Frankoma Pottery, contents go on the auction block May 4, 2011
Posted by Ron Warnick in Businesses.trackback
Frankoma Pottery, which sits on old Route 66 near Sapulpa, Okla., will be auctioned on May 18, effectively ending a business that operated in Oklahoma since 1933, reported KOTV in Tulsa.
Frankoma had been closed for over a year, and had gone through a series of owners who tried to revive the flagging business.
Mary King and Candy Steeples spent most of their adult lives working at Frankoma Pottery. Now they’re helping the auctioneer get ready to sell it. [...]
They said the bank shut the place down on March 19, 2010. They came in and told them to stop what they were doing.
They were packing up boxes of dishes. It was as if the clock stopped and everyone just walked away. [...]
The Frankoma name and the master molds will be sold separately. Someday Frankoma pottery could be produced somewhere, but probably not here.
It’s a sad situation, but not a surprising one. Frankoma simply wasn’t selling enough pottery to keep its doors open.
Hawks Auction Co. will be in charge of the event. “It is with great sadness that we are selling this Oklahoma historical institution,” Hawks’ website says.
I delivered the Roiute 66 Pulse there for over 3 years and every time I went in I looked for Route 66 Pottery, there was very little and most of it was not appealing to travelers. They would never buy an ad to promote the place and most of the pottery on the shelves I wouldn’t have in my home. I do have some great Frankhoma pieces from years gone by. Sometime someone needs to remind me to tell the story about the Frankhoma Turtles when Cheryl & I were riding Route 66 with HOG in 2001.
Several years ago, my husband and I visited the Frankoma Pottery factory store on our Route 66 roadtrip. I purchased an oversized coffee mug with an Indian logo on it. I’m so glad I got a piece of the pottery now that it is going on the auction block. So sad, another icon gone.
We have some Frankoma pottery and will try not to break it now since the place, unfortunately, is gone.
Just goes to show, see it and do it now. Tomorrow it may be gone.
I grew up with Frankoma Pottery (I am 76 years old) and I am still using it today. It is the finest pottery I have ever seen and used AND it was AMERICAN made–the only American made pottery–that I know of. It saddens me to see this wonderful company go under. I knew the Frank family. They were (and still are) wonderful people.
I’m glad I was able to visit the factory once before it closed.