program, please contact the RWCS executive director, Stacy Wegner at 800-977-7927 or email at director@redwingcollectors.org