A few finds and Pyrex makeup storage

This bowl is unmarked, but I know it to be Jeannette by a picture I saved from heaven-only-knows where, on my computer stash of dish images and info. There is an Anchor Hocking set using the exact same colors fired on clear glass that is almost always a source of confusion for its similarities.

I believe these bowls pre-date opal Pyrex, and that the shapes and were colors chosen to compete more with popular, colorful pottery items of the time, like vintage Fiesta.

Here it is nesting with my large red bowl I found very recently as well:

Just need a small yellow bowl now to complete this set. I also have half of the refrigerator dish set from this line - just missing the small, green refrigerator dish.

And here's another oddity I didn't know existed - a Lustro ware 45 record box.

I also discovered while researching this guy that Lustro ware also made a mailbox. Who'da thunk it?

At some point, many Lustro ware items were banned by the Environmental Protection Agency, under the Toxic Substances Control Act first passed by Congress in 1976.

Despite this knowledge, I keep bread items in a vintage red Lustro ware bread box. Living dangerously, right? At this point, I've become so cynical about what's safe and what's not that I just assume whatever we are told now will be corrected 20 years later, so I might as well chose my toxicants based on beauty and usability and leave it to God for the rest.

And a few more cheap and cheerful odds and ends:

Two more Hazel Atlas holiday glasses for my collection, and another little tulip glass, which oddly was my second one in as many days. The other was already washed up and in use in my bathroom so it didn't make the photography session, lol.

I also picked up this dark ivory Fire King swirl platter and Pyrex Spices casserole.

And I managed to finally satisfy my hunch/belief that this casserole is indeed a darker color than Sandalwood.

But not by much. I'd say it's halfway between Sandalwood and the lighter Caramel shade in Woodland. Which makes sense, since Spices was produced at the same time as Woodland, in the last days (*sniff*) of opal Pyrex.

And finally, I picked up this rack for 5 dollars. I had the idea a while back to use some of my refrigerator dish hoard to relocate and house my makeup.

ROY G BIV Pyrex love

I don't have a whole lot in the makeup department. My sister-in-law has gotten into makeup with a fervor  - (I guess you could say she's the same way about makeup right now as I've been about Pyrex). And it's somewhat rubbed off on me.

I've stepped foot in Sephora and Ulta a few times this year. I've bought 4 whole things that have set me back a hundred bucks (ouch!) and have watched the frenzy now of the must have palettes/highlights enough times now to feel like I have some idea of what's up, but also know that I absolutely cannot afford much of any of it unless I win the lotto.

My bad joke on the whole thing is: Instead of a Kat Von D, I'm like a Dollar Von Tree.

(Hey, at least the Dollar Tree has some cool Wet N Wild things from time to time, so I'm not entirely out of luck.)


I also think that on some level, the Pyrex popularity surge of the last couple of years has left a little hole in my happiness that I think I'm looking around a bit to fill with something else. I don't know that makeup is it, but it certainly can take up the money and time if you let it.

I just wish I could channel this need into something cheap and useful, like learning piano or Spanish or American Sign Language. Right this minute all I can seem to youtube are horrible makeup tutorials. lol.


Anyways, that's all for now!

Hope you're out finding stuff that is just the Cat's Pajamas!

Happy Thrifting!

A gratitude blog

I believe I'm always complaining on this little blog here how challenging the search for vintage goodies has become.

It has.

But then I follow that sentiment with pictures of the goodies I adore and have found reasonably priced.

So today, I'm going to scrap my complaining and instead say that I feel fortunate and blessed that I'm still finding neat stuff I love, and have the money to spare for it. I'm going to try on an attitude of gratitude, instead of my usual just-plain-ole attitude. Lol. :-)

First up, this is what I believe to be the Glasbake answer to Pyrex primary bowls.

I found just these 3, no larger yellow bowl with them. But I'd never seen them before, only online. And I was really happy to bring these home with me for less than a 20, tax and all. Yay!

These bowls are not marked Glasbake. Just a "J" and a mold number, meaning they likely were produced during the later era of the Glasbake name, 1961- 1983 when Glasbake was owned by Jeannette.

An original sticker of this set from a flickr picture shows a label which says 'ONE OR MORE OF THESE BOWLS WILL FIT MOST OF THE POPULAR ELECTRIC MIXER TURNTABLES'.

(Edited to note that the next picture over from this same flickr member shows these labeled as McKee division of Thatcher glass - an earlier era of the confusing Glasbake history. I can't tell if those bowls in the picture have the "J" mold mark characteristic of other Jeannette-made Glasbake pieces or not. Meaning this particular set might have been in production in a transitional period when the Glasbake changed ownership. That's just speculation on my part, but I love piecing together details whenever I can.)

Another detail I love is the fired-on measurements inside the smallest green bowl. Mine are faded, as you can see, but still plenty nifty.

And more Hazel Atlas cuties! The two pink and one turquoise boomerang glasses add to my small but growing collection of this design. I decided to make these my go-along glasses for my pink, turquoise, and plain white Hazel Atlas Ripple dishes. I don't have enough glasses to really make a set yet, but it's fun to hunt these glasses when I only find one or two at a time every once in a while.

And the pink dancing pigs coctail shaker just spoke to me. Super cute. And pink! Did I mention it's pink? Lol!

Another rarity for me to ever see in the wild, Fire King Swedish Modern mixing bowls in turquoise blue. And actually, I'd never seen this color in the wild before. Just a couple of jadeite ones in a rather expensive antique booth when I first started collecting. And honestly, I paid a middling retail price for them. But still consider myself lucky to have found them considering the dealer working the register that day told me I must have beaten their regular Fire King collector customers to them. I have been told this by more than one dealer in my area that there are a number of Asian collectors that are pretty much strictly Fire King collectors that will buy up pretty much all the jadeite/azurite/turquoise blue they see, even if it's pretty high priced.

But rather than worrying about such things, I'm going to instead try to be happy I found something nifty that has never presented itself to me in the wild for a price I could see paying.


And also, I have absolutely no idea where these guys fall in the size range of the set. They seem like either the largest and next size smaller or the middle two. Either way, I'd say they have room for at least one other bowl to nest inside. If there is indeed a larger bowl, it must be pretty huge. I need to do some research! :-)

And finally, this is a clear glass fired-on red bowl I believe was made by Jeannette, but is unmarked. I believe it is also what could be considered a primary colored bowl set, though the colors are different and could actually pre-date the ubiquitous Pyrex version.

I also suspect this fired-on clear glass was made potentially several decades earlier than when the company purchased the Glasbake name in the 1960's.

It was a lucky thrift store score for 3 dollars. Yay for bargains!

Well, that's got me caught up on my finds of late.

Hope you're finding nifty, cool treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Recent finds

Finally it seems Spring has sprung, and the world of vintage goodness is opening back up again. I added two expensive pieces to my collection lately, both of which I'd never seen for sale before, so I splurged on them.

The Verde baker was a hard one to pay $ for, but I think I'm secretly wishing to be able to have the complete stack of these bakers. Still missing even after 6 years of hunting in the wild is Butterfly Gold and the Rust colored one. And they'll probably be a billion dollars each when I do find them, lol.

And this Spirograph base is such a pretty color - much prettier than how it looks in this picture. Killed me to pay 38 dollars for it, knowing that the chances I'll ever find the lid are slim, but no way could I have left without it. It turned out to be my only purchase of the day I spent in numerous antique stores and large flea market, so it didn't really hurt that I'd spent most of my fun money on a single piece.

And yay for all thrift store finds! My husband found this Daisy oval casserole for me at GW for $3.99. Happy Happy! The unmarked yellow canister is a duplicate, but I couldn't resist it for 99 cents. Each of the Hazel Atlas pieces were also 99 cents. I'd never seen this yellow and pink colorway before. I have a stray pink and black plate from this same line, so I suppose I'm very slowly collecting the different colors.

Technically, this is my husband's find, but he never blogs. Plus, I was the one who insisted he couldn't leave without it, I'll take the blame. This was a GW find for $14.99, which I thought was an ok price, but my husband thinks is gold and diamonds money, so I had to pull the trigger for him. He's collected Fisher Price stuff for a few years now, along with vinyl records, and coupled with my Pyrex addiction, we've done nothing but watch the things we collect and love go up and up in price. I suspect many of you feel my pain there.

The only new addition here is the Glasbake Have a nice Day mug. It's in rough shape, but was too cute for 99 cents, same day I bought the little Hazel Atlas teacup & saucers. It looks just fine with my other dishwashy tulip mugs.

I bought these for my mom. Both are Jeannette glass but different patterns. The large bowl is Iris & Herringbone, the small bowls Floragold. She collects carnival glass and I thought this would dovetail into her collection quite nicely. It was 5.99 for the 6 pieces, which I thought was a good price.

An antique store find and a little oddity. I was super happy to grab up this pink 503 refrigerator dish for 15 dollars in an antique store. Wasn't so long ago that 15 dollars for this piece without a lid would have seemed kinda expensive to me. Now I'm like OMG THAT'S SO CHEAP.

And these little mugs are Butterfly Gold, but marked Termo Rey made in Brazil. Oh I miss Corelle Corner! I know absolutely nothing about how these knock-offs came about. The glass itself is much more similar to Fire King than Pyrex. Another odd Butterfly Gold that I'm keeping for myself. (Sorry, mom! Lol!)

And finally, my one score from a Friday spent yardsaleing all day. I spotted this from a moving vehicle in the bed of someones trailer. It was filthy black and behind a tub, to boot, so how I saw the thing at all beats me. Best part is the guy sold it to me for a buck! Cheapest Pyrex I've ever yardsaled!
And it cleaned up great.

Well, there's my finds for now. I'm hoping to yardsale again Friday. Fingers crossed for some awesome loot!

Hope you're finding great goodies where you are!

Happy Thrifting!

More thrift finds

 Yesterday's thrift post left me...you guessed it....ready for some more thrifting. These were my kitchy finds.

Decorated jars, an International China "Heartland" mug & a Jeannette "Cherry Blossom" depression glass pitcher.

The decorated jars are a mystery to me. I keep thinking they are the 1980's version of Swanky Swigs - that they would have originally come filled with peanut butter, jam, or some other consumable, and when empty you'd have a cheerfully decorated whatnot jar. I have another jar same shape & maker that has a blue lid with blue & yellow flowers. Someday when I least expect it, one of these will pop up with an original label and I'll find out more about it.

Heartland dishes are another accidental collection. They keep presenting themselves at prices too cheap to pass up. I've only got two pieces that were not thrift or yard sale finds. Who doesn't need a china pattern with chickens, pigs, ducks, cats, horses, sheep, farm people, and gigantic fruit sticking out from the sides of houses? :-)

 

More tacky-kitchy absurdity in the wall art. Again, who doesn't need lobsters and jars of plums decorating their kitchen?   :-)

I was happy to find the Shamrock Fiesta salad plate. I already had one, but for .59 cents, I couldn't refuse another. There was a very scratchy cobalt dinner plate I passed on. In fact, I don't have any P86 cobalt plates anymore because mine were so scratched I just didn't like looking at them. So I donated the two that I had. But hoarder that I am, it was still hard not to throw that dinner plate in the cart.....

Finally, a depression glass pitcher, Cherry Blossom pattern by Jeannette Glass. This piece has been repro'd, so I can't say with certainty that this is the real deal. But I read up enough about it to think it is.

 I had to take pictures of it with my American Sweetheart. The pinks are definitely not the same shade, but the difference is more subtle in person than how it photographs. I think it's neat how both patterns, despite being made by two different companies, have such a similar style.

This pitcher set me back $9.99. They had it behind the counter in the collectibles section with a pink depression glass butter dish, I think the same price. When I asked to see them, something struck me about the butter dish, a vague idea floating around that it was a repro - specifically of a piece that was never originally made.

Turned out my hunch was right. It was a knock off of the Madrid pattern by Federal Glass. A pink butter dish that was never made in that color originally.

Of course that makes me suspicious that this pitcher is also a repro - and it definitely HAS been repro'd - but it's pretty much okay with me if it is. I now have a pitcher to go along with my slowly growing American Sweetheart collection. A real pitcher in that pattern would be practically impossible to come up with, and as valuable as they are, I couldn't bring myself to use it if I had it, unless it had some significant damage to it.

No doubt about it, I'm in over my head with depression glass in general. But I think I'm fine if I think the piece is attractive and affordable. I would never pay big bucks for something I didn't know for sure was the real thing. And honestly, paying the 'big bucks' for it would take all the fun out of it anyway.

Hope you're finding thrifty treats & treasures!

The difference between Delphite, Turquoise Blue, and Azurite

Delphite on the left, Turquoise Blue center and one lone piece of Azurite on the far right

First, an apology. I've got a dark house, an out-of-date 5 MP point and shoot camera, and not the greatest photography skills. And forget photoshop, I've never used any image editing software. So these pictures kinda are what they are. But hopefully these will help someone tell the difference between Turquoise Blue, Delphite & Azurite (also spelled Azure-ite).

This topic has been well covered here by Jadite Kate, I just wanted to add my own photos and few tidbits of information not already covered.

 Above, a better look at the difference between Delphite (left) and Turquoise Blue (right). The measuring cups & shakers are by Jeannette, and the bowl by McKee. To the right of these are Fire King Splash-Proof mixing bowls in Turquoise Blue.

Now here's a handy thing to remember: McKee & Jeannette never made Turquoise Blue. And Fire King never made Delphite. These two materials were actually manufactured in a range of time that is potentially decades apart. These terms become confused because of the tendency for all blue glass to be labeled "delphite" when that's actually incorrect.

Fire King (Anchor Hocking glass) manufactured both of these shades of blue glass shown below. Again, the mixing bowls are Turquoise blue, but the lone pale teacup is actually referred to as Azurite - which can be spelled multiple ways, including Azure-ite or without the dash.

Turquoise Blue was available in splash-proof mixing bowls and a round dinnerware line. Azurite was available on the popular shapes, Swirl and Charm (square).

Fire King Turquoise Blue mixing bowls, left, and Azurite teacup, right.

 As you can see, the square Azurite Charm teacup is significantly paler than its Delphite and Turquoise Blue brethren.

 I've stacked it here on a Pyrex teacup to show how close to pure white milk glass it is.

Pyrex also manufactured Delphite pieces, in both factories here and in Canada. I don't have any of these pieces, but I assume they are close in shade to Jeannette and McKee Delphite.

And if you are one really lucky duck, there is another very pretty shade of blue I've only seen in books. It is a lovely Robin's Egg blue called "Chalaine". It's a Depression Era glass that was contemporary to Delphite. Since I've never actually seen it before, I can't say for sure what it truly looks like, but from pictures, it seems quite similar to Turquoise Blue Fire King.

And a final word of warning. Delphite is being widely reproduced. It's hard to keep up with the individual pieces. They are often made overseas and imported in to the US. But they are invariably collector's favorites, such as reamers, measuring cups, rolling pins, shakers, etc.

A US company called Mosser glass is producing Delphite (listed in catalog as "Bonnie Blue") glass nesting glass mixing bowl sets whose body shapes are very, very similar to vintage Pyrex. Unfortunately, these sets have a way of turning up in antique stores, sold as "vintage" with a high $$$. The way to spot these is to look for a mark - an M through an outline of the state of Ohio. I think these bowls are lovely and perfectly useful, it's just unfortunate that they are presented as being vintage when they are not.

Hope this adds some clarity to the many lovely shades of vintage blue glass.

Happy Treasure Hunting!