Stangl Pottery Reminisces

Lovely model Martha Fischer poses in front of Stangl's Flemington outlet in 1964.
Remember those wire egg-basket shopping baskets?!!

Since the opening of the Hill-Fulper-Stangl Museum on April 15, 2000, we have had many wonderful folks write to us and share some of their fondest memories of Stangl Pottery or Stangl's Flemington Outlet. In every case, the Museum has invoked sentimental nostalgia of family outings to Flemington, home and hearth with special relatives, or the simple fun of shopping for bargains in the Stangl Outlet bins, barrels and boxes!

So heartwarming were these reminisces, we were compelled to share them here. Stop back often, as we will continue to add to this "memory page" as folks continue to share their personal nostalgia with us. If you have any favorite Stangl Pottery anecdotes or memories you would like to share, feel free to write us at "Reminisces"

Dear Diana,
My mother, Helen Orashen Cervenka, was the first curator of the museum you now have. I was back in Flemington this summer and took some photos of her pictures in the cabinets. I am so honored that you used them! I happened to be talking with some ladies, and pointed out mom's pictures ,and they commented how I look like her. I guess as I get older, there is a resemblance. As a matter of interest, I think I was in 7th grade, and had made that outfit for her! She was a lovely, generous, loving lady. Unfortunately, she died May 13, 2000 of gallbladder cancer. She had moved here to Montana in 1995 to be closer to us. Whenever I go back to Flemington I stop in and sign the guest book.

While I was scouring your book, I discovered her name at the front in the "thanks" section. She would be tickled pink that there is a museum again and her name is in print. We are sad she is no longer with us.

Carol Cervenka Ecke

Stangl's original Museum building, 1965 to 1970s.
Drawing by Christl Stangl Bacheler.

My grandparents house in Worcester, Massachusetts always had a little pottery Oriole somewhere in the "parlor" during the 60's and 70's. It caught my eye as a child and always reminded me of them. When we had the sad task of selling that house not so long ago, I made sure that I found that beautiful little bird---a revised Stangl Oriole and brought it to my own home---where it reminds me of my grandparents. Now, after peeling the little bit of felt glued onto the bottom of the base, and looking the markings up on the net---I know what it is!

Well, the Schwartz' were one of those families that came to visit the Stangl pottery in the 1950s. when we moved into our new house in 1951, my mother bought a set of Stangl and for all my growing up years, until I sold my parent's home about 12 years ago, a Stangl coffee set was on a display shelf of the knotty pine cupboards. when I got into my flea market-tag sale phase 20 years ago, I started buying old Stangl service pieces for my mother. I believe my sister has the collection now. there were cake plates, tiered stands, etc.

Anyway, I still have a soft spot for the stuff, even though it doesn't fit into my life right now.

So glad to meet you. I think next time Joan and I do a remote from your part of New Jersey, we should have you and/or your husband on the show to talk about this great New Jersey heritage.

Arthur Schwartz is one of New York's best-known newspaper food editors, as well as cookbook author, cooking teacher, and host of Food Talk with Arthur Schwartz. He can be heard daily on WOR radio 710 AM or live streaming internet radio at

Hi, I have fond memories of frequent visits to the Stangl outlet. Each one of the children and grandchildren in the family were able to pick out their very own favorite plate. The plates were stored away in the hutch until Thanksgiving Day. We would help wash the plates and set the table, what a treat when the family arrived! Everyone knew where they sat by their plate. To this day, whenever I see Stangl, I get such a warm feeling, it makes me smile deep inside. I am in the Midwest where Stangl is sparse, but I have come across a few pieces that I treasure.

Hi...
I grew up less than a block from the Flemington Pottery. I grew up using the Thistle pattern that my mother received as a wedding present in 1951. I learned to wash those dishes in our huge enamel sink very carefully, because they would chip so easily! A broken piece, as I got older, would mean I would have to make the trip up the street to replace it.

A quick trip through the showrooms one day by my mom had her purchasing a large green vase for $2 that she still has. It was also the place you went to buy bridal shower presents and wedding presents.

On her sixteen birthday my mother received from her aunt, a Stangl Bird of Paradise with a $5 bill stuck to the beak. The reason for the $5 bill? It was considered bad manners to just give money as a gift, it meant that you didn't take the time to choose a gift. The Stangl bird was an inexpensive present, and our aunt augmented the very inexpensive gift with the $5!

When I was a kid, I spent many hours in the showrooms and going in and out of the kiln you have your display in today. It was really great that I could take my two kids into the same kiln that I had played in as a kid.

Now I am an eclectic collector of Stangl. Our family dinner pieces long replaced as we grew up. It is amazing how this "common household" staple in Flemington has gone global and become very collectible!

Maureen Welch Blakeney

In 1970, went to Flemington and my Grandmother paid for a set of Stangl as a wedding gift. It took FOREVER to find a pattern, among the "irregulars" there, where I could find 8 of everything... dinner plates, salad/sandwich plates, soup bowls, mugs... then some accessories... 2 serving bowls (one unfortunately broken), S&P shakers, butter dish, sugar bowl, etc.

I joke (not really) with my sister-in-law and niece that if I ever get SQUASHED by a bus... DO NOT yard sale them!! I'm not a major collector but found one of those plates with the handle in the center at a thrift store for a QUARTER!!

I have the 8 piece set of Fruit & Flowers, plus a few pitchers and some odds and ends.

First heard of Stangl after my father took a trip to California when I was a little kid. He went to a steak house somewhere in the Sacramento area (I think?) where they brought your steak SIZZLING on a Stangl plate. Think back... WHAT WERE THEY THINKING??? I have 4 plates that definitely show this treatment.

Have found a few shops with Stangl I've never seen before. I use mine and love it to death.

OH, by the way... that 8 piece set, PLUS a no-name set of stainless flatware was less then $100!!

Rob, I just went back to post a thank you on the message board about all the
nice advice I received on my Magnolia Warbler question. What a nice bunch
of people!

I also went to your website and I still have tears in my eyes! I saw so
many things there that evoke happy childhood memories of summers spent in
Hunterdon County with my Grandmother and extended family. Of course,
everyone had Stangl as part of every day life, and each pattern reminds me
of someone I know. Fruit & Flowers is for my grandmother, Blueberry was
Aunt Gloria, Country Garden was Aunt Barbara, and Thistle at our house (a
little bit of Hunterdon County in Brooklyn)

I can hardly wait to take my Mom to see the new museum. I don't think I
have been in that building since it stopped being Stangl, and you have given
me a great reason to go back (not a long pilgrimage from her home in
Somerville, but a pilgrimage it will be!). Thanks for the trip down memory
lane, and thanks for preserving the wonderful heritage.

It seems silly to be crying over pottery, but that's what happens when you
touch the heart. Thanks again.

Harriet Holbrook

I feel as though I know you, after viewing your eBay auctions and home pages. Being new at eBay, you can imagine my surprise and delight at seeing so much Stangl. I was born in new Jersey and moved to California when I was still a child. My mother, grandmother & aunts all used it as their daily dinnerware. Kay Hackett feels like a member of the family just from eating meals on her dinnerware designs for so many years.

In 1969 on a family cross-country trip from "home" my mom purchased another new set of Stangl. I will never forget that trip back to California with all those boxes of Stangl, four of us and the family dog crammed into a VW Camper. Great memories!

In a certain way, our Stangl has kept us emotionally connected to our very roots, the people and places we loved while being so far away in California. Stangl, 40 years later, still makes me feel this way. I think you understand! My husband knows how much I love it and used it to entice me into learning how to use eBay. He may rue the day he taught me to go online since I haven't yet slowed down my bidding!

Congratulations to you on your terrific book, the mold rescue project and the Fulper & Stangl Museum. Your passion and hard work are appreciated by people all over the country.

I have so many memories of the pottery as a child, especially the kilns where
we played as children! I have always admired you both for your enthusiasm &
energy in keeping Stangl Pottery and my Grandfather alive & well! He would
also be equally pleased!

Hello There!

I happened upon your site and thoroughly enjoyed it. Especially since I've been to both Millville and Flemington.
The history lesson was delightful!
Thanks!

Mary D.

Looking at your web site took me down memory lane. My
family had a wonderful farm in Pittstown (1940), and I went
to a three room school in Everittstown as an eight year old.
My mother took me regularly to Flemington to the Fulper
Pottery and the Public Library.

Growing up in Westfield, New Jersey, I have fond memories of visiting the Stangl Pottery
in Flemington. My mom was an avid collector of Stangl, so we frequented the factory often.
How I remember the metal baskets that she carried the treasures in as she shopped and going
up into the kiln!

I spent many hours at the old Flemington pottery with my mother
during the fifties. She bought several sets over the years for family
members. And since they were all seconds, it meant many, many trips
to complete the sets. The dishes I just bought are for my sister who
has broken a few pieces over the years. But since she has been using
them since her wedding in 1957, they have worn well. Good luck with
your project. I'll enjoy seeing it sometime when I'm home visiting.

I've just been browsing through your Stangl website, which brought back many memories since I had been taken to the Flemington outlet by my parents as a child in the early fifties. We spent many weekends at a farm outside the town, most likely now replaced by tract housing. When next we come to New York, We'll certainly attempt a visit to your museum.