Tragedies

My only Fire King Tulip teacup is no more. And the Cosmo (?) below it had a nice, big chunk out of it. I have several of the Cosmo, so it's not as sad to me as the Tulip, being as it was my only one.


Self, do not move breakable things around before you've had coffee. Lesson learned.

And this loverly Pyrex Friendship 473 casserole is anything but a tragedy. But the price kinda was.


It cost 18 dollars + tax. I think that's too much money, but I never see Friendship around here. Case in point, I saw this exact casserole complete with the same opal decorated lid for sale about two years ago. I scoffed at the $16.99 price tag and walked away. Next time I was there it was gone, and I haven't seen another one since.

Strangely, when it comes to Friendship, the only things I've seen enough to consider halfway common is the Cinderella bowl set. I've almost completed two sets of them, without really even meaning to. But I can't come across the regular bowl set to save my life.

Both Friendship & Horizon Blue are two really good candidates for buying online (hint hint, hubbie :-)



Happy Thrifting!

Confessions of a Goodwill Shopper

Everyone has their own opinion of Goodwill Industries. Here's mine:

3 years ago, my grandmother, who has since passed away, began giving me various kitchen items. Pyrex, Fire King, Hazel Atlas, etc.

While researching these new-to-me items, I remembered various things my other grandmother used to use. I identified some dishes I had already inherited, and practically in the blink of an eye I was hooked on vintage kitchen stuff.

For the first time in my adult life, I began stalking thrift stores. I started visiting the ones I already knew about and found several new ones, such as Habitat for Humanity ReStore (Definitely my favorite of all to both buy from and donate to).

What I wanted was Pyrex, and lots of it. I discovered Pyrex Love, the flickr group, and a cool blog called Out Thrifting that was talking about the exact same things my grandmother gave me and was finding more of at the thrift store.

Anyway.

At the time, I could buy a Pyrex teacup or mug for 29-59 cents apiece. I bought colored Pyrex bowls & dishes for anywhere between 59 cents to $1.99. I bought a vintage rose Fiesta teacup for .19

I went overboard. Now, I wasn't exactly finding mixing bowls and dream pieces for these prices. Mostly it was stuff I really, really didn't need. Like Corelle in Pyrex patterns, Pyrex tableware/restaurant ware. Some Fire King & Hazel Atlas mugs. Miscellaneous Glasbake.

In other words, anything with that "Milk glass" look that was decorated in a kitchy way.

I had no outlet yet for the overload, so I actually donated most of it back.

Yep. Only it was typically bought from Goodwill but donated back to the ReStore.

Now, I kept plenty. I just bought lots of crap. Overeager beginning collector syndrome. And I've seen enough of the same thing from various thrifting blogs to know I am not the only one who goes overboard. :-)

For maybe a year, this is how it goes. Then, almost suddenly, no Pyrex anywhere.

I thought, "Oh no! They've caught on to it being a collectible!" I still kept hitting the thrifts, but nothing, nada. Once in a blue moon I'd find something at one of the non-Goodwill, church-based thrifts.

I also discovered Shopgoodwill.com. For a good long while I was pretty happy that I could bid on things I had never seen locally. For my Pyrex fix I've bought a set of the gray banded dinnerware, the larger sized pink gooseberry casserole dishes (the 480 Cinderella casserole set) & that same set in "Friendship" with the decorated lids. I bought almost 2 sets worth of pink mixing bowls and refrigerator dishes, and the complete set of "Snowflake Blue" refrigerator dishes with lids.

I know that sounds like a lot, but spread out over two years, it's not so much. And also, I've never, even once, bought anything from ebay. So I still don't consider myself much of an online shopper.

Anyways, in the rare times now that I find pretty much anything vintage, it's priced crazy high. The glory days of finding Fire King mugs for less than a dollar are long gone, it seems.



But the reason I'm writing this post today is because I realize how defeated I feel. And it's not just prices that's doing it.

Out of habit, I searched shopgoodwill for Pyrex earlier today. Instead of being interested in what I was seeing, I felt sad. Every one of those auctions are Pyrex pieces that I think should be sitting on a store shelf, just waiting for a cute little blogger like me (Haha!) to buy it, clean it up, love it, blog about it. Instagram it. All that.

It's a local piece that came out of someones home. The original owner may not be with us any more. I think it deserves a chance to stay in the area and go to another local person. I know that may not ultimately be its fate, but it stands a lot less of a chance when it's being presented to a global audience, to whomever is willing to shell out the most $$$

I'm thoroughly sick of online. It's only online because it makes them more money. And does anyone know where exactly that money goes?! Cause I sure don't. I think they think that paying their employees is their charitable deed. But by that logic, Walmart is a charity. Target is a charity.

Ugh.

I hate how ugly my emotions get when I think about it all. I'm at that point where I feel that a part of me is saying that I don't want to shop at Goodwill anymore, because I don't want to give them any more of my money.

The other part of me is a real shopping addict that doesn't know if I can give it up! Even when I practically HATE Goodwill some days.

There have been many occasions where I've felt like what I buy is being inspected, so they can mark it up next time. I've been asked by a cashier if I'm a dealer, and I basically said "No, I'm just a hoarder." LOL!

Frankly, I don't think it's anyone elses business! AND when I buy something from the thrift store and resell it, I only resell locally. So I'm at least as good as my opinion that a local item deserves at least the chance to stay local.

And whether you like it or not, vintage is just the thing these days. Before the economy tanked, house-flipping was the side hustle of choice. Now it's flea market flipping. It's American pickers. The tides will turn when there are more opportunities to seemingly make more money in an easier way.

So, no, I don't think vintage is going to be as hot a few years from now. But by then, all the good stuff might have been auctioned off to the highest bidder in Japan, where they seem to have more of an appreciation for vintage glassware!

And as for the future of Goodwill, well, I don't think it's very bright either. I don't know that I believe thrift stores as a whole can even survive. Too much disposable crap that isn't really resellable. I think in general, thrift stores are going to basically become used clothing stores with progressively tinier sections for everything else.

I go back to Goodwill and will continue to go back because I'm a gambler. I play the odds, I lose money sometimes, and sometimes I win big. I have enough small wins to keep the hunger alive.

Intermittent reinforcement. It's a hell of a drug. lol!

Thoughts? Do you have a thrift chain you just love to hate?

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!

More Fire King fakes

Reproduction Fire King C-handle mug.

Saw this guy here in an antique store in Georgia about a month ago. First time I had seen a completely fake Jadeite mug. Notice the handle. It has been made to look as close as possible to the increasingly pricey Fire King C-handle mugs. For a comparison of the real deal Fire King mugs, check out this excellent resource.

(Edit 8/18/2014: Here's a little wayback machine snapshot of the site that might help if my original link isn't working)

Forgive the less-than-ideal cellphone picture here. It's really really difficult to capture the differences between the fakes and the real stuff! But first clue here should be it's priced at $15.99. It was out in the open - more valuable jadeite items are typically behind a locked case. Perfect condition, including the bold black lettering with no wear.

Another thing to note with this reproduction Jadeite (or Fake-ite, as I've dubbed it) is that it does have some textural differences from the real Jadeite. New, reproduced jadite can be very glossy. Depending on the piece, it can look wet, almost like the glass is not 'set'. Items that are decalled or have lettering, the colors are crisp and perfect. Too perfect.

And to my knowledge, Fire King never made a Tom & Jerry mug in Jadeite. If that is the case, this item gets termed a "fantasy item", meaning one that never originally existed. What can make these items seem so realist is that they are frequently a combination of two different companies actual work.

This is my previous post about Fire King reproductions, namely decalled items such as mixing bowls, grease jars & shakers.

Happy Treasure Hunting!

Fire King repro update

Update on my previous post about Fire King Reproductions

Check out the Jadeite repros, Red Dot Fire King bowls/grease jar, and Fire King Vitrock:

Found here

Fire King Reproduction Alert!

I've read many warnings about Fire King reproductions on the market, but mostly these have been limited to fabricated mug decals and not focused on the area I collect - Mixing bowls, grease jars, shakers & bakeware items.

But here lately I've noticed more and more "fakes" turning up in local antique stores, and I just wanted to share my experiences.

Reproduction Fire King Mixing Bowls:

I've seen these now in Tulip & Red Dots. These are very solidly opaque, similar to Vitrock but absolutely bone-white. In most instances, the decals are full color and without flaw. The bottoms have no markings whatsoever except sometimes you may find a Made in China gold foil sticker on them. Both bowls I've seen have been the 2 quart (7 1/2 in) Splash Proof, but very well may come in all sizes. It's also possible to come across one of these that is 5 1/2 inches since the grease jars are also being reproduced.

Reproduction Fire King Grease Jars & Shakers (aka Range Sets): I have seen these in Tulip & decaled Jadeite. First word of warning: Fire King never made a splash proof style grease jar in Jadeite. This is technically a "Fantasy Item" instead of a direct reproduction. Of course these are not marked in any way on the bottom, except possibly by sticker. All the ones I have seen are decaled in some way. I don't know if the shape is truly identical to the original white grease jars, but they appear to be quite close. The Fire King Tulip Grease Jar & shakers are also dead white. The biggest additional giveaway on the shakers is that they come with new silver lids. The real shakers have tulip decals on them & say salt or pepper.

Unfortunately, the jadeite shaker reproductions in circulation right now are too numerous to count. And not just jadeite - white with decals and fired-on color styles are being repro'd. It's every style and decal imaginable - and they span the likes of not just Anchor Hocking, but McKee, Hazel Atlas, Tipp City - the whole spectrum. The only thing I can say is, if it looks too good to be true, it probably is.

I have a very strong (but totally unconfirmed) suspicion that one of the newest Fire King fakes is the rare and very expensive "Kitchen Aids" pattern. I've seen what appears to be fakes in online auctions, which makes it hard to say for sure. But until yesterday, I had only seen the "fake" Red Dots in online auctions, so Buyer Beware!

I'll update this post & cross reference it if I can confirm more.

1/26/12 *Edit* Check out the pictures here. Solid proof on the Red Dots bowls. Also, I did not know that Fire King Vitrock is now being Reproduced!

The Perils of Collecting Part IV

So I've been on a Fiesta kick lately. After much agonizing, I finally came to the conclusion that it's really only the pre-1970's vintage pieces, shapes & colors that I'm really interested in. I donated the set of plum dishes I had bought from GW back to another thrift (this time they went to Habitat for Humanity ReStore - an organization I feel very positive about).

Not too long after, I started connecting the dots between some of the other Homer Laughlin patterns and pieces that were being produced simultaneously to Fiesta in matching colors - such as Carnival (a giveaway in Mother's Oats), Harlequin, and Riviera.

I lucked into two different Carnival cups in one store. Then a few days later, I found a 3rd in one of my very favorite local antique stores. My husband and I had gotten into a conversation with the owner about a Harlequin set that she had just put out. I mentioned that I had actually come in specifically to buy a Carnival cup she had in another booth. Since it was one of her own items and not one of her dealers, she just gave it to me for free. How cool is that?! She said she liked to surprise her customers from time to time with a free item just as a way of saying thank you for being a good customer. Totally classy, huh?

So that's the good stuff. On the other hand, I had a particularly annoying Fiesta-related experience at a totally different antique store. I spied a dark (or forest) green vintage Fiesta teapot. I picked it up, no price label. When I asked the owner about it, she gave me a big spiel about how it was "Medium Green, the most coveted Fiesta color ever." She was asking 210 dollars for it. (21o, I suppose, so that she could let you 'bargain her down' to 200 or something).

First off, lady.You are a dealer. Shame on you!

This was a definite case of 'a little information being a bad thing'. She knew enough to know that medium green is a coveted color, but not enough to know that the coffee pots were never produced in medium green, in which case, she would also have to NOT KNOW her vintage Fiesta colors well enough to know the dark forest green when she saw it. -OR-

She's a disingenuous, dirty liar, knowingly attempting to perpetrate a total fraud on a customer.

Either way, I'm not interested in paying 210 dollars to a fool.

Oh, who am I kidding? I don't have 210 dollars to spend on vintage Fiesta, no matter how rare, coveted OR just plain snazzy it may be. But still, it's the principle of the thing, you know.

So anyway, Perils of Collecting! ALWAYS know as much (or more) about what you are looking for than the people who are trying to sell it to you! That's all I've got to say about it, except to say:

Wishing you Happy (and annoyance-free) Collecting!

The Perils of Collecting - Pt III

So far, this pseudo-series of mine is basically about the fact that I can't spell. One of these days, I might actually get around to posting some actual perils. But until then, nope, it's more spelling foibles.

(yes, I had to look up how to spell word "foible", lol)

You could say, these words are real JEMS:
(Oh snap. I am just bringin' the funny today. Bringin' it ;-)

Amethyst - For context, I was looking up Hazel Atlas Moroccan Amethyst. I misspelled both Moroccan AND amethyst. Huzzah.

Sapphire - This word continues to look wrong to me. Sapp-hire. Sap. Hire. I couldn't spell this word right in a Spelling Bee if my life depended on it.

Me: (shaking in my shoes) "Could you use it in a sentence, please?"

Super-Official Spelling Bee Person: "Sapphire"
"We've just received a memo from home office to do a new round of sapphires. Make sure they are real shmuckuses."

***
Okay. Enough Vaudevillian, knee-slappin' comedy for one day.

Happy Treasure Hunting!

The Perils of Collecting - Pt II

So, like I was saying before, one of the perils of collecting I've encountered is that I can't spell worth a flip. Vintage glassware is pretty notorious for exposing one to un-spellable, un-typeable words, such as

Chartreuse

And how about this humdinger?

Iridescent

I've come to accept these words by brain-training, hooked-on-phonics style:

chart + re + use

I + ride + scent

***

I was SO sure before I started writing this post that there were more than two new words that I had since come to realize gave me google-fits. But nope, that's all I can come up with.

Maybe the next Perils post will be about what REALLY gives me google-fits.

UNMARKED everything!

The Perils of Collecting

As a newbie to collecting Pyrex and other types of vintage glassware, I've found out two important things:

A) I can't spell worth a darn.

B) This shows no sign of improving.

And despite countless and frequent Google searches:

The word restaurant I will continue to spell restaraunt.

The word burgundy will continue to be burgandy.

The word refrigerator will continue to be refridgerator.

The word turquoise I just couldn't spell at all until I tried to make myself remember that I will type two U's before I get to the O & I.

And frankly, some people may prefer to call it Aqua, but I think it's because it's easier to spell, lol.

And finally, here I've managed to write a blog about spelling without covering the word I'm still never sure I've spelling correctly: Misspell.

Oh, the irony...