Rick Wells, News On 6
SAPULPA, Oklahoma -- A once-popular Sapulpa company is going up on the auction block. Frankoma Pottery is one of those iconic Oklahoma names.
Frankoma pieces have been collected and passed through generations since the company began in 1933. Now that the company is closed for good, the remaining inventory, and everything else is up for bid.
The once proud home of Frankoma Pottery is locked up tight and has been for more than a year.
Mary King and Candy Steeples spent most of their adult lives working at Frankoma Pottery. Now they're helping the auctioneer get ready to sell it.
"You don't realize how big this place is until you walk in and there's nobody here and nothing here," Candy said.
The building, 79,000 square feet, has produced some of America's most sought after pottery.
They said the bank shut the place down on March 19, 2010. They came in and told them to stop what they were doing.
They were packing up boxes of dishes. It was as if the clock stopped and everyone just walked away.
Up front in the showroom, the table displays are still set up, with a year's worth of dust. Presumably you'll be able to buy the place settings, but they're not sure if there are others of the same type anywhere else in the building.
Mary and Candy are helping because Frankoma's been a part of their lives.
"Once that gets in your blood you're trapped, it's true, I loved it. I've enjoyed every day that I came to work," Mary said.
It will all be sold, the big kilns, the inventory, the scattered odds and ends, even the partially done pieces waiting for glazing.
The Frankoma name and the master molds will be sold separately. Someday Frankoma pottery could be produced somewhere, but probably not here.
The auction is at the Sapulpa facility in two weeks on May 18th. For details, check out hawksauction.com.
The building where Frankoma Pottery once sat is 79,000 square feet.
Pieces of pottery have sat on the shelf for more than a year.
Table displays are still set up in the front.
