Turquoise
Retired1937-1969
Following the successful release of the 5 originals, Frederick Hurten Rhead introduced Turquoise to add a sense of flair and playfulness to the growing Fiesta family. Turquoise (a shade of teal) would later be revived post-86 and is one of the most popular Fiesta colors ever.
Production
Turquoise was retired in 1969, so it is a hunt for secondhand pieces now. Fiesta Factory Direct is where the colors still being made are, if you are filling a set.
Shop Fiesta Factory Direct (opens in a new tab)Notes on Turquoise
Turquoise wasn't in the original launch - Rhead added it in 1937, a year after the first five, once it was clear Fiesta was going to be a hit. It's a soft blue-green with far less punch than Cobalt, and it was there to lighten the palette. It worked: thirty-two years on the shelf, retired in 1969, and then brought back after the 1986 relaunch. That makes Turquoise the only Fiesta color made in both eras that's still in production today. The vintage and Post 86 versions are close but not identical, and since both are common, it's one of the more useful pairs to learn to tell apart by hand.
Using Turquoise on a table
Turquoise has enough color to be noticed without taking over, which makes it a good second or third piece - a salad plate or a serving bowl rather than the whole setting. Its mid lightness (L* 67) means most food reads against it without either washing out or vanishing. It nearly disappears against a white cloth (2.5:1), so it shows best on dark wood or a colored runner.
Below, 5 combinations built only from colors Fiesta has actually produced. Each says which rule it follows, and which pieces you can still buy today.
Buy these to go with it
Turquoise was retired in 1969, but these are all in production now - the set you can actually finish buying.
Opposite on the wheel
Flamingo sits roughly opposite Turquoise in hue, which is the highest-contrast pairing the palette offers. The neutrals keep it from shouting.
All blue
Every color here is from the blue family, arranged light to dark. A single-family table reads calm and deliberate rather than busy.
Three-way split
Heather and Sage sit about a third of the way around the color wheel from Turquoise in each direction. Evenly spaced hues stay lively without any one taking over.
Next-door hues
These sit within about 55° of Turquoise on the color wheel. Neighboring hues blend instead of competing, which suits a table you want to feel warm rather than sharp.
- Sea Mist Green
-
Your color Turquoise, 1937-1969
- Twilight
- Jade
Where Turquoise sits in the line
Turquoise arrived while Blue (Cobalt) was still in production, and is noticeably lighter than it - a complete change of direction rather than a reformulation (ΔE 50.5). It has been in production 32 years against a median of 9 for its era - one of the colors the company kept. What else happened at the company in 1937 →
Closest colors in the palette
Ranked by CIEDE2000 (ΔE) against Turquoise. Under about ΔE 5 two colors are hard to tell apart side by side - useful when you are identifying an unmarked piece.
On the table alongside Turquoise
13 colors were in production at the same time. The 10 nearest in the timeline: