A wonderfully crisp, sharply detailed intertwined "Santa Fe" makes this great old plate from the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway a true prize. More often than not, the blue decoration is somewhat blurry.

This pattern was called "Bleeding Blue," which was the standard dinnerware from 1906 until the later 1920s. It was made for the Santa Fe by several manufacturing companies and often supplied (as in this case) by the Albert Pick Company, which served as an intermediary, procuring the dinnerware for the railroad.

This is a full size dinner plate, approximately 9-1/2 inches across. The bottom marking identifies it as a Maddock U.S.A. piece manufactured between about 1918 and the mid-1920s.**

CONDITION: There are NO cracks, chips, flakes or repairs. The appealing blue decoration is a strong, clear and rich, with a lighter tint enhancing the darker outlines of the letters. IMPORTANT: See our last picture, please. This plate has light to moderate utensil marks on the surface, but you must tilt the plate to notice them. They are noticeable but do not interfere with how it looks on display. It is VERY difficult to find Bleeding Blue dinners plates in this good of a condition; most are terribly worn by heavy use. ALSO - there is faint age discoloration showing very slightly around the outer rim edge.

** Per our "Restaurant Ware Vol. 2" guide by Barbara Conroy, based on the type font and style, the "Lamberton" bottom marking identifies this plate as having been made by Maddock (U.S.A.), between about 1918-1924 in their operation at the company's Lamberton Works in Trenton, NJ with the distributor's name substituted for any Maddock name mark. Headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, Albert Pick & Company was in business under that name from the mid-1800s until their merger with the L. Barth Co. in 1926, when the name changed to Albert Pick-L. Barth.