Vintage Pristine Fiesta Radioactive Red Orange Carafe

  

You don't have to be a fiesta ware aficianado (much as it might help) to appreciate the extraordinary design features of this vintage and long-since-discontinued (circa 1959-1972) lidded carafe. Its dramatically globed body is accentuated by an abbreviated neck and elongate handle whose shape mimics the roundedness to which it attaches. No less eye catching is the unexpectedly pointed spout and accompanying lid with its chef's hat finial.

The footed base which lifts the body nearly two inches bears the fiesta signature graduated concentric circles that grow narrower as they ascend; variations on the six circles of the base can be found on the handle (three on either side) and on the exterior of the spout (a mere three). And then there's the color, more radioactive orange than red. The carafe is in extraordinary condition: no chips, flea bites, pinpricks, dimples, cracks, hairlines, scratches or color loss; even the cork is perfectly intact.

If there are any shortcomings, and really there aren't, they are so minor as to virtually elude the camera. That said, there's a a spot on the body by the lower end of the handle which rises above the surface and a small area on the base associated with the widest circle that's slightly asymmetrical. This item is made of ceramic and cork.