Cerama-Stone by Laurel of California.

This is one of Laurel's best made lines.  Mostly because with this line Laurel much improved the clay, glaze, and firing techniques such that the Laurel product was, at long last, durable.  Designer mold maker Charles "Ted" Scarpino studied Egyptian designs  and claims that as inspiration for the shapes produced.  (In fact some shapes, i.e gravy boat, divided serving bowl, others, were carry over or borrowed from earlier lines recycling older molds.  It is a shame they did not redesign these carry-over serving pieces, because thematically they are inconsistent.)   The novel design of a pouring sugar was later redesigned or they simply added an optional  simple lidded sugar.  (Scarce compared to the pouring sugar.)   Anyway, the distinctive design feature is seen in these pieces:

(Photo shows carafe without lid, without stand nor candle warmer...currently I have virtually no good photos to share.)

Glazes are Matte with faint speckles, generally.  Exceptions: Charcoal (black) no discernable speckle; Cocoa Brown speckles blatant, (looks like beige sprinkled with cocoa powder). Oyster White is faintly speckled but a bit more of a semigloss than other colors.

Generally solid colors without patterns.  Exceptions: some hunting motif Dogs and Birds (ie pheasants) Decals exist, but were very limited production, and some Cowboy theme pattern exist (I have not confirmed that the cowboys were applied/produced by Laurel plant, though hunting themes were indeed made at Laurel plant).  (If you find other pattern decals or decorations do please contact me, if you would be so kind.)  Note also that this platter shape seems probably to have been introduced as a new shape for Cerama-Stone, though perhaps  late in production .

Introduced in 1956 with different back stamp of Stone China (so far observed Cocoa and Yellow sand with that stamp) by 1957, officially introduced in these colors Cocoa Brown, Rose Pink (just pale pink), Yellow Sand (medium light yellow), and (maybe) Granite (a pale greyish beige with speckles much more faint than Cocoa Brown).  Charcoal (black) and Oyster White (white, faint speckles, semi gloss, extremely similar or identical to so called Cloud White of earlier line pattern called LIFE) where introduced in 1958 (initially exclusive at Bloomingdales NY).  Midnight Blue and Burnt Orange dates are less clear, 1958, and or 1959 it seems. 

After this period it gets messy.  By 1958 Laurel was seriously financially hard pressed, very high layoffs, business was very poor, they got some horrible publicity (my research suggests probably without merit)  and by 1961 ostensibly bought out by Sylvan (who actually was a slimeball who never paid most bills including purchase,  insurances, some payrolls, taxes and  plant was soon shut down and confiscated  by the feds in concert with previous owners.  That story is high drama.) Anyway, what is now germain is that it would understandably be a time with low production and therefore for now pieces from that later period are scarce, as has been information clarifying specifics.

At some point the Cerama-Stone shapes appear in new colors (discussed below) and with new back stamp(s).  It appears that Laurel (possibly Sylvan?) reglazed and renamed the line parallel to Bauer reglazing their Al Fresco and renaming it.  There are more parallels:

We find on the shapes of Cerama-Stone (and other shapes, notably of LIFE) a backstamp simply CALIFORNIA CONTEMPO.  (See guide on that line.)  The colors California Contempo have been observed in all mimic Bauer colors for Bauer Contempo, and clearly the name also mimics.  This is not Laurel's first mimic.  (Note LIFE glazes, and shapes compared to Steubenville's ever popular American Modern by Russel Wright.) With Sylvan's takeover of the plant the line/(pattern), with addition of, or in combination with many LIFE shapes,  is sort-of continued as Multi-Stone*

 (Multi-stone)

 (Sylvan, Bauer, Laurel pieces; we note the same or similar glaze - Bauer called it Desert Beige)

Pratt lists Desert Brown as 1960 based on ephemera.  What that glaze looks like is not 100% certain, however.  It appears that in 1960 or so, possibly in, or anyway by 1961,  Laurel introduced softer colors very very closely resembling the colors Bauer was using then (on Bauer Contempo and on Moonstone), and I contend the Desert Brown may  be one of that group.  The BAUER group names were Slate, Champagne White, Desert Beige, Indio Brown, Pumpkin, Spicy Green (a sage shade); to reiterate, Laurel appears to have copied or mimicked these colors, and when Sylvan Ceramics assumed the plant in 1961 they continued with these colors as Char-Stone, White-Stone, (a beige identical to Bauer's Desert Beige), Cinna-Stone, Orange-Stone, Mint-Stone (it is deductive presumption based on observation that these colors correlate in sequences I've listed....  Additionally Sylvan promoted in literature that they offered  Blue-stone, Lemon-Stone and Stereo-Stone (which to date I can only speculate might be a two tone not unlike Metlox's Tempo pattern of the same period. Please contact me if you find any two tone pieces!  

Note that the later orange looks the color of uncooked creamy pumpkin pie filling, a rather lighter shade when compared to Cerama-stone's darker richer Burnt Orange, but which sellers oft call pumpkin.  (If selling orange unmarked pieces please consider adjusting you photo's color carefully.)

*Multi-Stone Backstamp is found on various previous Laurel Molds, emphasising LIFE, but also from Seaside, etc, and Sylvan put assorted handles on cups without consistency (i.e. LIFE shape handles on Cerama-Stone shape cup-bodies sometimes; I wont list the various configurations-see CALIFORNIA CONTEMPO guide for that- but it was as if willy nilly...amazing variations produced for the very short production (evidently less than a year).

Shapes I have confirmed in this Cerama-Stone line:

Oh Boy when this below here was typed it was neatly aligned, but when it uploads it becomes this mess following...so sorry....

Coffee Carafe, with stand, and ceramic holder for warming candle. Tall Creamer and pouring sugar.   (shape repeats carafe lines)  S&P shakers   (shape theme reflects carafe)                         Dinner Plate 10 inch nominal                                                   Salad Plate 8 inch nom.                                                         Bread Plate 6 inch nom                                                            Cup and Saucer  (as for teacup)  Original shape                     Large angled Mug (shape borrowed from LIFE pattern)  Cold Beverage Pitcher (redesigned but thematically like LIFE pitcher mug, shakers)                                                                      Butter essentially a LIFE butter shape                                     Bowl serving 10 inch diameter and deep same as for LIFE      Bowl serving 8 inch same shape as for LIFE                           Bowl divided serving shallow with tab handles used in Living & Seaside lines.  Chop plate 12 inch (also 13 inch maybe.) Platter sort of rectangle shape 15.5 inch x 9+ inch                            Snack plate with divider and well for 8 ounce mug both original shape and sold separately from dinner set.                           Ashtray set nesting three sizes c 4+, 6+ , 8+ inches approx (and mimicking Heath's popular Ashtray)                                         Gravy boat borrowed shape from LIFE pattern                           Tid Bit tier tray usually utilizing a bowl and two plates                   Soup bowl shy 6 inches                                                         Cereal bowl about 5 1/4 inch                                                     All plates and saucers same molds used in LIFE as were cereal and soup bowls shapes, too.                                               Nesting set of 5 Kitchen Mixing bowls                                       Oh ya, the redesigned lidded sugar

Other pieces may occasionally be found in a glaze associated with Cerama-Stone, but these are none that I know of actually marked with  a cerama-stone backstamp.  I do not recall any grill plate such as mentioned in Mike Pratt's book, (which he admits has errata aka mistakes). I personally still seek more of these patterns for my own collection, so....Okay sorry I have such lousy photos - most got lost in great computer mess-up.

Hope it was a little helpful anyway.    ~Padraig