c. From 1960
[star] / Best China / HOMER LAUGHLIN CHINA / MADE IN U.S.A. / C F
Single star above script Best China and full company name in capitals; lacks the large HLC monogram.
printed · ceramic
Pottery & porcelain
Homer Laughlin marks
Homer Laughlin marks include printed “[star] / Best China / HOMER LAUGHLIN CHINA / MADE IN U.S.A. / C F” on ceramic dated c. 1960.
- Country
- United States
- Products
- white granite tableware, decorated dinner services, Fiesta, Virginia Rose and Nautilus shapes, Best China vitrified restaurant ware
- Marks
- 6
Origins early 1870s, with 1871 company foundation claim and 1874 production-opening account; Homer’s sole operation from 1877. The company became Fiesta Tableware Company in 2020 while the Homer Laughlin foodservice brand transferred to Steelite.
What to look for
- Read the entire backstamp before decoding a date. Household china and Best China use different systems; the same letter can mean different things in each.
- Keep the date code separate from a pattern number. Codes such as L 50 N 8 record manufacture and plant, while a named shape can carry many different decorations.
- Compare the star and HLC versions of Best China. A changed year or plant code within the same layout is not a different maker’s mark.
Dated marks & timeline
6 marks
Undated
HOMER LAUGHLIN / HLC / Best China / U.S.A. / F C
Large ornamental HLC monogram beneath arched HOMER LAUGHLIN, with Best China in script below. Replaces the earlier single-star layout.
printed · ceramic
Undated
Homer Laughlin / EMPRESS / 12 20 N
HLC monogram above the full company name, EMPRESS and the numeric month/year/Newell code.
printed · ceramic
Undated
PORCELAINE GRANITE / LAUGHLIN BROS
Elaborate crowned coat of arms with supporters, between arched PORCELAINE GRANITE and LAUGHLIN BROS below. This is not the later eagle-over-lion device.
printed · ceramic
Undated
HLC / NAUTILUS / MADE IN U.S.A. / L 50 N 8
HLC monogram with NAUTILUS in large capitals and no full Homer Laughlin name. L 50 N 8 is a date-and-plant code, not the pattern number.
printed · ceramic
Undated
HLC / Homer Laughlin / VIRGINIA ROSE / MADE IN U.S.A. / K 63 N 4
HLC above full company name, VIRGINIA ROSE and country line. Shape name and decorative pattern are separate identifiers.
printed · ceramic
About Homer Laughlin
Homer and Shakespeare Laughlin established their pottery business at East Liverpool, Ohio, in the early 1870s. They made white tablewares at a time when imported English ceramics dominated that market. The brothers’ business received recognition at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. In 1877 Shakespeare left the partnership and Homer continued the operation under his own name.
Homer retired in 1897, selling the business to interests led by William Edwin Wells and Louis Aaron. Expansion took production across the Ohio River to Newell, West Virginia, where a large factory opened in 1907. The company produced decorated household services, hotel and restaurant china, and numerous named shapes. Virginia Rose and Nautilus identify shapes or product lines rather than a single floral decoration. Frederick Hurten Rhead, design director from 1927, created the brightly coloured Fiesta range introduced in 1936.
Fiesta became one of the company’s best-known products. The original range ended in the early 1970s and returned in 1986 with revised bodies, colours and forms. The company also expanded its institutional business through strong vitrified restaurant wares. In 2020 Steelite acquired the Homer Laughlin and Hall foodservice divisions and their brand names. The remaining business was renamed the Fiesta Tableware Company, continuing the Newell manufacturing tradition.
Also known as: Laughlin Brothers · Laughlin Bros · HLC · Homer Laughlin China Works · The Homer Laughlin China Company
Look-alikes & how to tell them apart
Hall China
Hall became part of the same ownership group in 2010, but HALL and HOMER LAUGHLIN identify different manufacturing brands. The shared 2020 foodservice sale does not make their marks interchangeable.
English white granite makers
Early American marks could resemble English heraldic devices. Read LAUGHLIN BROS or HOMER LAUGHLIN rather than identifying a factory from a crown or coat of arms alone.