OM DENNE EPISODE
Host Bex Scott shares the five Pyrex patterns that she doesn’t love in this episode. In addition to naming the unloved patterns, she explores their history and what dishes made up the sets on offer. Everyone’s tastes are different so listeners may love a pattern Bex doesn’t. You may agree with Bex or you may want to bring a case in defence of a favourite that appears on this list. Or possibly you’re new to Pyrex and want to explore different sets. Whichever way you lean, there’s something for you in this episode.
All the information Bex shares is from the Pyrex Bible, more formally known as Pyrex Passion 2nd Edition by Michael D. Barber. From Golden Acorn to the infamous Old Orchard, Bex lets you into her opinions on her least loved Pyrex patterns. What is it about these patterns that put her off? What other patterns does she dislike? What is the best way to ruin a gold pattern Pyrex bowl? And is there anybody who will stand up in support of Old Orchard? Listen in then share your agreements, arguments, and collection display photos with Bex on Instagram @PyrexWithBex.
Resources discussed in this episode:
- “Pyrex Passion 2nd Edition” by Michael D. Barber
- Golden Acorn Pyrex
- Golden Honeysuckle Pyrex
- Old Orchard Pyrex
- Forest Fancies Pyrex
- Pyrex brown hugger cradle
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Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex:
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Transcript
Bex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast, where you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Hey everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. On today's episode, I wanted to talk about the five Pyrex patterns that I don't love. I figured that since I've talked in the past about so many of the patterns that I do love, and I've had guests talking about their collections and the ones that they collect the most often, I'd switch things up a little bit and talk about the ones that I don't love as much. Now I do enjoy all Pyrex and I'll use any kind of pattern. I have even put patterns that I don't love in displays just because they go so well. And you'll realize that there's a bit of a pattern to the ones that I don't love once I start going through them. But I wanted to give you an idea of some of the ones that I don't necessarily collect as much of, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on whether you agree with me, which ones you don't love, and get a conversation going. You can find me on Instagram at Pyrex with Bex, and feel free to share your thoughts about this episode there.
Bex Scott: [00:01:42] So starting off, we have the first one, and I'll start by saying all of the information that I'm going to give is from the Pyrex Bible, the Pyrex Passion Book by Michael D Barber. I have the second edition, and that's where I get all of my of my information from. So I wanted to, once I say which pattern I don't love, give you a little bit of background information on the dish so that you can learn a little bit more about it if you're a new collector, or maybe you have been collecting for a while, but you haven't necessarily read up about certain patterns. And just to give some fun information on each of the pieces. Because regardless of whether I like it, there's tons of other people out there that do like these pieces, so to each their own.
Bex Scott: [00:02:30] So the very first one is the Gold Acorn. And I have owned various pieces of this set, and I believe I started off liking them, but it just wasn't a pattern that grew on me. So this one was produced from 1959 to 1963, and it came in an assorted bakeware set. So it was gold applied to a beige background. It paints a little bit of a picture, and it's like a scrolly kind of ivy leaf pattern with little acorns on it. And it says that the boxes didn't include the pattern name, but marketing materials from the time used the name Gold Acorn on Ivory or Golden Touch in reference to this pattern. And it says that the first edition of Pyrex Passion referred to the pattern as Golden Acorn, but Gold Acorn was more commonly used in the catalogs. And most items were offered from 1959 to 1963, with the exception of the 053 oval open baker, which was dropped in 1962. So the ones that I've had are the oval casseroles, and they come in the one and a half quart and two and a half quart with the clear lids. And I've also had a divided serving dish. And one of the things that I learned early on when I was collecting Pyrex is that you don't put anything abrasive on gold, and this was me being naive. I should have known better. But I remember getting a tube of peek because starting off in my collecting, I had heard that peek is the perfect thing to take the utensil marks off of Pyrex and just clean them up, which it is. But you cannot use anything abrasive on gold because it will wear it off. So I remember squeezing the peek onto a piece of paper towel, and I rubbed off the whole bottom half of the gold acorn pattern. And I still haven't forgotten that it was a good lesson for me to learn, but for any of you that are just starting out, you can use peek to clean your Pyrex but do not use it on the gold. It will ruin it.
Bex Scott: [00:04:58] Okay, so the Gold Acorn was also offered in the stamp catalog carousel with a cradle, and the stamp program was where you would redeem your stamps at the store and they would give you the Pyrex in return. So it says the item appears in the 1961 Top Value Stamps Family Gift Catalog. The cradle was the same one used on the 1959 duet, or also known as Dandelion Casserole. And that one kind of has the same colorings. It's more of a yellow, though, actually. And I really like the Dandelion. The oval divided serving dish also came in Gold Acorn and then the oval open baker. And I have to say, I don't love this pattern, but I do have a weakness for space saver casseroles. I just love the size of them, especially if they come with that metal lid. Perfect for the freezer. So these ones were sold individually with a clear lid from 1959 to 1963. And then they came out with another set, same time frame though, with the oven freezer serving set. And they were both packaged in a set that included one clear lid and two metal lids. And I know where I am in Canada at least those metal lids are very hard to come by. I think I have maybe one of them that I was lucky enough to find on Facebook Marketplace, and that's one that I will never resell. That one will stay in my collection, and I'm always on the lookout for more of those metal lids. Now, the Gold Acorn did have a prototype, and they were the 473, 474 and 475. They were the round casseroles with clear lids, and these ones were not standard production items. They have resurfaced in this pattern and are being said that they're possibly manufactured as test items in the early 1960s.
Bex Scott: [00:07:00] So next up, you'll see there's a bit of a theme here with which patterns I don't love. We have the Golden Honeysuckle, so it's not all gold that I dislike. There are quite a few patterns, especially the promotional ones that have gold. There's just something about these ones that have the vines or the flowers that I don't know why, it just doesn't do it for me. The Golden Honeysuckle 1963 to 1965. It was testing, Corning was testing the market with new shapes and sizes of casseroles. And I think that's maybe why this one I don't love so much. Now, I've owned all of the Golden Honeysuckle, and they are really nice to bake casseroles in and to heat things in because they're nice and long and they're really deep. There's also shallow ones for vegetables, which is great. But to me, this isn't the standard Pyrex that I know and love. They released four casseroles, and they featured a unique square shape designed by William M Curtis.
Bex Scott: [00:08:09] To ensure the gold pattern adhered properly casseroles were sprayed white on top of the opal glass. Walnut serving trays were also available in one size, a 935 that fit the two smaller casseroles, while another size, 958, fit the two larger casseroles. The serving trays were sold separately and also packaged with the casseroles when sold as a set. And these casseroles were sold individually and you have the 033, 035, 055, 058, 935 which is the tray and the 958 which is the tray. And then it came as a casserole serving set. So you have the 33, the 35, the 55 and the 58. And then there were casserole prototypes. So after the casserole style was patented in 1961, Corning tested the new shapes with many different designs. These prototype items are quite rare, but can be found in many patterns such as Early American, Green Scroll, White Snowflake on Turquoise, and White Compass on Turquoise.
Bex Scott: [00:09:17] Okay, the next one. This is going to be no surprise because I've talked about it at length on many of my episodes. That Old Orchard is my least favorite pattern. And there's tons of memes out there about poor Old Orchard. And it really doesn't get a lot of love. So I would really like to know how many collectors out there or just people in general, like the Old Orchard pattern. And if you have examples of how you've styled Old Orchard in your shelves with other items, I would really like to see them because this is one pattern that is very interesting to me, and I'm sure it will look great in a fall assembly of just different items, so feel free to shoot them over to me on Instagram.
Bex Scott: [00:10:06] So Old Orchard was 1973 to 1977 and it contained a mix of pattern pieces, solid colored pieces and pieces with brown shading sprayed around the top of the bowl, so it gave it kind of an ombre effect. It was designed by Corning artist Estelle G. Rothstein, and it was released in late 1973. The lids were solid brown applied to opal glass. However, by 1977 the brown lids were replaced by clear lids, and I have maybe 1 or 2 of these pieces. Actually, I think I have most of the Cinderella Bowl set and a few of the round casseroles, but I've only ever found one of the solid brown lids, and it does look nice when you put a solid brown lid on the solid bottomed pattern. But the clear ones are definitely more popular to find with this set. So this set came in a three piece and a four piece mixing bowl from 1973 to 77. So you have the 401, 2, 3 and 4, and it alternates from the pattern, the fruit pattern to the brown tan fade, fruit pattern, brown tan fade. So you have an alternating pattern for your stack. And then that's the same for the Cinderella bowls. It was a four piece Cinderella bowl set.
Bex Scott: [00:11:28] And then you have the four piece refrigerator set as well. It was two 501s that are different colors. One was solid dark brown and the other was solid caramel. Next up you have the three piece bake, serve and store set. And this was round casseroles in the three piece with brown opal lids from 1973 through to early 77. In the last few months of production, the opal lids were replaced like the clear lids like it mentioned before. So you have the 471, 472 and the 473. And then it came in the three piece casserole set, and it typically included brown opal lids, which were then replaced by the clear lids as well. So this set was the 473, 474 and 475. Next you have your oval casseroles, your oval divided serving dish, and then the covered casserole, the four quart round covered casserole, also known as a Bertha. And it came with the round knob lid, which was the 664 four quart round casserole Old Orchard pattern clear single knob lid. There was also Harvest promotional items that went with the set. Two of the round casseroles 473 and 475 were offered as promotional items, called Harvest in 1974. They included a brown hugger, if you guys haven't seen that, it's the plastic little stand with the handles that just fits around the casserole dish, and a decorated clear lid with a leaf design. Unlike standard Old Orchard items, the promotional items did not include a brown shade effect at the top of the bowls. The smaller casserole has a dark orange background and the larger has a light orange background. These ones, because they're not the ombre brown, I actually like them a little bit more.
Bex Scott: [00:13:30] And last but not least, in the five patterns that I don't really love so much, we have Forest Fancies. So I've been on the fence about Forest Fancies for a very long time because I do like anything with a mushroom on it. And mushrooms are so popular, they resell like crazy. I actually had somebody I sold another set to ask me to source a Forest Fancies set for them. So there's definitely people who love these ones. This, out of all of the ones I've mentioned, is probably the one that I like the most out of the five, but it still unfortunately made my list. So Forest Fancies was released in the mid 1980s on a limited number of items, specifically nesting mixing bowl sets, and round casseroles. The design was sold as Forest in Canada, and it was discontinued during the second half of 1986, when all opal Pyrex ceased production. Backstamps only contain metric units, although boxes included both metric and imperial measures. Since the mid 1970s, kitchen decor was increasingly dominated by earthy elements such as fruits and mushrooms. Like I was saying, that's all really popular right now. All of the the earthy mushroom fruits and vegetables. And Corning's response to the trend resulted in this pattern, and it was designed by Corning artist Mark G. Rubin.
Bex Scott: [00:15:00] Reusable plastic containers with airtight lids had replaced the practicality of glass refrigerator and freezer storage dishes, resulting in the discontinuation of many Pyrex items such as oval casseroles, divided dishes, and refrigerator sets. So this one came in a three piece and a four piece mixing bowl set, and the four piece mixing bowl set was discontinued in 83, while the three piece remained available through 1986. And that was the 401 through 404. Then there was the four piece Cinderella Bowl set, and that was the 441 to 444. I haven't actually seen a lot of the Cinderella bowls around where I live, but I have seen quite a few of the mixing bowl sets, and I've never actually seen any of the round casseroles in real life, so that would be kind of a cool set to have, I have to admit. So it was the three piece bake set and serve store set from 1980 to 1985, and they all had clear lids. There was the 471, 472 and the 473, and those ones are actually kind of cute. And in the picture here, they're propped up next to a 470 set with a counter saver. So it was like a placemat for your counter. You could probably cut things on it and it had a little, it has the little Forest Fancies pattern on the bottom right hand corner.
Bex Scott: [00:16:28] Okay, so they also have the three piece casserole set in the 473 to 475, as well as the one and a half quart covered round casserole, which was sold individually, so the 474 was sold in the casserole set as well as on its own. You also have the 475, which was sold on its own through 1980 to 1983. Then there was also a two piece casserole set, and that was the 473 to 474 so there's all these different combinations where you could get a three piece, a two piece, buy them individually, and then they talk about the Counter Savers, which were available from 1985 to 1991. And it says two sizes of glass counter savers, marketed as Mushroom, were launched around 85 to match the Forest Fancies design. So you had a 12 by 15 and then a 16 by 20. Those would be cute to have on your countertop.
Bex Scott: [00:17:34] Okay, so those are my top five least liked of the standard Pyrex patterns. I'll have another episode that goes into the promotional items that aren't on the top of my list, but in the meantime, I'll add in some more positive things that I like episodes just to balance it out for you guys. But I would love to hear your thoughts on the ones that I don't love and tell me the ones that also aren't your top Pyrex patterns. Follow me on Instagram at Pyrex with Bex and we can start a conversation there. Feel free to send me photos of all of your awesome displays and I will see you next time.
