Santa Fe Railway Mimbreño dinnerware ornaments are filled with history.
We've been on holiday overload the past few weeks, sharing dozens of great American-made holiday gift ideas.
But one thing we left off the list? An American-made ornament.
Enter HF Coors, which has been manufacturing 100 percent American-made dinnerware since 1925. Now based in Tucson, Ariz., the company makes highly durable mugs, plates, bowls, serving pieces, and more that can be found in restaurants across the country.
Every piece of an HF Coors product is American-made, and crafted by expert engineers, craftsmen, designers, painters, pottery workers and others with decades of experience. We selected HF Coors for our Made in America Holiday Gift Guide back in 2014, and many of the mugs in our own office come from the company.
But while HF Coors is best known for its dinnerware, it also manufactures ornaments that make the perfect holiday gift — including a line with 1,000 years of history.
The company’s Mimbreño ornaments are inspired by the artwork from the Mimbres people, who lived in the southwest beginning in the late 10th century AD. The Mimbres were known for producing magnificent pieces of pottery with elaborate designs. The distinctive black-on-white bowls featured an array of artwork, from wildlife and nature to geometric shapes and human and animal figures.
In 1936, Mimbres artwork served as the inspiration for a series of drawings by architect and designer Mary Jane Colter that appeared on dinnerware pieces used to serve guests in dining cars for the Santa Fe Railway Co. The original pieces are now highly coveted collector’s items, but HF Coors sells replicas that are officially licensed by BNSF Railway.
And if you are looking for something to hang on the tree, HF Coors also makes ornament-sized replicas of the railway dinner plates. The coloring in the pieces is an exact match to the original coloring used in the 1930s plates, and the ornaments come in a variety of colors and designs, all inspired by Mimbres artwork — and all Made in America.
Visit HF Coors online. For more American-made gift ideas, check out the 2017 Made in America Holiday Gift Guide.