Belated September Finds

Sorry guys, it's been a while since I was intending to post about my birthday. Unfortunately, I was recently involved in a car accident. I'm fine, but my car was totaled, and I've been going through the process of getting a new one. That and getting my new job, and then having to adjust from training on 1st shift to working on 2nd shift, I haven't been doing too much on here. Finally, everything has settled down, and I've managed to get my photos taken and uploaded to Flickr. So, here it goes...



I got these back in September... The 'Green Wheat' promo was a local find at the Tontitown Flea Market. Jason bought this for me as a birthday present. It was about $20, still better than the internet. The 'Golden Classic' dish was an ebay buy, and kind of a present for myself, I guess. :) I really wanted it, I love the deco-style graphics and the pretty yellow color.



These were thrift and antique store finds from August 30th. I got the Flamingo pie plate for $3.50 at Samaritan thrift store. I then found the Golden Hearts casserole for $7 at Plantation House antique store. We drove from there to Rogers, where I got the Country Festival coffee perk for $7 at Homestead antique store. The white 401 is my first true Pyrex opal mixing bowl! It's marked only with the mold number "7" on the bottom. It was just $3 at the Bella Vista Flea Market. Country Classic Antique mall had both the Old Town blue sugar bowl and Chelsea JAJ dish. The JAJ was $7.95 and the sugar bowl $2.75. Lastly I got the Bride's casserole (which I absolutely adore) for $9 at the Tontitown Antique Mall, which was another birthday present from Jason.



This casserole was another ebayed present. This came from a seller in Charleroi, PA. They called it 'Golden Thistle', which is a good enough name for me. I fell in love with the big, bold thistle pattern. I haven't seen one like it before, and I had to fight to get it. It's getting harder to get good deals on rarer items on ebay than it used to be. More and more collectors are getting on there, and I know some people who want to buy every single piece of Pyrex just to say they have it all, I guess. I just try to get what I really love, and it gets frustrating to always have to come up against someone who seems to have no other life goal than to throw all their free time and all their money into buying up Pyrex on the internet, and then act like they know everything about it. All they know is how to use PayPal. Sorry for the rant, but it just irks me because I don't see how it's rewarding, and it's certainly not impressive.



I watched items on ebay for a while until I found this casserole, lid and stand for a decent price. I had seen several previous to this go for quite a bit of money, but I lucked out and the market had settled some. I really wanted to add this dish to my turquoise collection. The cradle is super-retro, and just so fab. This dish also came with the original care booklet.



Here's all of the Corning Country Festival pieces I've found so far. Everything was found locally, yay! Amanda got me the two casseroles on the left for my birthday. She also spotted the square baker they're sitting in when we were out at the Tontitown Antique Store together.



I got these the day before my birthday. I found the Tang pitcher at the Salvation Army and the turquoise thermos at the Council of the Blind for $2 each. Everything else was $1 each at an antique store's parking lot sale. I found the teapot in the 4th edition of the Mauzy guide, pg 91. Apparently it was made by Glasbake but with Pyrex glass. A teapot with the lid has an estimated value of $75-85. Not too shabby... now to find that lid!



I found these Spring Blossom coordinates at a Prairie Grove thrift store on September 13th for $10. I got a Gemco sugar bowl and S&P shakers, and a Dispensers, Inc. syrup pitcher. The unmarked milk glass zodiac mug was thrown in for free.



Here's the last of my September finds. I got these mugs at Country Classic Antique store on the 27th. I got 6 Federal glass zodiac mugs for my collection. I still only have 6, but I replaced two I already had that were in shabby condition. Only 6 more to go... :) And I added another one of the Corning-style Pyrex mugs to my collection. Still plenty of those left to get.

A Whole 'Lotta Stuff, Part 3 - Home Again

This is the conclusion to my three-part Tennessee trip - the return home. Happily, I felt like I kept my roll going from TN once I was back home. Of course, this isn't going to include everything that I've found since the middley/end of July until now (since that's a crazy amount), but I'll wrap up July's finds. Next post will be my August scores and my birthday presents (my birthday is actually tomorrow... but it will be today by the time I've published this blog, woo). Although, it seems like everything I've picked up for the past 3 weekends my boyfriend has claimed was part of my birthday present, so my "gifts" will take up a lot of my next post. :-P



Here's a few of the random kitchenware items I picked up at the thrifts and antique stores after I got back. One of my favorites is the Dispensers, Inc. syrup pitcher in the middle. It was $2, and even though I don't collect it and don't really need it, I just had to get it. So cute. It's quite thick and hefty too. I also picked up the Hazel-Atlas container (top middle) for $1, which is in good condition. It's missing it's clear hard-plastic lid, but I've seen some and they usually get all worn and broken and look like poo anyways, so I'm not too sad. The rest are just random mugs... I thought Eve's Supper Club was cute, and not badly priced at 50 cents. I had been wanting the Irish Coffee mug for my collection, and there were some for $3 at the Council of the Blind, but I refused to pay that much. I got this one at the Hospital Auxillary thrift for 25 cents. Pays to wait. The Avon train mug was dollar, and I got another jadeite Tupperware container for $2 (with the plastic grate still inside). The most I paid for any item was the Razorbacks Fire-King mug at the Springdale Salvation Army. Overpriced, but it is my alma mater, after all. How was I to resist? :)



These mugs were found at the antique stores in Tontitown. I was pleasantly surprised to see that these mugs weren't overpriced, they cost about $1 for each one, plus tax. The middle Fire-King was marked down at a booth in Yesteryears since they were going out of business. By the time we got there, the pickin's were mighty slim. I got the other the two Glasbake mugs at Country Classic right down the road. They were just cheap to begin with.



I found these matching pieces on the same day. The bowl, marked Corning with the old glassblower stamp, was in a booth in Yesteryears that was half-off, making it $6. It has a chip on the rim, but these old pieces are harder to find, so I got in anyway. Then when we went to Country Classic, I found the handle-less "watch" mug or "handwarmer" mug for $5. From other discussions on PyrexLove's Flickr, I knew that the mug was from the WWII era, and that Corning made them for military use. The bowl looks like the same material and had the same backstamp. Jeffpyrex on Flickr, who is quite an expert on Pyrex restaurant ware, told me that he thinks that the bowl is a transitional piece from the military line (introduced during World War II) to the Commercial Tableware line (introduced in 1953). Neato!

I know it's definitely pretty clear from my posts that I'm a vintage kitchenware lover. I'm not just completely one-track when I go out shopping, though. And here's a couple of really random thrift finds to prove it! ;)



It's a POWER CELL, in case you didn't catch that. The battery was from K Mart. It's so hilarious, I had to get it. I figured it would make a good emergency flashlight once the battery was replaced, and it was only $2. The price tag the thrift store put on it is really what made it for me: "$2.00 Needs new battery" Um yeah, ya think?



Know what this little gem is? It's my personal belief that no home office/study is ever truly complete without it's very own... microfiche machine!!! This one still works and everything. The Hospital Auxillary thrift had this for $10, but we talked them down to 5. Why get it? Because I can. We'll find some use for it... and if you have some film with no way to look at it, worry no more! I can hook you up.

A Whole 'Lotta Stuff, Part 2 - Tennessee Edition

So yes, I suppose it's about time to post what I found during my vacation to Tennessee, woo! The thrifting there wasn't too bad at all., a little better than NW Arkansas, I suppose. I was ever-so-slightly disappointed, but that's only because it wasn't the super-cheap Pyrex haven of my dreams. ;)

I did, however, notice the same trend in Tennessee that I've seen here. I believe Leilani mentioned it in her last post. It seems like this year the pickings are pretty slim at the thrift stores. I really find most of my good stuff now at antique stores. Leilani and I were discussing this a while back. It seems that finding quality items at the thrift is harder, and the prices are going way up. On the upside, though, the antiquing is picking up. For not too high prices (in fact, some antique store booths can be as cheap as the thrift) I've been finding a good amount of nice quality items. We've definitely noticed this trend in the South, but from what I can tell on groups on Flickr that's not the experience for everyone. While I would jump on a nice piece of Pyrex for $6 at the thrift here, I see people posting on PyrexLove that find several items for half that. At least the thrift gods are smiling on them... Hmmm, what with me antiquing and Leilani estate-saleing, the name 'Thriftaholics' is becoming a little less applicable. But the 'Antique Store and Estate Sale Enthusiasts' just doesn't have the same ring to it. :P

So here's what I found at the thrift stores... it was all pretty cheap.



A lot of it was even cheaper than marked, because at this one store that I visited twice the guy at the counter ringing people up kept giving discounts. I'm not sure if it was because he just didn't want to add things up, or couldn't, or what. He would just look at your pile and give you a number. When I got the cookbooks, he only charged me for their marked price ($2), and gave me 2 mugs and the nutcrackers and cake server for free, basically. It was sweet.

The pink saucers are Pyrex. They are actually marked Pyrex in the mold, usually these had a gold stamp. I got those three from a thrift/resale shop for just 88 cents. And that was with tax. Those are officially my best thrift store steal. The mugs were either 50 cents or free from various places.

Mugs from left to right: Pyrex, Pyrex (Snowflake Blue), Hazel Atlas, Glasbake, Galaxy.

Cookbooks: Better Homes and Gardens Cooking With Whole Grains, Good Housekeeping's Cookie-Jar Cookbook.

Now onto the the antique store finds! This is actually a picture of just all the Pyrex I got in Tennessee, so ignore the mugs and saucers from the previous picture.



I think my best find was the double boiler. I've been wanting one for my baking projects, but they go for so much on ebay. This one is in great condition (just missing the lid) and was only $10. It's one of the more rounded ones with a blue tint to the glass and a green flame marking - my Pyrex book says the green stamp is from the first 10 years of Flameware production, 1936-1946, and the double boiler was first introduced in 1937.

I also got a replacement primary blue fridge dish for $10 (my old one was chipped), and it came with a lid, too! This one is in great condition, with an older stamp that matches my other primary fridge dishes. The lids on these dishes chip easily, but this one is still perfect.

I got also got the Zodiac casserole I had been wanting for a while. I couldn't believe I found one with a good lid (the gold tends to come off easily) and the candle warmer. The gold on the casserole is in excellent condition also. It was $20, which was better than the ones I lusted over on the internet.

Lastly I got the Pyrex measuring cup and matching Pyrex-branded beaters. I found the same one on page 40 of the 4th edition of the Mauzy guide. This one wasn't much of a deal ($60). I really wanted it but balked at the price. Jason decided to get it for me though. :) Good man.

A Whole 'Lotta Stuff, Part 1

As shameful as it is for us to admit, Leilani and I haven't been posting as much as we would like on this blog. That's the bad news, the good news being that the lack of posts hasn't been because of lack of material! I have enough for one extremely long post. But, since I know no one wants to slog through all that in one go, I've decided to break it up into 3 parts. I went on a week-long vacation to Gatlinburg, TN in the middle of last month. My first post (er, this one) will have everything that I found before my trip that I neglected to blog. The second will be the swag I got in Tennessee, and the third will have everything I've gotten around here since coming back.

So this post is one of my favorites because I can reveal (dum dum DUM) my brand-new PYREX HUTCH!!!!!!











I absolutely love my new hutch and shelving unit. The hutch is gorgeous, Dutch Modern style made of all teak wood, lighted with sliding glass doors. The hutch isn't brand new, of course. It's vintage! Even better! I found it on Craigslist for only $100. As Jason's mom would say, it was a "screamin' deal." We picked up the black bookcase from a booth at the Rose that was going out of business and selling everything. We got the solid-wood bookcase and two black wood cubes for $120. I was ecstatic, and still am. I thought I would have to use bookcases for a long time before I ever found a hutch I liked, much less one I could afford. I got super lucky. All my glassware is now either displayed or stored in the cabinets.



Up next are some Pyrex casseroles that I got a while back. You can see them all displayed in the previous pictures somewhere. :) This one is dubbed 'Frost Garland'. This was an ebay purchase. It was one of the last aqua promotional pieces that I needed, so I finally just gave in and bought it. It's a 1.5 quart rather than the usual 2. It's a cute little round casserole.



This on is referenced on the PyrexFiles. On there it's listed under the very generic name of 'Floral'. I really wanted to get this piece, because it matches very well with my Golden Honeysuckle casseroles. Yet another ebay purchase.



I couldn't resist this dish on ebay since it had the great box. Even the packaging of Pyrex is pretty! This pattern is called 'Embroidery'.



This is my last ebay purchase. This piece doesn't have the usual color scheme that I gravitate towards, but I really liked it, and I hadn't seen another one like it. It's a big 2.5 quart oval casserole with brown and orange floral print. It wasn't on the PyrexFiles or PyrexLove's pattern reference. When I got this casserole, I was struck by just how vivid the orange on this dish is. I decided to name it 'Tangerine Floral'. The moderators of PyrexLove actually added my picture and my name to their reference!



I got this Gemco server in the 'Country Festival' pattern from an antique store in Tontitown. If I remember correctly it was priced pretty well, around $6. I'd have to say Country Festival is my favorite pattern on Corningware. Typical me, since it is harder to find, as it was only sold for 1 year. ;-P So far all I have to go with it is a teapot.



I got these from an antique store neighboring the one where I found the Gemco server. The Hazel-Atlas mug was a couple of dollars, which is more than I usually pay, but it's so pretty and I have a pink one that matches it. The Federal syrup pitcher was right next to it, and was about $5, I believe. I couldn't not take it home! :)



I got this promotional divided dish (also known as Floral, ugh) at the same antique store as the Gemco server. It was about $14. Not super cheap, but better than ebay. I had been admiring this dish that other users had posted on PyrexLove's Flickr group, and thought it was one I would like to find someday. So when I saw it "in the wild" shortly afterwards I decided to go for it.



This Pyrex casserole is called 'Midnight Bloom'. I got this one from Yesteryears antique store in Tontitown. The antique store wasn't too bad, but unfortunately the last time I went a couple of weeks ago, I found out they were going out of business. I got this casserole before all of the going out of business sales, however. I always liked this piece. It's a hard one to photograph - it's difficult to portray the true color. The lid is a pretty purply-black, and the base is lavender/periwinkle. I never expected to find one of these in Northwest Arkansas, so I gladly paid the $22.50 to make it mine.



I got both these casseroles at the Rose when we found the black bookcase. The vegetable dish is English, marked with the crown, my first JAJ piece. The pattern is called Tuscany. It was actually 50% off in the booth that I got the bookcase from. The other dish is a promotional Pyrex casserole for Heinz. I think the deal was if you bought Heinz stuff you could send off and get this dish. It's a special shape, and a unique dark green/teal.



I got this Cornflower Blue electromatic coffee perk at the same antique store as the Gemco server and the Floral divided dish. I wish I could remember that places' name! This perk was really cheap, just $7 I think, and it came with all the parts, even the hard-to-find black plastic underplate.



My last find for this post... I got another vintage Sunbeam mixer! This one was sitting right at the front of the appliances shelf at Helping Hands in Bentonville. I was shocked no one had bought it, it was only $15! This one is a slightly different model than the one I already had, I think it might be a little earlier. This one was a steal because it came with the hard-to-find juicer attachment. That alone if I were to resell it would get me back my $15, easily. I haven't decided which mixer I'm going to keep (but I'll probably just end up keeping them both, heh).

Great Pyrex Move of '08

Oh dear, we've nearly been a full month without a post from either Leilani or myself! I've finally found some time to edit and upload photographs of some of my finds from the past month. A bit of an exciting update (exciting for me, anyway) - I just got done moving into a new, much bigger and much nicer apartment! Now I'll have plenty o room for my vintage goodies. And as soon as I get some shelves for my Pyrex, I'll finally be able to photograph my collection of Pyrex all together! Actually, I already took a few group photos before we moved in...







My Pyrex collection was the first thing I took to the new apartment. I put a lot of the dishes in the kitchen cabinets for safekeeping, so there was no possibility of them being broken as furniture and the like was moved in. I took the opportunity while they were briefly displayed to take those pictures. Sadly, that's not even all of them.





This table also goes along with my new apartment - I now have a patio, and I needed a patio table! I fell in love with this one at Famous Hardware Antique Store in Springdale. I was considering buying a similar tile mosaic metal table at Bed Bath & Beyond that was smaller, with all-white tiles, for $45. Then I saw this one - larger, handmade, and with a pretty design, for $65. Worth the extra $20, I think. A few of the black edge tiles were missing, but it was easy enough to find the same ceramic tiles at Lowes, where they even cut them down to the right size for free. Now I just need to finish grouting, and it'll be good as new. The best thing about the table is that the two creators signed it on the bottom. They even named it - "Born to be Tiled." Cute!



I think the table is going to be my new dedicated photography spot. :P I took another picture of my set of Pyrex Desert Dawn yellow dishes. I finally managed to get the proper lid to the 2 qt. round casserole (the knobbed lid rather than the one with the flat top). Now I feel like that set is truly complete. And the cake dish can have the old lid as a bonus! I got two of the knobbed lids off eBay for .99 cents, plus shipping.





Another mini-set has been completed! I just recently thrifted the middle percolator (6 cups) at the Council of the Blind in Springdale. I got it for $5, which is a good price considering it looked like it had never been used, literally. The 6-cup percolator goes great with the 9-cup and 4-cup that I already had. That same day I also found 6 Tupperware coasters. I had considered buying a set that I found in an antique store, but I just couldn't pay the high price tag. I found these for just .50 cents at Second Chance Thrift.





This Foley flour sifter is one of my favorite finds. I found it in the antiques and collectibles corner at the Peace at Home thrift store in Springdale. It was $5, I could hardly believe it was so cheap. Usually anything that they even suspect is collectible is marked way up. With the great turquoise color, I could see this going for $20 at antiques stores around here.





These melmac plates are thrift store finds from before I moved. I've found quite a few plates in this size with varying patterns. Random patterns in sets of 3 to 5 show up at the thrift stores around here pretty often. They're hard to resist because they're usually pretty cheap at .10 to .25 cents per plate.



In my last post I posted a picture of the Pyrex Cracker Barrel that I found in an antique store in the Bentonville/Rogers area. Not too long after that I found its mate at another antique store in the same area, and it was pretty reasonably priced. The gold leaf on the cookie jar is in a little better condition than on the cracker barrel.



This promotional Pyrex casserole called "Lace Medallion" is one I had been wanting for quite a while. I actually didn't even end up finding it- kudos goes to my good friend Amanda who found this dish on eBay. She went a little too crazy buying Pyrex on eBay and had buyer's remorse after getting this dish, because the color didn't go with any of her pieces. I paid her the full price plus shipping costs, and I threw in an extra $3 Pyrex Bake-A-Round that I found at the Salvation Army. So thank you thank you thank you Amanda for buying this and selling it to me! I love it! :)



This last dish was part of my mother's day present to my mom. She's had her set of Wildflower Corning Ware casserole dishes for 20+ years. When I saw this microwave dish, I had to get it for her set. I found this in a small antique shop in the Bentonville/Rogers area. It was $15, and came new-in-box with the dish, glass lid, plastic storage lid, and care instructions. As for the gift aspect, I think my mom liked it. :)

What's Better Than Vintage Kitchenware?

SETS of vintage kitchenware, that's what! I noticed a trend when I uploaded my pictures to Flickr... I actually seem to have completed or acquired a lot of sets recently, rather than getting a bunch of random pieces. I'm quite proud of myself, actually. I vowed not too long after my descent into thriftmania and pyrexia that if I was going to be a kitchenware junkie, I was not going to have a completely random kitchen! I've managed to stick to my vow and I have only collected in my patterns in color palate (with only a few minor indiscretions). I'll start with my favorite:



The rectangular space saver dish on the very bottom of the middle stack was my last, elusive piece... I finally found a nice one on eBay and I had to get it. I just love this pattern, something about the color and the snowflakes just sucks me in! Oh, and I'm officially getting a larger apartment in a month, and it has a dedicated dining space (!) so they will be on display properly very shortly.





I had to get this carafe when I saw it on eBay... It started at $4.99 and I was the only bidder! It came with everything - candle-warmer, care instructions, original box, and even the tea ball! I loved that it had the same snowflakes on it as my turquoise snowflakes, also. I didn't realize it in the auction, but it has a combination of gold and white snowflakes, which is really pretty. When I got this beverage server, I really felt like my snowflake collection was complete!





I thrifted this carafe and candle warmer quite a while ago. I found out on PyrexLove and saw on eBay that it originally came with 4 mugs as a beverage server set. I had found the matching mugs at a few local shops, but they were in poor condition. The brown paint didn't seem to hold up very well, and forget about the gold design. I finally turned to eBay for these. I managed to get a deal by buying another set of mugs that I needed from the same seller, so I got combined shipping at least!



I only pictured one of the Peach Shell mugs, but I actually found 7 of these at an awesome garage sale for only $2! I happened upon the sale when Jason and I were driving to Pea Ridge to see his parents. The guy running it had a huge garage full of stuff! I also spied this adorable Fire-King mug. What a cute little mouse!



This is another cool find from the large garage sale. These disposable placemats are very 50's. I love how the packaging enumerates the many reasons why disposable placemats are such a good choice ("saves cost of laundering linens" "longer life for linens" "makes food look more appetizing" "decorates table" "saves work"). We actually got a lot more from this sale that I didn't photograph. Jason found himself an awesome vintage Atari with 2 controllers and paddles, with several games and even the original box for just $15! He's becoming quite the little thriftster himself. We also got quite a few LPs for our record collection, and a nice vintage Yamaha record player with groovy faux wood so we can actually listen to our collection now!



I've been wanting a Pyrex gravy boat for a while now, and I was lucky enough to find this one at the thrift store. It's not my pattern, but it is my mom's, so when I do get the one I really want, I can pass this along to her. She always serves mashed potatoes out of her Woodland mixing bowls, so the Woodland gravy boat will be perfect! I actually only thrifted the boat of this gravy boat, I had to go to The Rose antique mall in Rogers to get the underplate. This is how bad I am - when I saw the boat at the thrift, I knew immediately exactly where I had seen the underplate sold separately before, and exactly where it was. All together I paid $7.10 for it, which is not too bad, I'd say.



I got these from an antique store that Ifound with Leilani during her visit this winter. I hadn't been to it since then (I kind of forgot where it was), but I re-discovered it last Thursday. The Pyrex Cracker Barrel was actually there the last time I visited. I passed on it before, but I decided to go for it this time. It was $4.95. I also found a great Federal glass syrup pitcher for $4.99. I've seen a lot of these in some pretty blah colors, but I had to get this one with the orange lid. A lot of the kitchen gadgets that I've been getting are this color orange. By far the best deal was the Pyrex Pink Daisy dish. It's in good condition, and it was only a $1.99! I question the pricing at that store.



It doesn't seem like it because I haven't photographed it as much, but I probably have as much Tupperware as Pyrex at this point. I got a pasta holder in orange, which has edged it's way into my aqua-jadeite-yellow palate. I got another pitcher because they are just so handy. This one, although a little beige for my tastes, has a nice design on it rather than just being plain.



My last few finds are all additions to my mug collection. I picked up two of these mugs at the Council of the Blind in Springdale. Although they look very similar, the one on the left is Pyrex Tableware, and the other is Anchor Hocking. There were 3 of these together on the shelf. Two were Anchor Hocking with backstamps that dated to different time periods. jeffpyrex on Flickr, who is quite the expert on restaurantware, told me that Anchor Hocking made their line longer than Pyrex did, and because they were so similar many people used them as replacements for their sets.



I'm keen to get all the Pyrex cups and mugs for my collection. This pattern is called Burgundy. It was one that I had been on the lookout for but I hadn't seen it anywhere. I finally got this one for 25 cents at Helping Hands. Woo!



This makes Federal glass zodiac mug Number 2. Technically it's #3, but I have two Scorpios, so I don't count that. Only 10 more to go! :P



My last mug is also one of my funnier stories. I was driving down Main St. in Johnson, and I passed an empty lot that earlier in the week had sale signs up, but no sale. But that day tables were up, so I pulled in. The only good thing was this Fire-King mug. However, I couldn't find anyone to pay. Other people had pulled in after me and were browsing the tables. We all kept asking each other, "Are you running the sale? Do you know who is?" It looked neglected, it had rained the night before and things were soaked, like they had sat uncovered all night. I wanted this mug, so I even dared to go across the road to a rather run-down house and ask if the sale might be theirs. No answer. The people browsing were getting frustrated and leaving. I considered just taking the damn thing, but it felt too dishonest. So instead I went to my car and got a pen and a scrap of paper. I left a note "50 cents for mug" with 2 quarters on it on one of the tables. A lady that was leaving asked me "Did you leave a note?" I told her "Yeah, I figure if they're not going to man their tables, I can make my own price," which she found quite amusing. Someone probably came along and took their stuff and my money, but oh well. At least I rescued a Fire-King mug. :)