Community Sale

It's that time of year again for a community-wide sale I look forward to all year. The hubs and I have gone for at least the last 5 years running, but only last year did we buy the preview tickets that scored me one of the most exhilarating one day hauls I've ever found.

I was worried this year's sale couldn't possibly live up to the expectations I was trying not not to have. But happily I found some super great stuff!

Friendship lasagna pan for 2 bucks! Yes please! I'm half ashamed to admit this is my 3 one of this piece. (Does it make it less bad that I paid a lot for the two I had already?) And I have to tell this story here because I think it's so cute (and frightening to me at the same time).

Two years running, my husband has gone off in a slightly different direction than me, and both years he had his hands full of Corningware when he was standing right in front of awesome Pyrex I wanted and he just completely didn't see it. Last year it was two pink gooseberry round casseroles and this year it was this lasagna pan.

I had the buggy, and when I came around the corner, I saw my husband loaded down with Corningware in his hands, and directly in front of him on the table was this dish. And right smack in between us were two adorably cute Millennial kids that looked like what I think of as the quintessential young Pyrex collectors. I literally almost shoved into them with my cart, because I am that insane person who could, in court, plead temporary insanity for Pyrex.

Out of the way Millennials!

I have officially declared my husband to be "distracted by Corningware". When I tell him this, he gives me the most sad, guilty, tried-my-best expression and I feel like I am scolding a puppy. My life, I tell you what.

Lids that are like gold! Space saver lid for two dollars, two large refrigerator dish lids and one medium for another two bucks, and 4 dollars for the Spring Blossom large oval casserole.

Toy finds. Small bundle of Fisher Price Little People for two bucks and an old tin toy house trailer for a buck. (I later found a car that may or may not be the right one for it that didn't make its way into this photo session. So yay for making a 'set'!)

My husband picked these up. No idea why. Just thought it was precious that he wanted little elephant salt and pepper shakers. Love.

Then finally on the way home I stopped in Goodwill and found the McKee sailboat measuring cup for $1.99. Just when I completely give up on GW, I find one awesome thing that just keeps me coming back for more. In truth, I probably benefit most from all the other pickers in town being somewhere else! Had to take a picture of it with my only other ships piece.

I'm very pleased with what I found. By all in all, things have definitely seemed to change. Prices are creeping up for just basic things, like lids. There was more Pyrex at this sale, but it made its way into other peoples carts before I ever saw it. There seemed to be far fewer vintage items, more new stuff. In a way, I was glad I don't collect as broad a variety of vintage stuff, because items like lunch boxes and thermoses were priced at full antique store level.

These days, I feel like everyone I see is a picker of some type. Some faces I recognize after years of seeing them around once in a while but not connecting the dots. Lots of folks seem to show up for these sales only to sell their wares in a yard sale at antique store prices. Which is why I'm not wild about yard saleing around my area.

I'm not kidding when I say that around where I live, you can often find a better deal in a nicely staged, air conditioned antique store than you can a yard sale or flea market. The store dealers (at least, SOME of them) seem to want to move items, keep their booth rent paid, when lots of the yard sale folks seem content to put a ridiculous high price tag on their items and move them around from yard sale to yard sale, never selling them. I've seen Pyrex bowl sets at the same yearly yardsale with the same taped on price tag for at least the last three years running. It beats me why people are like that.

But then again, with prices rising like they have, maybe eventually that will be what passes for a fair price. Ugh!

All in all, I'm happy with what I found. Even if it didn't quite live up to the hype of last years craziness, it sure did let me down gently. Lol!

Hope you are finding fantabulous treasures where you are!

Happy Thrifting!

Favorite finds from 2014

Recently I've seen several folks do a recap of their favorite finds of 2014 which I thought was a great idea! So I spent a little while looking over my photos and deciding what my standout favorites were.

First off, I found my first Cathrineholm. The skillet was an unmarked Goodwill find and the bowl is an unmarked square pattern that isn't as frequently seen as the popular Lotus design. I would be thrilled to find more pieces in the wild for good prices!

I thrifted these sweet little McKee Glasbake custard cups for 99 cents total. I love polka dots!

I also found a vintage holy grail - a custard McKee dots dish! In the same antique store I found the Snowflake Blue dish to finish my round casseroles (470's) and got a fantastic deal on some pink fridgies!

On the Fire King front, I bought the blue band and pink band bowls to complete my Stripes set.

I also thrifted my favorite Fire King mug ever - a 99 cent reStore purchase.

These original ads were antique store purchases, but were inexpensive - I spent 3 times what I paid for them to frame them, lol!

I didn't realize when I thrifted this vintage Lisa Frank lunch bag just how much I'd use it and love it. It's held drinks and snacks for my husband and I on many a yard sale day/antique trek. It also seems like Lisa Frank is on a major resurgance lately. I saw so many different knickknacky Lisa Frank items at the Dollar General around Christmas this year, I requested them for my stocking stuffers.







And speaking of yard sales, this is one of my very favorite finds of the year. And it definitely wins for best yard sale score.







I wish I had the slightest idea who made these canisters. They are unmarked. Chances are good they were sold nested with only a sticker on them or a cardboard holder/box.



The turquoise set was a junk store find earlier in the year. Each set was 5 bucks! I really want to know who made these and what color combinations exist!




And on the Pyrex front, I thrifted a new cabinet (that I still haven't painted!) to store some of my favorite pieces. I've toyed around with the idea for years of taking a turquoise Pyrex mixing bowl with me to have color matched at the store, and this year I think I'm really going to do it. It might make me rethink what pieces I have on display, but that's okay with me. What I'd really like to do is turquoise on the outsides and as the drawer color, but white shelves and insides with white framing the whole piece. I'd also like to measure the backs of the shelves and have some kind of thin wood that could be painted or framed with fabric. I'd start off with black & white chevrons, but I'd also like to try just a solid lime green as well.








 I found my second turquoise bowl set in the wild, and I shamelessly snapped them up.








I also very recently added my first piece of turquoise bakeware.

I also scored my very first Pyrex in the original box!










And added a couple of great Horizon Blue pieces to my collection. I love those decorated opal lids so much!

Added two Friendship pieces I'd never seen in the wild before.
















Also recently added these unusual labware pieces to my collection. Butterfly Gold looks really neat in blue!







Finally, to round out the year, I added a couple of Christmas items that were high on my wishlist. First I found several working strands of bubble lights at a yard sale for 10 bucks, then I added 7 more boxes via thrift stores!

I also bought my favorite favorite favorite box of Shiny Brites I've ever seen for sale. I paid the price for them, but I'm totally okay with that. Love 'em!

So I think this is the longest post ever! I'm sure I've forgotten things, and failed to post some good stuff. Maybe sometime I will catch up with the rest of the world, get a smartphone and do that ole instagram thing all the kool kats and hep chicks are talking about.

I've not really gotten out so far this year. Went thrifting once. Found a lady head vase for my mom and few Pyrex mugs, but that's it so far. Hopefully we'll hit the town by Valentine's Day and find some new treasures.

Looking forward to finding all sorts of neat treasures in 2015!

Happy Thrifting!

Surprise finds

I really haven't been out since my last post. Drs appointments and obligations have kept me (mostly) out of the thrift and antique stores for a few weeks now. I've hit the Goodwill when running errands put me in sight of one, but I've left empty handed (except the hubs who scored a few vinyl records).

Even today, I had an obligation that kept me from attempting to yard sale, so I almost just stayed home altogether, but my husband actually told me he thought I might crack up if I didn't get out today. So of all things I chose to do, I decided to go to my hometown antique store (that almost never has anything). Figured we'd walk through it in about 5 minutes flat, then we'd splurge on some junk food lunch - another indulgence I've been denying myself quite a bit lately - then head back home.

But that didn't happen. In fact, I found one of my vintage holy grail items - a McKee dots dish!
(Red dots on custard, and I believe is it the smallest of a 3 piece round canister set)

It was the first thing I found, and I was positively over the moon about it! I've coveted McKee dots online and in collector's books for several years now, but only just this summer even saw a single piece in person. (Alas, it was a lidless red dot refrigerator dish for 65 dollars. And I just couldn't do it. Had it had a lid I might just have.)

I would have left happy with just this one find, but in another booth I found 3 pink refrigerator dishes for 15 dollars - with lids!  AND the smallest Snowflake Blue casserole dish that completes my 470 set!

A family reunited!

Had to take this picture of them all together :-)

The medium size pink fridgie has seen better days. I don't think its been dishwashed, but it looks like someone got after it with a brillo pad. It sad to see a damaged finish on a color like this that is in such a high demand these days, but it's also easy to forget how many good cleaning products we have now that just didn't exist in the prime days of pink Pyrex. The little guys probably were too small to be used as baking dishes, so they've made it though the decades with very little damage.

I've got to admit, I hoard pink Pyrex. This is makes 2 and a half fridgie sets for me, and I'll probably still keep buying them if I find more I can afford. I hope I'm not bad!


And speaking of vintage holy grails, what are yours? I think I've got so many Pyrex grails that they are a category unto themselves, but my absolute top two are more McKee dots (every color I can get!) and more pieces to go with my grandmother's Hull wheat canister. I'm ever and always looking for these - in the wild. Maybe someday I'll ebay them, but I'm a half-the-fun is the hunt kind of girl!

My grandmother's Hull wheat canister. I believe this originally belonged to her mother.

What are your vintage holy grails you keep an eye out for?

Hope you're enjoying this weekend and finding fabulous treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

Last nights thrift finds

We almost didn't go out last night (I've been saying that a lot lately). We're still broke from our Valentine's Day splurges. But the only thrifts that were open were Goodwill, and I had some loyalty points burning a hole in my pocket, so we went anyway.

I couldn't resist these seahorses. So sweet and so utterly tacky. My husband kept accidentally calling them sawhorses. I told him that these sawhorses might just be hanging up on the bathroom wall when he gets home from work ;-)

Funny thing about the chicken mug stand - it's actually a matching Sears Chicken Little item to the very canisters behind it! Believe it or not, I didn't even put that together in my head until this morning. A little poking around the net led me to this page from the 1976 Sears Big Book. This page has tons of cute stuff, including a whole range of Merry Mushrooms items.

It was Corelle night. I bought the stack of hook handled mugs all taped together with the matching creamer. No sugar bowl. I always wonder when I find odds & ends like this if there was more donated and someone else just beat me to it, or if these were it. Worse still is when the cashier says something like "Oh, someone else just bought a whole bunch of this earlier."

Isn't that just the pits? I just try to smile it off, knowing that there are times I'm sure I was the other side of that equation.

Like when I bought these bowls, the cashier said "Oh, I know someone who comes in here looking for this very thing." I'm not sure if she meant the Spring Blossom pattern specifically, or if she meant Corelle in general. I didn't ask. I felt somewhat guilty, like I was buying the phantom other persons Corelle bowls.

I have never even seen the larger of the two bowls before. It's the same diameter as a dinner plate. HUGE bowl.  Even if Crazy Daisy Spring Blossom Green isn't my favorite pattern, it sure is useful. In fact, I'm certain my husband prefers to mix/heat things up in Corelle serving bowls when possible, just so there's no chance he breaks one of my Pyrex mixing bowls.

And finally, Oh my very Goodness. I could.not.love.these.more.

These so-sweet little Glasbake custard cups were all taped together for 99 cents. If bowls were as cute as baby kittens, they'd be these bowls.

Huh?

One is in better shape than the rest and one is more worn. These will probably never be used again. They are just too precious. And it's unfortunate, because I'd use them in a heartbeat, but some of these vintage treasures just do not have the ability to withstand everyday use and wear.

This pattern dates back to the late 1930's as seen in this amazing advertisement. And this site itself is a fantastic resource for vacuum coffee maker fans like myself :-)

Anyways, I'm really glad we got out. Now I'm cash-poor and with no more loyalty credit until payday!

Hope you are finding the snazziest stuff!

Happy Thrifting!

Heart Day

Hope everyone had a happy Valentine's Day!

My husband and I delayed our trip due to questionable weather conditions. It was warmer, and possibly safer, to have waited a day, but we still ended up driving through a small, sudden snowstorm that, frankly, my nerves could have done without.

And guess what? I did not buy nary a single piece of Pyrex.

There was some, but not a lot. There were reasonably priced pieces in patterns I'm not dying to collect, and wildly, wildly, massively, heart-stoppingly overpriced pieces in patterns that I do.

How about $175 for a Horizon Blue Cinderella mixing bowl set? Or $75 for a single Friendship oval casserole? Any takers?

Here's my few glass finds: 

I had the pink Hazel Atlas Ripple saucer already, just needed the cup. Wasn't wild to pay the 5 dollar price tag, but at least I have a little set now.

The McKee Ships refrigerator dish is chippy, but it had a perfect lid. Go figure. It was cheap enough I thought it would make a nice display piece.

Had such a hard time photographing this small Fiesta heart bowl. I pick one up every time we are in the area. I'm on my 4th one now! I wanted one in the most recent color, Lapis, but they didn't have one. So I bought this Peacock one instead.

And now for my biggest finds of the day - more Kromex!

These guys were *not* the super cheap bargain price I got my pink set for. But they weren't horribly priced, either. I'd never seen yellow or turquoise in real life before, at any price, and I bought as much as I could afford.

Sadly, I had to leave behind half of canister set and a set S&P shakers. Was just too much $$$$

Kromex family portrait

And right before we left town, we stopped at a bookstore - which is usually where my husband does the money damage. This time, we both bought stuff. I did more damage buying records than I did Kromex. But they're some of my favorites, and it was our Valentine's Day, so we're both excused.

Hope you had a happy Heart Day!

Happy Thrifting!

Weekend finds

I've been to a couple of thrift stores and 1 antique store this week but left with nothing but some Corning Ware lids. But this weekend the hubs and I headed down to our favorite weekend spot where there's lots and lots of pretty Pyrex, it just doesn't come cheap.

The Pyrex sandalwood striped bowl is the 402 size that came with the mixed color set. Surprisingly, I found it for 7 dollars at a flea market where I almost never find Pyrex. This one is a duplicate, but it's going to be part of an all Sandalwood bowl set, just one more left to go.

The two blue casseroles are the 473 size that goes with two different casserole sets. Neither came with lids, but luckily I have a bit of 470 lid hoard. The Snowflake Blue is one I didn't have, but the Butterprint I just bought because I have a sickness for Butterprint. All in all, it's probably my favorite pattern.

And finally, I'm in love! This is my first McKee bowl! It's just shy of 7 inches across. It was 15 dollars!!! I was so surprised to find it. McKee bowls and canisters rate very high on my list of super-neato kitchen wares, but I really never think about them because they are so rare in my area. Once in a blue moon a red Ships patterned piece will turn up but it's always pricey.

When I first started collecting, I got a collector's book for Christmas from my in-laws, called Kitchen Glassware of the Depression Years by Cathy and Gene Florence. It's still my favorite book to just randomly thumb through and pipe dream about. (Yes, even more so than my Pyrex books!~)

What I picked out from the book and decided even then was that my holy grail of vintage kitchen was McKee Dots stuff - mixing bowls, canisters, measuring cups, etc. Every time I go antiquing in a new area it crosses my mind at least once, wondering if I'll ever finally see a piece of McKee dots -any color- in person!

But this bow bowl was completely off the map for me. I don't even know how many bowls came in sets like these. Some McKee is pictured in my book, but there's really not a book that details McKee/Glasbake items like there is for Pyrex and Fire King. I've also thought that these bowls and patterns were older, closer to 30's - 40's Depression Era, but I somewhere I have a magazine with an original ad that shows this pattern and it's from the 1950's - more recent than I thought.

Hope you're finding thrifty treats and treasures!

Happy Thrifting!

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!

Glasbake

This is my entire Glasbake collection. The shapes of which make for a rather awkward group photo. :-)

It seems to me, with a few exceptions, that Glasbake is generally overlooked. A cousin of Pyrex and Fire King, but not exactly an equal. And while I love my Pyrex, I love Glasbake just as much. Sometimes even more so!

For all the many, many pattern options that Pyrex made over the years, the one thing that stands out to me with a certain degree of annoyance is that they rarely, rarely ever used more than two colors per pattern. Occasionally, Pyrex made in England (or JAJ) used 3 or more colors. But the US audience is pretty much out of luck there.These two loaf pans are good examples of what I mean. The orange flower, bluebell loaf pan reminds me quite a bit of a couple of British made JAJ Pyrex patterns.I also love the fin lids. I only have the one, and I believe it was actually made for another style of individual casserole. But it fits this one, so all's good.

Though Glasbake is generally priced lower than Pyrex (at least in my area), I still don't come across it all that often. Most of these guys have come from thrift stores. The strawberry loaf pan was one of my very cheapest finds probably 2 years ago. 59 cents! But it was also absolutely filthy. So filthy I couldn't even tell if it was damaged, so that's likely the reason it was so cheap.

Typically I only come across the ovenware, but Glasbake also made mixing bowls. I just don't have any of them, and rarely see them. If you want to see an amazing collection of Glasbake and other type of mixing bowls, check out this amazing collection!

As for the ovenware, I think these generally came as sets. Possible pieces being two sizes of oval casseroles, round casseroles (these can share lids with Pyrex 024's), loaf pans, two sizes of rectangular utility baker. I don't believe they made coordinating pie plates, but I'm not sure. Most all the ones I've seen, both online and in person, have been clear.

Another reason I think Glasbake is lagging behind it's milk glass brethren is because the name was used by different companies during different time periods, which makes for a confusing history and items that are hard to search for. And to my knowledge there are no reference books or even collector's website to gather information. There is, however, a flickr group for collectors, and this excellent blog by kitchenware author C. Diane Zweig that sorts out the tangled history of the Glasbake name.

Sometimes Glasbake items are not marked at all. Some of my pieces are unmarked. But the shapes are all the same, and they all have a pebbly texture on the bottom, typically with a smooth round area that would normally say Glasbake. Perhaps these pieces were made while the company transitioned from being a McKee product to a Thatcher Glass product - or from Thatcher to Jeannette.

Finally, if you're searching for a Glasbake item, try all these various search terms: Glasbak (the very earliest spelling), Flamex, Glasbake, Glassbake, McKee, Jeannette. If you are looking for early Glasbake (or Glasbak) items, such as coffee pots, teapots, glass skillets, etc. these were also marketed as "Range-Tec" items. Apparently McKee had a field day with dropping letters off the end of their product names, lol!
And finally, my favorite Glasbake items. Deliciously pink mixing bowls. These were made specifically for Sunbeam Mixmaster stand mixers. I found these two bowls seperately at thrift stores, and boy-oh-boy do I wish I had the pink Mixmaster to go with them!

Happy Collecting!