The PYREX Museum |
in |
The Attic |
| -- Elegant Serving Pieces -- |
| Electric Coffee Pot | ||
| Electric coffee pot. This is a "4 Man Coffee Maid" produced by the Foreman 4 Family, Inc. The handles and feet are black Bakelite, and the body is chrome. This piece is in excellent condition, down to the cloth covered cord. The body of the pot is a #7826B, indicating that it is a typical Flameware 6 cup pot. The original set came with this pot and a chrome tray with matching accessories. We would love to find a complete set, or at least some pieces to begin completing our set here! | ||
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| Beautiful electric coffee percolator. This is also a Forman Brothers piece, and is chromium plated (that's what it says on the bottom). This is more of a standard percolator as we now know them, and the Pyrex piece is the perocolator top. In addition to a beautiful design it has a yellow marbeled bakelite handle. I would like to know the history of this particular piece!! | ||
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| red decorated Casserole | |
| This is a beautiful casserole with the RD decoration. This is a #684, 2 qt. round casserole. Again, we know that this piece was produced only in 1936-37. The beautiful mount is signed 'Forman Ware Chrone on Brass.' | |
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| Georges Briard Pieces | |
| Georges
Briard (Born Jascha Brojdo, 1917 - 2005) was a noted, award winning
designer in the 50s-70s. He is most well known for his signature
dishware and glassware - everything from cups and plates to gold plated
serving dishes. Most famous for dishware and glassware, his
signature collection was stocked at noted department stores such as Neiman
Marcus and Bonwit Teller.
In 1947 Brojdo began painting metal serving trays for sale, and these were marketed under the name Georges Briard to mark commercial pieces - Brodjo was also a painter and would use his real name on his art pieces. Georges Briard became his signature as a designer of commercial articles, which were wildly popular and numerous. |
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| This piece is a #026, three quart, casserole. As told above, Briard pieces were abundant in the 50s thru the 70s. They are many times found painted on piece of Fire King kitchen ware from that era. We have never, however, seen other pieces of Pyrex designed by Briard! We were simply amazed at these pieces showing up for sale. The seller thought that this top piece was simply 'ugly' and gave it to the museum for a minimal price. We are happy to have it in our collection, and now look forward to finding out about any other Briard pieces that might be out there. | |
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| This piece, like the one above, is a #026, three quart casserole. This shows how beautiful, and tacky (!) pieces from this era can be. this casserole has a copper and wood lid, with the pieces of wood in pie shaped pieces on the lid. The legs are matching copper and wood, and the set contains a candle warmer. The 60s had a completely different idea of 'elegant' than that of the 20s and 30s. But ... elegant is elegant (or is that, "elegant is in the eye of the beholder?). | |
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| We were really lucky to find this cute little coffee pot with the Pyrex glass percolator top in the lid. It is in excellent shape, and shows the variety of Briard art that can be found on these decorated pieces. Both the artwork and the color are typical of the Briard pieces of this time frame. | |
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| One Quart Oval Casserole | |
| This oval casserole was first produced in 1917. This piece held one quart, and was made to fit a standard mounting. One of these here is shown on the left. Corning started etching their cookware and fitting them in fancy mountings to reach a wider audience. This piece is numbered #193. | |
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| Round Casserole w/ Holder | |
| This is a beautiful piece, an etched casserole with a hammered aluminum holder. The casserole is a #683, and has a classic Pyrex etching on the lid. The whole set is in marvelous shape - the glass is perfect, without even any scratches, and the metal looks as if it was produced yesterday, with a wonderful shine. It sits up, above the table, on three, small tripod legs. Unfortunate, these are difficult to see in the picture. | |
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| Two quart Oval Casserole | |
| This is a #194 two quart oval casserole. The #194 is a large casserole with a beautiful mounting. It is numbered 194-294, indicating that it was available with or without a lid. The lid has the classic 'fern' etching. | |
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| One and one-half Quart Round Casserole | ||
| This is a 1 1/2 qt. round casserole first produced in 1917. It is numbered #168-268, meaning it could be purchased with or without the cover. The lid is a #623, and must have replaced the original at some point. The #623 was first produced in 1926. A beautiful mounting that sits right on the table. | ||
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| This is a 1 1/2 qt. round casserole in a stunning 'pot bellied' mounting. The mounting is stamped 'Manning' on the bottom, and has feet and handles that are riveted to the side. The engraved lid on this piece is numbered 168, but the bottom is much more interesting. It has no number AND no stamp on the bottom. The only identification is the word Pyrex on the inside of the rim. Perhaps Corning made these bottoms expressly for Manning, and did not want them identified on the bottom? | ||
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| Oval Casserole with Elegant Mounter | |
| This is a #624 casserole in a chromium mounter. The casserole itself has a nicely etched lid with the 'Spray' design to highlight it. Once again we have added a design on the mounter that is completely different from any others in the museum! | |
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| Square Casserole w/ Stand | ||
| What a wonderful find this is. It is a #800 square casserole with lid. The #800 was first produced in 1921, and we believe it to be the first 'square' Pyrex casserole produced by Corning. A dealer's catalog from 1922 listed it as a 'pudding dish'! This piece is in wonderful condition (We sometimes wonder where they have been hiding for 90 years and have never even been scratched?) and has a beautiful stand. The stand is evidently silver from the way it tarnished sitting on a shelf in our house! It is too bad that the maker of the stand left no identification on this piece. You can see the decoration is a Dutch motif, with children, windmills, houses and wagons! | ||
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| One and one-half Quart Octagon Casserole | ||
| This is simply awesome! This is an eight-sided casserole, numbered #673. You can't see it in the pictures, but the glass has the distinctive deep yellow tinge of the earliest Pyrex. It also has ornate handles the type of which we have not seen on any other pieces. We do not know when it was made, but do know that it also had a lid (which we will find - see below!). In addition, the beautiful mounting is signed Farberware, maker of much of the metal accessories for Cambridge Glass. | ||
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| The beautiful lid seen in the middle is 'new to us.' An internet friend (forgot her name, sorry!) visiting the museum knew where we could find a lid and the owner gave it to us very reasonably. Thanks to both of these people for helping us with the museum. | ||
| One and one-half Quart round Casserole | ||
| This is a round, eight sided casserole. You can see from the middle picture that the casserole is 'fluted' four times. The same shape is on the lid and the bowl. Both the top and the bottom are numbered 693, and the top is a round utility cover. The closest identification to this number we could find was a #683 first produced in 1932. The etching is the standard Pyrex 'Spray' Design, but it radiates out from the center. The beautiful mount is signed 'Forman Ware Chromium Plated', with a design similar to that of the RD casserole shown above. | ||
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| Etched Oval Casserole | |
| This set is a #633 1 1/2 quart oval casserole w/ lid. Linda found this set while George was hospitalized in ME. This set was introduced by Corning in 1927. It carries the classic 'Spray' design for an etching, and the nicest part of all is that it is etched on both top and bottom. This would indicate that these two pieces have been happily wed since their inception! | |
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| Round Casserole with molded design | ||
| This is an extraordinary piece of Pyrex. We have never seen a piece such as this until we found this casserole. If it was not marked Pryex we would have a hard time believing that it really was. But ... it is a #696, and both the lid and bottom are marked. The design is molded everywhere, not etched, and the bottom sides are really at that angle! This, and other molded pieces of Pyrex, were produced for the Russakov Metal Co. in Chicago in the 1930s. Since these pieces were produced exclusively for the Russakov Company, they are extremely difficult to find. This piece is in extremely good condition. | ||
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| One and one-half Quart Round Casserole | |
| This is a nice #023, 1 1/2 quart casserole. It was first produced in 1926. While difficult to see in the picture, this piece would look good on a store shelf today - it is perfect! But, ... it is in the museum because of the beautiful mounting. It is engraved silver and has a William A. Rogers Oneida label on the bottom. Pyrex cookware with silver shows the versatility of these Corning pieces in the early 20th century. | |
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| Pie plate with Silver Plated Mounter | |
| This is truly a beautiful piece of Pyrex in a unique setting. This is a #210 pie plate, and the piece has a symmetrical etching on the bottom. The design on the side of the plate appears to be the often seen 'Spray' design, but the square pattern is one that is rarely seen. Notice that in the picture on the right the plate cannot even be seen from the side, it is totally concealed by the mounting. | |
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| Fry Glass Co. Oval Casserole | |
| The museum would not be complete without some beautiful Fry glassware. Corning gave Fry the rights to produce Pyrex Ovenware glass, and Fry did so from 1920 - 33. Fry added aluminum oxide to produce the blue opalescence, and the addition of mountings made these pieces beautiful. These are both no.1932-9, 9" long casseroles, with different mountings. The mounting on the right is signed "Quality Rusko Ware, Chicago, USA." | |
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| This is a no.1938-8, a 8" round casserole, with still another different mounting. Can you imagine what the table set with these serving pieces must have looked like in the 1920s and 1930s? Even the poorest people must have felt rich when using these pieces for both cooking and serving. | |
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