Yellow
Retired1936-1969
Introduced at the annual Pottery and Glass Exhibit in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in January 1936 - meet Yellow. One of the original colors of Fiesta drawn up by Frederick Hurten Rhead himself - Yellow is a whimsical color made to bring a sense of joy to every table!
Production
Yellow 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 Yellow
Of the original five, Yellow lasted the longest - thirty-three years, from the 1936 launch right through to 1969, which makes it one of the most common vintage colors you'll come across. It's a warmer, more mustard yellow than anything Fiesta makes now; put it next to Daffodil and the modern one looks almost neon. That longevity is the useful part for a collector: Yellow overlapped nearly every vintage color that ever existed, so it's the safe piece to build a mixed vintage table around. It was retired in 1969 alongside Turquoise, leaving Antique Gold to carry yellow for the line's final three years.
Using Yellow on a table
Yellow carries enough color to lead a table on its own. Use it for the plates and let quieter pieces do the rest; two or three settings of it go a long way. Its mid lightness (L* 73) means most food reads against it without either washing out or vanishing. It nearly disappears against a white cloth (2.1:1), 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
Yellow was retired in 1969, but these are all in production now - the set you can actually finish buying.
Opposite on the wheel
Sapphire sits roughly opposite Yellow in hue, which is the highest-contrast pairing the palette offers. The neutrals keep it from shouting.
Three-way split
Sea Mist Green and Mulberry sit about a third of the way around the color wheel from Yellow in each direction. Evenly spaced hues stay lively without any one taking over.
- White
- Sea Mist Green
-
Your color Yellow, 1936-1969
- Mulberry
Next-door hues
These sit within about 55° of Yellow on the color wheel. Neighboring hues blend instead of competing, which suits a table you want to feel warm rather than sharp.
- Rose, 1951-1959
-
Your color Yellow, 1936-1969
- Shamrock
- Chocolate
Anchored in neutrals
White and Black carry almost no hue of their own, so they give Yellow room to be the loud one.
- White
-
Your color Yellow, 1936-1969
- Red, 1936-1943
- Black
Where Yellow sits in the line
Yellow was the first yellow Fiesta made; 5 more have followed it. It has been in production 33 years against a median of 9 for its era - one of the colors the company kept. In 1936 it arrived alongside Blue (Cobalt), Green (Light), Old Ivory and Red, 1936-1943. What else happened in 1936 →
Closest colors in the palette
Ranked by CIEDE2000 (ΔE) against Yellow. 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 Yellow
13 colors were in production at the same time. The 10 nearest in the timeline: