American Sweetheart

I love reading old magazines. I just read a story last week or so from a magazine dating from 1986, of a lady who began a collection of American Sweetheart depression glass from a lucky rummage sale find that cost her less than two dollars.

Little did I know I would have basically the same thing happen to me just yesterday, give or take 8 dollars for inflation.

I don't didn't collect Depression Glass at all. It may be the one type of kitchenalia on the face of the planet that I do not collect. Except......5 pieces of American Sweetheart in Monax (white) - my one exception.

So how on Earth could I refuse a taped up shoebox of pink depression glass that I couldn't even check the condition of for ten dollars? Which, to me, is a lotta bread for some bread plates.

(Sorry, bad joke :-)

But I think I did good, and was quite lucky. This little set totals 18 pieces, including 4 hard-to-find fruit bowls. Two of the footed sherberts have jagged chips that I'm going to sand down and keep them out to use. Otherwise the rest of the pieces are pretty much perfect.

 

 

Tiny, adorable fruit bowls. If baby kittens were dishes, they'd be these fruit bowls. They're that cute.

And here's my other pieces - one luncheon plate and 4 teacups in Monax.

(By the way, Monax is just an obscure, copyright-able name for white, in case you're wondering, lol.)

Same place, I also found a piece of Pyrex, an adorable Glasbake baker, and a Fiesta mug, but I'll save them for another post.

Happy Treasure Hunting!

Yardsale Extravaganza 2012

This weekend has been a big annual (semi-annual?) yardsale weekend. Unfortunately, instead of great deals there were lots of folks who were using this as an opportunity to host Antiques by-the-side-of-the Roadshow. 

I did however find a few cute things for just a few dimes, including this little unmarked plastic napkin holder. As you can see, I've got two butter dishes from the same line. Wonder how many more colorways are available?

This purchase made me supremely happy. It's a Lustro ware Crisper. And it's huge! I've shown it here with my tiny pink Lustro ware fridgie dish.

The story is, I was walking around trying to find a deal when I came across this box. I'd never seen one like it, and had no idea it was Lustro ware. Anyway, the lady was not trying to sell it, she was simply using it as a container for vintage dolls she was trying to sell for 4 bucks apiece. When I asked her if she'd sell the container, she looked like she was at a loss, quoted me two bucks, and said "You know, these are probably collectible now."

 

This was my Pyrex haul. I didn't see much of it this weekend, but what I did manage to find were pieces that I did not have, and at reasonable prices, so I can't complain. I had to spend 8 dollars to complete my opal bowl set, but that was for 3 bowls, so now I have a complete set and two spares. These are the unmarked bowls that Barbara Mauzy said were rare and only produced in 1954. The thing is, I'm beginning to doubt that's the whole story. This makes the 4th unmarked opal bowl set that I've seen just this year, and I definitely don't live in an area that's known for rarities. You never know!

Funny story, an Antiques Dealer selling by the side of the road had a Pyrex bowl set in the Sandalwood pattern for 46 dollars. I need the smallest bowl to complete my set, so I was especially sad that these bowls were nowhere near affordable. Anyway, it sat for two days for that price, unsold. But Saturday? It suddenly was marked 60 dollars, and had a neighbor, 3 bowls from a Butterprint bowl set that they were asking 70 dollars for.

Dealers like that give me a bad case of the grumpies.

These mugs are cuties my husband spotted for me on Thursday when I wasn't with him to shop. But the real crazy score was the deep rim mauve blue Riviera plates. I'm so proud of my husband. He recognized Riviera without me being there!  His humble commentary on it was: "Well, I should recognize something that is hanging on the wall in my house." (I have so little Riviera that every piece I have is hanging on a plate rack in the kitchen, lol!)

This was actually a set of 6 - for only 2 bucks! Just 1 is in especially good shape, the rest have damage in varying degrees, but every one of them is still useable. I put the 3 in the best shape in the cabinet with my Fiesta and Fire King, and put the 3 most damaged in the cabinet to use.

And finally, this is the rest of my loot. Most of this was from one particular stop where we got things for a song. It was one of those where you made a pile and they said, 3 bucks, 5 bucks, etc. I felt like we bought everything that was even vaguely interesting to us.

The yellow Tricolator teapot would have been the score of the century for me if  (A) it had a lid and (B) in my haste I hadn't failed to notice that the whole bottom is ruined. Looks like someone poured very hot coffee or tea into it without scalding the pot first, and the whole thing cracked around in a perfect ring. It's still a pretty 'shelf sitter', but that's about it :-(

Most of this milk glass is going to my mom who collects it. Her real love is the hobnail patterns, but I've found so much grape pattern for her that it far outnumbers the hobnail pieces in her collection.

And finally, some love for Goodwill, who despite all the yardsales, still had some sweet stuff for sale this weekend. First up a banded ring glass that is considered a Fiesta go-along. I have 9 of these now, thanks to various thrift stores.

And finally, I thought for a second that I had stumbled onto what would have been the jadeite score of the millenium - for me, at least. But this one mug is all I have from it. 2.99 and the only jadeite mug I have.

What it was, in their locked case they had 3 chili bowls and 3 jadeite mugs - 14.99 for each grouping. In other words, 5 bucks a piece. I was going to pull the trigger and buy all 6 pieces for a whopping 30 bucks until they got them out of the case. DBD. Death by Dishwasher. Oh the humanity!

Before I could let loose with a torrent of tears, I noticed that one of the mugs wasn't dishwashed. The manager just happened to be around, so I asked her if she'd sell me the one that hadn't been dishwashed to death, and she said sure, she'd let me have it for 2.99. Very cool! I'm curious to know the fate of the other pieces. Chances are good that they'll turn up in the antique store in town.

Thanks for hanging in there with my very long blog. Hope you've found lots of treasures this weekend!

Oh Happy Day

Medium Green (!) Fiesta teacup, vintage Chartreuse plate, Fire King Tulip Pepper shaker, vintage Cobalt Fiesta relish tray center! Excitement!!Whoo!!Happy Dance!!! Guess this means I'm working on a relish tray now, huh?!

Oh happy day! I LOVE finding amazing deals in unexpected places. These came from a slightly out-of-the-way antique store we don't usually stop at. It was my husband's idea, and Boy am I glad he suggested stopping in!

First find was the Fire King Tulip shaker. 12 bucks. Oh yes. Happy, Happy. Am I a terribly greedy person that I already have the S&P set in this pattern but still want to buy every one of these I see?  Although I never actually saw it as a child, my mom tells me that my grandmother had this range set. So I think of this as her pattern & any piece of it that turns up in my price range, I'll happily take it.

The original 11 Fiesta colors!

And I was just telling the hubs that the only vintage Fiesta colors I didn't have a single piece of was Chartreuse & Medium Green - both desirable and pricier colors. I have to use a few Carnival teacups (a Homer Laughlin line) as stand-ins, but this is all 11 vintage colors. Yay!

Playing around with the other colors I have - Harlequin yellow (foreground saucer left), P86 Yellow (foreground saucer right). Teapots in back are Peacock, discontinued Seamist, & Scarlet.

And finally, these are all the greens I have an example of: Seamist teapot, vintage Chartreuse plate, Forest Green Carnival cup (left), original Green Carnival cup (right), Medium Green Fiesta teacup (middle). I've been wracking my brain trying to think of the other greens I do not have. Right off, I can think of Turf Green (ironstone), the limited edition Chartreuse, Evergreen, Lemongrass. Have I missed any??

Happy Day! Hope you're having a Great Weekend!

Birthday Bonanza!

Birthday loot!

Yesterday was my birthday. I'm older than I'll admit to. And I spent more money than I'll admit to. I'll give you this much: I'm less than a hundred years old and I spent less than a hundred bucks. The rest will ever remain a mystery :-)

First up, my birthday goodies. No beautiful pink Pyrex mixing bowl set waiting for me, boohoo. But I can't despair too much. I found some lovely Fire King that I did not have, and I was thrilled to get it.

The red dots shaker is just a single. No matching pepper shaker, but it at least came with a lid. I saw this shaker on Valentine's Day when we were at this antique mall the last time but I thought it was priced too high. This time I decided I was going to spring for it - a birthday splurge.

The Apples & Cherries Fire King bowl is the largest 4 quart - an unwieldy 9 1/2 inches bowl. But it's beautiful. And in beautiful condition, too! I have a grease jar in this pattern, but no other pieces.

Here's my trio of Fire King salt shakers. I only have the pepper shaker (not shown) in the Tulip pattern.

Fire King salt shakers - Red Dots, Tulip & Kitchen Aids

Cobalt Fiesta - Vintage Cobalt on the left (carafe & sauce boat), P86 Cobalt right (teapot & ramekin)

This vintage Fiesta cobalt carafe was 25 bucks - which I thought was a bargain. Like most of my vintage pieces, it's got a few issues. For one, it's missing its lid - a not uncommon issue with carafes - and some manufacturers defects. No chips though. I'm wondering if I got a good deal because of how hard it can be to tell vintage colors from current? I'm still a bit of a newbie to Fiesta, vintage or otherwise, so I love when I see color comparison photos, so I thought I'd take a photo of my own here.

I had a great birthday. Lots of great goodies & had a wonderful day!

Hope you're having a great weekend!

Pink Pyrex. Finally!

Finally! Delicious, bubble-gum Pink Pyrex fridgies. 2 down, 2 more to go! I have waited for you for so long!

Well, it feels like so long. In reality, it's been about two years. But still, out of all the antique stores I've visited, all the thrift stores, I've seen this solid, bubble-gum pink exactly twice. The first time was a solid pink, round 024 casserole - which I bought (and love). The second time, however, was this past Valentine's Day, when we ventured to Georgia to hit up some antique stores we only visit maybe once or twice a year. This is where I saw a tiny pink fridgie, absolutely dish-washed, but still with an 18 dollar price tag. Ugh! No thank you!

These guys were online purchases. A very, very rare thing for me. Now, most people say the reason they don't buy online is because they don't get 'the thrill of the hunt'. That doesn't really hold true for me. The biggest reason I don't buy online is because A) I don't get to check the condition first and B) I'm a cheapskate. I don't want to pay for shipping!

Case in point, I won these fridgies for less than 14 bucks for the two of them. A very reasonable price for pink, in my opinion. But the shipping and handling cost slightly more than the winning bid, bringing the total up to 30 bucks. Which is STILL, I think, a good price. If I'm lucky enough to complete this set for 30 more dollars, I'll count myself fortunate.

And now I can do this! I'm only missing a few of the solid colors, but I'm not even sure I really want them. They are mostly the rusts, browns & beiges. And actually, these guys are lined up in the order they pair up with. From the top down, Friendship, Daisy, Primary, Verde, Turquoise, Pink. Wish I could do the same with the largest refrigerator dish ( the 503), but that size has always been hard to find! If all goes well, we'll be heading to Georgia again on my birthday - which is about a week from now. Last year, what I wanted most was a turquoise blue Pyrex bowl set, and I found one. This year, I want the same one in pink. So cross your fingers and wish me luck.

Happy Thrifting!

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!

I confess. I am a lid hoarder.

This here is my hoard of lids. Yep, you heard me right. A hoard of lids. They live inside my great-grandmothers Pyrex loaf dish, in an upper cabinet that I have to climb on a chair to retrieve.

You may ask yourself and I'm sure you often do "Why hoard lids?"

Well, since you asked, it's because sometimes they go from looking like this:
(sad, lonely little lidsies)

to this:
(Reunited and it feels so good!)

The McKee canister on the left was a lidless GW find for $2.99 and should have come with a milk glass lid. But on a lark, I tried a marked Glasbake lid from my lid hoard, and it fits perfectly. And I actually like it better than what the real lid looks like.

And the Fire King grease jar was quite a bit cheaper than it would have been had it come with a lid. I paid 25 cents for the lid at a little mom-and-pop shop a year before I even knew what it was. It just chilled out in my cabinet with its hoarded brethren, lol.

And speaking of brethren, I'm not even sure I can identify all of these. But by hook or by crook, I know they'll eventually be paired with something - even if that something isn't exactly what it was designed to pair with.
What could be missing in from a hoard of lids? How about a hoard of bases?
This Hazel Atlas Criss-Cross butter dish is missing its bottom, and the small refrigerator dish is missing its lid. Figures, right? Not a one of the lids from my hoard fits its very distinct, square shape.

Oh well, all the sweeter when these guys are reunited.

Happy treasure hunting!