Score! Vintage Pyrex

While out pickin' last week, I came across quite a collection of vintage Pyrex dishes.  Naturally, I showed no restraint - I bought it all.  It wasn't exactly a fabulous deal in terms of cost.  Just medium.  But the pieces are colorful and fun.  Most of them will be guests at my house for a while.  Some may move in permanently. 

Of course, one of the first things I wanted to do was to look up the pieces.  I wanted to see how old they might be, the name of the pattern and piece... whatever I could find.  This is what slows me down when it comes to getting things in my booth to sell.  I probably won't get much faster because I really enjoy learning about these treasures. 

As I researched, I often ended up on two particular blogs devoted to collecting Pyrex - Pyrex Love and The Pyrex Collective.  Wow!  What a treasure trove of information!  I could lose myself in those blogs for weeks!  One of my favorite pages on Pyrex Love is the Frequently Asked Questions page.

The Pyrex Files has a great page showing a slew of Pyrex patterns, their names and when they came out.  Very helpful!!!

I also read that Paula Deen is an avid collector and often talks about it on her blog.  I'll have to check that out.

Pyrex Love has a group pool on Flickr, too.  It has thousands of Pyrex photos!

I also found out that Pyrex was featured in the May issue of Country Living.  I think I remember it.  Do I still have that issue around here somewhere?

Photo Disclaimer - I didn't want my photos to have a distracting background so I put the dishes on a white quilted background.  I'm too cheap to buy a light box and too lazy to make one.  The results aren't great, but are a little better than taking the shot on my counter like I usually do.

I bought a yellow 503 refrigerator dish with a clear lid.  One benefit of Pyrex over Corning are the lids.  They are flat, which makes refrigerator storage very efficient.  On the other hand, without the knob, the lids require two hands to lift off.  I'm going to play around with these for a while and see which ones I truly prefer. This was probably made in the 1960's or beyond.

Speaking of refrigerator dishes, I came across this little post singing the praises of the mini refrigerator dishes and how great they are for dieters.  I might need to be on the lookout for the minis!

I came home with a large, heavy plate.  It turned out to be the 795 underplate to go with the Friendship Promotional Cinderella Round Casserole Set. The Friendship pattern came out in 1971.  This plate got me thinking.  I am not completely loving my Fiesta Ware dishes.  I like having more color, but I may have gone too far.  I need to think on my plate situation a bit more.  I had a swoon reaction to this little red and white plate and I can picture something similar looking just right in my kitchen.  Oh, how fickle I am!  It's a very good thing that I have a booth. On another page, Pyrex Love said, It is a bit more difficult to find this alternate Friendship promo casserole, and even more difficult to find it with the underplate. Woo-Hoo!  I have a hard-to-find piece!

The most exciting (and most expensive) find was a 1 1/2 qt orange 043 Friendship Casserole and Lid 943C34.   The dish on the right is a 1 qt casserole in the Town and Country pattern.  I need to find a lid for it.

A whole page was devoted to the Friendship pattern in the May Country Living issue!

These casseroles are both turquoise and white in the snowflake pattern.  The divided dish is a #10, the other is a #17.

I found another similar oval baker set in Blue Ivy.  The dishes with the decorated lids always catch my eye, but when you put them in a cabinet, you don't see the pattern.  Hmmmm.... I need to find some inspiration photos for displaying Pyrex.

And finally, I bought two pie plates in flamingo pink and Lime green.  These colors are really fun.

All in all, I'd say it was a good find.  It certainly gave me a thrill!