Wagonwheels Horse Shoe: #94HL, 1948-1949, 1957, 1981-1985
This is the second shaker design Frankoma offered to accompany the Wagon Wheels dinnerware group. The new shaker never developed the popularity of the original wagonwheel shaped shaker and consequently did not see continuous production. Its main popularity lies in its use to commemorate the 50th and 75th anniversaries of Oklahoma statehood. These special issues are are covered in the commemorative section. Here I consider the regular production sets.
The years of production encompass a wide variety of production changes at Frankoma so the group is very interesting to collect. Light tan Ada clay, red Sapulpa clay and the later pink clay all appear in this basic design.
For the 1982 re-issue Frankoma moved the pour holes from the face of the shaker to the top of the shaker. When the holes were on the front they appeared as horseshoe nail heads but were not very practical. Placing the holes on top made it easier to shake out the condiment and probably permitted mechanical hole punching in production. Frankoma used the double diamond hole pattern on the re-designed 94HL.
For a comprehensive coverage of collecting the Horseshoe shakers including the commemorative sets see the "Articles" section.