Tall Plainsman Shakers
5H: 1948-1954
Frankoma first presented this comfortable and graceful shaker design in the 1948 catalog. A plant expansion that year allowed for increased production of many items. Like the #7H Mayan-Aztec these shakers are offered in the 1953 catalog but are absent from the next catalog in 1955. And unlike the #7H Myan-Aztec shakers production of the #5H never restarted. The tall Myan-Aztec shakers saw only seven or eight years of production.
Originally Frankoma called this pattern “Oklahoma” but in 1949 changed the name to “Oklahoma Plainsman”. In 1958 the factory dropped the “Oklahoma” part and the pattern became simply “Plainsman”.
This shape takes the rutile glazes extremely well but since prairie green and desert gold were common glazes by this time the redbud examples excite collectors most. The turquoise and terra cotta rose examples are rare. All examples of the large size are scarce.
Because of the unique hole pattern on this design the double-diamond “S” could not be used and is of no help dating the issues. Production continued long enough that some were made on Sapulpa clay and these are easily identifiable and date to 1954. Transitional clay examples can be found also. The greater availability of these on red clay compared to the #7H suggests that production of the Mayan-Aztec set ceased before the #5H Plainsman set.
The red clay examples have a different base shape than the Ada clay examples. Since the change seems to run with the clay, however, it only confirms the dating supplied by the clay change. Height is 3.5’