I have a number of pre-WWII Fiesta Wear dishes. Is it safe to use them in the microwave and dishwasher?

I have a number of pre-WWII Fiesta Wear dishes. Is it safe to use them in the microwave and dishwasher? I know it is unsafe to use some types of old dishes because they contain lead, which is brought out by high temperatures.

I am wondering if this is true of Fiesta Wear as well. Asked by hoosiergirl789 54 months ago Similar questions: number pre WWII Fiesta Wear dishes safe microwave dishwasher Home.

Similar questions: number pre WWII Fiesta Wear dishes safe microwave dishwasher.

Red-orange has some associated risks, but the rest is sturdy and useable. The only "risk" I know of is with the red-orange Fiestaware from before 1944 and after 1959, which used a glaze that contained both uranium and lead. Current studies show that it is probably OK to serve or eat food from these pieces but don't store food in it.

The Homer Laughlin Company disputes this. The newer pieces are completely lead free and I know of no ptroblems with the other vintage colors. As to care, most people who have it go ahead and put it in the dishwasher.

The report the main problem for Fiestaware is being dropped. But bear in mind that some of the pre-war pieces are quite valuable these days (you can check prices on eBay) so you might want to be particularly careful with those pieces. Also, it is still relatively easy to replace common pieces like dinner plates, but serving dishes or unusual shapes are something else.

I would suggest using the dishwasher for plates, bowls and cups, but handwashing serving pieces would be a good idea. NOTE: museum workers recommend putting a towel in the sink in case the wet piece slips in your hands. Background Information"Red Fiesta (and indeed the red glazes produced by all US potteries of the era) is known for having a detectable amount of uranium oxide in its glaze to produce the bright orange-red color.

During WWII the government took control of uranium. Homer Laughlin and the other potteries had to discontinue the use of uranium-containing glazes. Fiesta red was discontinued before 1944, because all uranium was controlled by the US government while developing the Manhattan Project.

Vintage red Fiesta plates are more radioactive (but not necessarily harmful) than other radioactive house wares, such as uranium glass. The amount of radiation is low enough that most dinnerware collectors don't consider it something to worry about. Fiesta red was reintroduced in 1959, when the Atomic Energy Commission released its restrictions on uranium oxide.

Having an X-ray conducted once causes much greater radiation damage than using such china over a prolonged period. At present, government and third-party studies have effectively concluded that all widely-distributed, uranium-containing consumer china (Fiesta and others from various companies) is safe for food consumption, but not recommended for food storage due to the possibility of leaching of uranium (and other heavy metals, often present in some colored glazes) to the foods, especially if they are acidic. ""The pigment in red Fiestaware contains, among other things, uranium oxide.

The Homer Laughlin China Company, which began making Fiestaware in 1936, was forced to discontinue the red version in 1943 so the uranium could be diverted to make atom bombs. Gives you pause, no? Well, don't get too alarmed.

The actual amount of radioactivity is extremely low--less than the normal background radiation you get from rocks and stuff. Homer Laughlin says they've kept tabs on the workers who used to make Fiestaware--who obviously were at greater risk than the end users--and they've never detected any unusual health problems. The real problem, if in fact it's a problem, is that uranium is a heavy metal, as is lead, another red Fiestaware ingredient.In 1981 the New York State Department of Health warned that both could leach into food, particularly if it's acidic.

Eat enough tomato sauce or whatever off red Fiestaware, they argued, and you could wind up with stomach disorders, kidney dysfunction, and God knows what else. Homer Laughlin disputes this. One company official told me he and his family eat off red Fiestaware all the time, and says you'd only run into trouble if you ate acidic foods off the stuff for years and never washed the dishes.

If so I have an old college roommate whose days are numbered, but normal humans are probably in the clear. If you're still concerned, hang the dish on the wall instead of eating off it. Fiestaware, incidentally, is being made again after a 14-year hiatus.

There's no lead in it now and no red either, unfortunately. Instead we get trendy colors like black--a regrettable surrender to fashion that has also afflicted such noble products as the lava lamp. But I guess it's better than no Fiestaware at all.

"Care of Fiesta WareAccording to http://www.chowhound.com/topics/328467"As far as chipping and cracking goes, the key will be not allowing your dishes to go schwacking into other dishes at high speed or careening off the table. Normal plate to plate contact encountered during careful use will not damage them. We have a large selection of antique Fiesta, plus our everyday dinner service is modern Fiesta purchased about a year ago.

The modern stuff has held up very well and endures daily trips through our dishwasher without damage. No special care is required that we have been able to determine. Just use it, wash it, stack it, and use it again.

But I want to emphasize that the only way to keep a table service perfect is to never use it. Ordinary contact with flatware, an unavoidable consequence of use, will wear down the glaze. If you want to minimize the visual evidence, stick with the lighter colored Fiestaware.

The darker colors, Cobalt, for instance, will show the marks a lot easier than the brighter ones, but they will all mark eventually. And, to encourage you, it should be noted that the idea that a piece of earthenware, charger or flatware should look as untouched as the day it came out of the box is actually an undesirable one. A certain amount of wear is actually a coveted trait, like patina on sterling flatware (the more you use it, the better it is).

The sometime American fetish for shiny newness is not shared all over the world. Signs of use are signs of love."A Brief story of Fiesta Ware"Fiesta is a line of dinnerware glazed in differing solid colors manufactured and marketed by the Homer Laughlin China Company of Newell, West Virginia. The original concept of Fiesta was of a line of open-stock dinnerware composed of more than the usual variety of serving and place pieces from which the buying public could select only those place and serving pieces most appropriate to their lifestyle.

The original shapes of the many items making up the new line of Fiesta were designed by Frederick Hurten Rhead (1880-1942) while he was Art Director at the Homer Laughlin China Company and Fiesta was first marketed by that company in 1936." Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiestaware#Red_Fiesta AND http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a4_099.html .

Beware of Lead I've not sure of the easiest way to check for this but I know my grandmothers Fiesta Ware containted lead int he glaze and therefore we only use them as display decoration instead of an eating surface.

I wouldn't do it as these seem to be too valuable. If this is real vintage Fiestaware, if I were you I probably wouldn't even use it let alone put it in the dishwasher. It's a collector's item.

Perhaps you would like to have it appraised (and I'd have at least three to five appraisals). It sounds like you have something very nice. If you have any in red, that's very rare as that's the only color that had uranium in it, I understand, and they had to stop making it for the war effort.

Also, Fiesta Ware is the newer line . . .

Usually given to colorful, one-color dishes. Fiestaware (one word) is the true product that began in the 1930s with the original idea of the plates, bowls, cups, saucers, etc. , being one color (with no other decoration) and you could mix and match them. Nowadays, Fiesta Ware is any product line that follows that same innovative design from the '30s.

Good luck! Sources: My opinion .

Also are these bowls microwave or dishwasher safe.

I cant really gove you an answer,but what I can give you is a way to a solution, that is you have to find the anglde that you relate to or peaks your interest. A good paper is one that people get drawn into because it reaches them ln some way.As for me WW11 to me, I think of the holocaust and the effect it had on the survivors, their families and those who stood by and did nothing until it was too late.