Came across this larger Chemex coffeemaker which is made using Pyrex glass. Earlier, I’d seen a pair of them for cheap at an estate sale, but stupidly only bought the smaller one. This one has the typical green color of stamp you see on flameware, and reads “Chemex U.S. Patent 2,411,340 Made in U.S.A. From Pyrex Brand Glass”.

We actually use our Chemex regularly to make coffee. Since this one has quite a bit of wear on the handle, I think we’ll also be using it for everyday coffee. You simply put the coffee filter in the mouth, spoon ground coffee into that, and pour boiling water over the top. Then toss the filter, and pour the coffee out the spout. Nice to make use of Pyrex early in the morning…

Just a quick note to say that Pyrex Love was featured on Apartment Therapy in Flickr Finds - this is actually a photo of our living room from awhile back. Thank you to Molly from Apartment Therapy for the nice mention!

The big cubicle-case (don’t laugh - from IKEA) in the background contains more than just vintage Pyrex. But at the time this photo was taken, it did have mostly Pyrex and other vintage glassware. The glass-door hutch on the far wall contains a good amount of Pyrex as well. We try to rotate out certain items with the seasons. The only really bad thing about having this many items displayed is that it takes a tremendous amount of time to dust everything. =)

Over this past summer, we did come across a few Pyrex standard and promotional items in our thrift store and flea market travels. However, we’ve definitely noticed that the already shrinking bounty of Pyrex goodies around has dried up to nearly a trickle. We think the economy has something to do with that - people buying up Pyrex to sell most likely. When major thrift stores DO have Pyrex nowadays, the prices are almost always too much to justify picking up (I’m talking to you, Goodwill).

This Snack Server promotional divided dish was an exception. I think it was because some people might think the plain black on white design was boring. The pattern is actually quite nice, and sometimes is referred to as “Compass Signs”. Unfortunately, ours didn’t come with the unusual carrying handle that slips over the two ends of the dish and allows you to carry it from the top.

We actually came across a Butterfly Gold butter dish the other day in it’s original box at the thrift. I know these are more common, but it was still fun to find it. Funny, but we paid about the same price as the original price sticker on the box, although it WAS a markdown. More photos are in the ref.

I know that we’ve been meaning to cut down on our Pyrex intake lately, but it’s still difficult to pass up nice examples like these 401 mixing bowls. That’s especially true when they’re only a dollar a piece. Two are from the primary set, while the third is a more uncommon “Bluebelle” or Delphite Blue example. We keep a few 401s in the house at all times for use as potato chip bowls - perfect size for a serving of chips for two people while watching TV…

Ah, the first day of Spring! We just happened to stumble upon this pair of Sage Scroll (or also known as “Green Scroll”) casseroles at a recent trip to the flea market. It was from one of our favorite vendors, and even though they came without lids (I had to “borrow” some lids for this photoshoot!) they were in good condition and for a great price. It’s not your typical Pyrex olive/avocado green but a lovely celadon/sage green, with golden French calligraphy scrolls. It’s been on my most-wanted list for a while too, so when I saw them together, I just couldn’t pass them up. These would be perfect as serving dishes for Easter dinner.

We had just gotten there too, so I carried them and walked around for 3+ hours we were at the flea market! Now THAT’s Pyrex Love

We’ve had a bit of luck with some of the promos recently at the thrifts. Funny, most of what we’ve found has been green or olive green in color - so I had to also throw in the two red refrigerator dishes into the picture to liven things up. =) We already have these, but they were impossible to pass up at 50 cents a piece.

The Zodiac promotional casserole definitely wasn’t as cheap, but I had to get it because it came complete with the base candle warmer. We already have a zodiac casserole, so we might be giving that away as a gift next Holiday season.

We also came across a Bride’s Promotional casserole without it’s cover or base. While some people might think the design on this one is a bit boring with just monochromatic green, we like the different flowers and decoration on it.

We continue to come across the older military style Corning restaurantware items occasionally. This is the first plate that we’ve purchased - the larger soup or stew bowls we got earlier seem to fit exactly into the plate which allows it to be used as a sort of saucer for the bowl as well. Over the weekend, we saw a few of the smaller soup (or chili?) bowls at the flea market but passed on those as the seller wanted an arm and a leg for them.

Also, earlier last week we came across a set of perhaps 10 or 11 smaller plates (perhaps salad sized?) at the thrift. These had the same Corning glassblower (often called the hornblower) mark on the back, without a date. We passed on these as well, because there was no room for that number of plates. These are very useful items, however, being extremely tough and durable.

We’re still slowing growing our Pyrex collection - every so often we come across pieces we don’t yet have. The latest casserole we found was the Tree of Life promotional casserole which we’d wanted for awhile now. It’s a standard #475 casserole with a darker blue bird pattern on a lighter blue base color. Ours came without a lid unfortunately, although it’s most likely just a standard clear lid that came with these casseroles.

Underneath that casserole is a large Corning military bowl which is dated 1951. We have a few of these supremely useful sized bowls already, and believe they went with the “watch mugs” posted earlier.

On the right is a Snowflake Blue sugar bowl with glass lid. Even though this is a later production, we find them a little harder to come across than Butterfly Gold and Spring Blossom patterned items. Underneath that sugar bowl is a Federal Glass bowl which is not a Corning production. However, we picked it up for the wonderful green pattern on the side - this almost looks like an Agee Pyrex pattern.

Lastly, the light blue creamer in the front is also not a Pyrex item - it’s actually a Fire King Blue Mosaic creamer. We don’t see these a whole lot, although according to the Fire King book that we have, sets are supposed to be quite common. Maybe they’re more common in the east rather than here in California.

One final note: our contact form has been acting up lately - it turns out we weren’t receiving all the communication that may have been sent in for the past 4-5 months. While we try to fix it, we want to encourage the submission of questions and comments to the Flickr group instead. There are a lot of collectors there who will likely be able to help you if you have a question.

Happy New Year! Hope your holidays were filled with Pyrex, food, family, friends and love.

In the coming year, we hope to post more frequently. However, we are going to try to get away from the “longer” posts since time is so limited nowadays. Where possible, we’ll try to let pictures speak for themselves instead of trying to write an essay every time we find a 441 Spring Blossom bowl.

A quick round up - over the past couple of years we have noticed the gradual disappearance of many of even the common Pyrex pieces in the thrift stores and estate sales as they are snatched up quickly by new fans (and sellers, of course). We’ve also seen the thrifts increase the prices, sometimes to grotesque levels. Vintage pyrex has gained a huge amount of new fans. Sure, it’s great for collectors who already have a lot of pieces. But keep in mind that most of the common Pyrex patterns were mass produced. There’s no need to overpay for them. At least not yet.

One of the things we still find once in awhile are Pyrex mugs. The Corning “Watch Mugs” above are still often mistaken for shaving cups (not to say they weren’t used at one time for that purpose). There is also an insistence by Ebay sellers to call these handleless mugs “WWII” items. That may or may not be true for a particular mug - these were also made at least up till the Korean War. There are a few different marks you’ll find on the back - most include the Glassblower guy (also known as the “horn-blower”) in the stamp. The quality and composition of the glass also varies.

We also came across these less common Pyrex Tableware Tea “Can Cups” in the Copper Filigree pattern. They are shorter in height than the more common #709 style mugs.