Arcopal

I love flowers, so when I spotted this floral dinner plate at the local thrift store I fell in love. And it only cost me 97 cents!

When I got home with my new found love, I gazed at it for some time, and then I started to wonder: 'What material is this plate made off?' Because it felt quite thin, and light. Lighter than my other dishware, but heavier than plastic dishes. So I turned it over and read: 'Arcopal'. I'd never heard of it, so I did some research!

Turns out Arcopal is a line of much sought after dishware that was discontinued in 1986.

Arcopal

I found the following information at a website called Country facts.

'The Arcopal France dinnerware is a white opal, break proof, tempered glass which has a fire glazed finish. This material is 100% non-porous and is fully tempered to resist thermal pressure and breakage.

Arcopal France is high-strength and durable, fully tempered, break and chip resistant glassware. The strength and durability of this glass was demonstrated at a trade show in which the company representative was hammering a nail into a board with a water glass manufactured by Arcopal France!

The Arcopal France dinnerware is five times stronger than china. It is fully tempered break and chip resistant glass. The glass can resist thermal shock as well as impact and is completely microwave-safe, dishwasher safe and break and chip resistant. Furthermore, the tempered dinnerware saves you space in your china cabinet as it is half the thickness of Chinaware.'

Arcopal: quite a collector's item

Turns out, Arcopal is quite a collector's item. There's a whole Pinterest page featuring Arcopal, and if you type Arcopal in a search box at etsy.com you get lovely results.

Once I knew what it was, I realized I have several more.

Old commercial featuring Arcopal

I even found this old commercial!

Are you familiar with Arcopal? What kind of dishwares do you use?