The DUZ Connection

Last year when we visited Aunt Nell and Uncle Tommy, in turn for a small donation to local tornado victims, they gave us their collection of Golden Wheat dishes.  They are well cared for and in excellent condition.  I remember seeing these dishes when I was a young person.  I love the pattern.

Table Set for Company

1950s Pattern

Gold Rims Mean Hand Washing

Gravy Boat Adds to the Collection

Duz Detergent Contained Several Kinds of Pieces

Close Up of Luncheon Plate with Golden Cutlery

We gave a luncheon for some friends as a Thank You for the man helping Walter make a frame for a puzzle he had finished and wanted to hang in our dining room. They also remembered the pattern and how they were collected by 1950s families. Their thank you note referenced the "special dishes" we used for their visit. Maybe I mentioned too many times that they were hand wash only. The average family in this country did not own a dishwasher in the1950s. I am not sure when the dishwasher was available to the public.

I did some internet research on the pattern and found the following:

 

"In the 1950s Duz Detergent began a promotional campaign which involved including a piece of 22K gold-trimmed Golden Wheat dinnerware in each box of laundry soap. 

Each month an additional plate, bowl or serving piece was added to boxes of Duz, to entice customers to buy the soap in order to acquire the dinnerware. Duz detergent gained immense popularity for offering this promotion.

The dishes were made by the Homer-Laughlin Company, one of the largest pottery companies in the United States from the 1920s to the present day, who produced the Golden Wheat dishes between 1949 and 1966.

The range of pieces included platters, luncheon plates, salad plates, bread and butter plates, soup bowls, berry bowls, vegetable bowls, cups and saucers, sugars and creamers, salt and pepper shakers, gravy boats, cake stands and more. There were also matching juice glasses and tumblers.

In appearance, Golden Wheat dinnerware is rimmed in 22k gold bands with decoration picturing spears of wheat bending in the wind.

The pieces given away in boxes of Duz include a stamp on the bottom which reads: ‘Golden Wheat. Made in USA, 22k Gold, Oven Proof’, with two little wheat sheaves either side. It does not state the maker."