The Pleasures of Peacock Pyrex

Earlier this year, I found a beautifully-colored Pyrex casserole dish for just $6 at a cute little antique shop near Orange Beach, Ala. Since that time, gifts from my husband (a square casserole dish) and mom (a mixing bowl) have brought the number of these pieces up to three, so now I officially have a new collection!

I learned from a website that this "Peacock" Pyrex color was introduced in 2002, so it's not vintage by any means, it's just not a current color choice, so I have to go through my usual channels (antique stores and online searches) to find pieces at reasonable prices. This casserole dish came courtesy of a gift card my sweet husband gave me for our anniversary earlier this month! Now I'm on the hunt for the rectangular casserole dish and a pie plate (found a pie plate on eBay for $60, but I'm not paying that; $60 would buy a nice tea set somewhere!).

Since I'm now a collector, I had to splurge and drop the $1 this cookbook cost at an antique mall. It was fun to see that in this 1953 book, some of the Pyrex is the exact same shape of pieces I own today.

I also enjoyed seeing the old photos of Pyrex that was in fashion at the time, such as these Oven-Refrigerator pieces.

But what really got me was seeing the vegetables stored in those old Pyrex percolators! Do you have any kitchen collectibles that aren't necessarily teawares but something you use in the course of cooking your teatime (or even everyday) foods? I like having pretty things of every sort in my kitchen, as I'm a great believer in that old William Morris quote, "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." My teawares and my Pyrex qualify on both counts!