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My parents loved taking me to antique malls and thrift stores as a child. We just enjoyed walking around and seeing what struck our fancy. All three of us were gluttons for art and kitsch. Over the years I picked up some great pieces of vintage costume jewelry, a few porcelain figures of my hero Bugs Bunny, and a homemade quilt made for the 1976 Bicentennial that was embroidered with all 50 state flowers–which I still use to this day! I also developed, through my mother, a love of mid-century cookware, including the classic Pyrex–and mind you this was long before Pyrex had cameos in Mad Men or was a plot device in the pilot for Mrs. Maisel. With cheerful colors and quirky designs, Pyrex bowls and dishes always made us smile. But now I’ve learned that apparently my mother and I are pikers, because there’s a whole community out there who avidly collect Pyrex sets, with Yahoo! Life reporting that some very rare designs sell for thousands of dollars:

Three reasons why people still love Pyrex: First, there’s the increasing rarity of what used to be ubiquitous: Pyrex ceased production of its color ware in the mid-1980s. Then, there’s a huge variety of styles, over 150 patterns that provide a visual catalog of American design over four decades. Collectors tend to feel a pull to certain designs, whether it’s whimsical daisies, blades of wheat, constellations, floral borders, or the earthy mushrooms that were among the last of the patterns Pyrex put out before the end of color ware. Finally, there’s the nostalgia. “Pyrex continues to hold its value because most of us associate it with memories of family and holiday gatherings and memories from their childhood,” says Willow Wright, owner of Urban Redeux Vintage in Alexandria, Virginia.

This is insane: Some of the most elusive Pyrex pieces go for hundreds of dollars and there’s even anecdotes of collectors bidding thousands for rare pieces. A rare Lucky in Love Pyrex casserole dish from 1959–what might have been only a test pattern, made of shamrocks and hearts–sold for $5,995 in a 2017 Goodwill auction. Someone bid more than $22,000 for the same pattern in 2022, but the bid was rescinded and the rare promotional piece sold for an undisclosed amount in a private auction.

A little history: Pyrex was developed by Corning Glass Works in the early 1900’s and began as clear glassware, Wright says. The company went on to produce a milky white glass and eventually added an exterior color to their bowls. By 1945, Pyrex Color Ware was introduced with a primary color four-piece nesting set, and, over the next 40 years more than 150 patterns would be released, she says… The glass could withstand extreme temperature changes without shattering, which added to its practicality and made it ideal for baking and cooking, she adds.

Patterns and prices and shapes, oh my: Other patterns considered rare would be the Turquoise Diamond, Pink Daisy, Snowflake, Black (or Atomic) Starburst and New Dots to name a few, Wright says. The most popular shapes are by far the mixing bowls which can simply be round or have a spout on one end and a handle on the other, known as Cinderella mixing bowls. Bowls in fair to poor condition may go for a few dollars at a thrift store or yard sale, but a highly sought-after pattern in excellent condition may reach as high as a few hundred dollars, she says. Complete nesting sets in almost any pattern can fetch over $100 on the low end and often into the several hundred range or more.

[From Yahoo! Life]

For the record, I have never paid over a hundred dollars for a Pyrex dish, let alone thousands! Where my mother and I were shopping we never really saw nesting bowl sets, only a stray bowl, or what some collectors call an orphan piece. And we use them for eating all the time! I guess maybe we should stop? This article had a link to an online pattern museum where I learned the main designs we have are Spring Blossom in white/olive and Butterprint in white/turquoise. I also discovered that Pyrex did a Zodiac print, which I adore, but of course I found one on Etsy–a 1961 casserole dish with lid and warming cradle–and it’s $700, sigh. For those of us with a slightly smaller budget, there are vendors on Etsy who make everything from earrings to magnets to keychains using Pyrex patterns, even the $22,000 Lucky in Love.

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