Vintage Pyrex

Bring a vintage look to your kitchen with Pyrex

Butterfly Gold Nesting Mixing Bowls

Pyrex comes in so many patterns and colors that there is sure to be one to match your vintage kitchen style. In addition, it’s useful as well as decorative which is important in any kitchen where space is often at a premium.

Whether your style is bold or country cottage there is a pattern to complement your taste in a variety of pieces including loaf pans, casserole dishes in a selection of shapes and sizes, mixing bowls, pie pans, refrigerator dishes and more!

Primary Color Casserole Dish

Pyrex got its start in 1908 when Corning Glass Works was manufacturing Nonex, a borosilicate low-expansion glass for lamp globes and battery jars. The story goes that Jesse Littleton of Corning discovered the cooking potential of borosilicate glass by giving his wife a casserole dish made from a cut-down Nonex battery jar. Corning then reformulated the glass removing the lead content and started a line of kitchenware. Hopefully Mrs. Littleton received one of the new lead free pieces and got rid of the cut down battery jar!

Early American Refrigerator Dish

Gooseberry Refrigerator Dishes

 

Another Pyrex story is that the name was created using one of the first products produced, a pie plate, combining that with the EX from the end of Nonex and sticking an R in the middle to make it easy to pronounce. Good thing because I think PIEX would have been quite the tongue twister.

At first all Pyrex was clear glass and then in 1947 Corning Glass Works began producing Pyrex in the colors and patterns we all know and love. New designs were continually introduced to the modern homemaker to keep up with latest trends and a love affair began! 



From mid century designs in turquoise to the harvest gold and avocado green designs so popular in the seventies there is a Pyrex pattern to match your taste and to make tasty meals with too!

Butterprint Refrigerator Dishes

 

Alas all good things must come to an end and Corning discontinued its production of Pyrex products in 1998 but still licensed the Pyrex brand to other companies. You should be aware that new Pyrex is made with a different glass formula, soda-lima glass, which has been linked to some complaints to the Consumer Product Safety Commission by users reporting that their Pyrex glassware had shattered at high temperatures.



 Another good reason to buy vintage Pyrex!

Primary Color Loaf Pan

Please visit my shops Charmings Collectibles and Charmings on Etsy for a selection of Pyrex and other vintage goodies! 




To learn more about Pyrex including how to clean and care for your vintage pieces and other useful and interesting information please visit PyrexLove.com

Anchor Hocking Glass

You can find Anchor Hocking glassware just about anywhere housewares are sold today but what you may not know is what a wonderful collectible Anchor Hocking glass is!

From its humble beginnings as a turn of the century glass company near the banks of the Hocking River in Lancaster Ohio Anchor Hocking has grown to become a favorite in homes across America. 

I use Anchor glass every day and I bet that you have some in your kitchen as well.

Block Optic Powder Jar

Anchor Hocking began business in 1905 with the purchase of the Lancaster Carbon Company in Ohio. The original investors, Isaac Collins, EB Good and their associates named the company Hocking Glass for the nearby Hocking River and nicknamed the plant the “Black Cat” because of all of the carbon dust.

When the original plant burned to the ground in 1924, “Plant 1” was built on the original site and later that same year Hocking acquired the Lancaster Glass Co. and the Standard Glass Co.

Forest Green Dessert Cups

In 1931, Hocking Glass entered the glass container business leading to the 1937 merger of Hocking Glass Company and Anchor Cap and Closure Company and bringing about the more familiar Anchor Hocking name.

Boopie Glasses

The corporation continued to grow through expansion of the existing company’s products and facilities, building new plants and acquiring additional companies across the USA. 

By 1969 the word ‘glass’ was no longer part of this international corporation whose products now included plastics, lighting, earthenware, china and stoneware. 

Today the company has a major manufacturing facility and a 1.3 million square foot distribution center employing over 1,300 people in Lancaster, Ohio and is a leading producer of consumer glass 

products with distribution around the world. 

I hope you have enjoyed learning a little about Anchor Hocking's history. Whether you are looking for Depression Glass, Mid Century designs or something from the seventies or eighties Anchor Hocking has something for every taste and style.

Fire King Mugs

Nuts for Heisey Glass!

Nuts for Heisey Glass!

If you are looking for a collection that doesn’t take up a lot of space consider Heisey nut and almond dishes. These tiny treasures come in a multitude of shapes and colors and they make a stunning display grouped together.

 

Wait a minute, just who is Heisey and why would I want to collect their glass? 

Let me tell you!

Heisey Glass Company began production in 1896 in Newark Ohio and immediately became known for the beauty and quality of their glassware. Be warned! Once you have seen and handled Heisey glass lesser glass will no longer hold the same appeal. Heisey owes its beauty to an excellent glass formula, high quality raw materials, and to the way it was finished--fire polishing and grinding and polishing the bottoms of most pieces. The company closed in 1957 making this elegant glassware even more collectible as time goes on. Are you hooked on Heisey yet?

Just how many nut and almond dishes are available to collect? 

More than you might think

With 30 different patterns in numerous colors your collection could number in the hundreds!

Did you say colors?

Not yet, but since you asked...

In the 1920’s Heisey began producing colored glassware and what fabulous colors they were with names like Flamingo, Moongleam, Canary, Dawn, Tangerine, Hawthorne, Emerald, Sahara, Limelight and Alexandrite as well as more common names such as Rose, Cobalt and Marigold. 

Alexandrite (top center) is one of the most desirable colors appearing lavender under natural light and turning blue under a florescent light.

To see examples of these colors and more visit http://www.heiseymuseum.org/colors.html

If nut and almond dishes aren’t enough of a collection for you there is a plethora of other tiny dishes including individual dessert dishes, jellies, oyster cups, mustard jars, coasters, individual creamers and sugars, and of course toothpicks – whew!

So even if you only have a tiny space you can have an impressive collection with these beautiful little dishes from Heisey.

To learn more about Heisey Glass Company please visit http://www.heiseymuseum.org/index.html

All photos used by permission of J Taylo and subject to copyright laws.