Bowled Over

G and I routinely forward crazy ads to each other, mostly from Facebook and other social media. The ad at the top of the page is an example. G sent it over to me a few days ago, snorting how crazy those people were to ask $1600 for a set of four Pyrex bowls.

Except…

I know my Pyrex, y’all. My mom had Pyrex, and swore by it. I’d only ever seen the Butterprint pattern (shown at the top of the page) in blue. So when I saw the pattern in a color I ain’t never seen before, I went digging.

Guess what?

Turns out a set of Butterprint-pattern mixing bowls, in that goldy-orange color, IS extremely pricey. If the advertised set is in mint condition, and the seller lists it on Etsy or Ebay, they could very well get their asking price. I saw a set like it listed on eBay for $1800 plus shipping. And it had bids.

For the record, I’m not a fan of the golds or earthtones. I mean, if we find those pricey ones at a garage sale for cheap, we’re buying them — to flip. I’ve got earthy shades in my “workhorse” collection, and that’s all they’ll ever be to me.

On the other hand, I love my Pyrex blues. Pictured above-left and below-right are from my “because I love it” collection, reserved for special occasions. These are all vintage, by the way. Pyrex phased out the opal/white glass version in the 1980s. All you find now is clear glass, and the quality is sadly inferior to older pieces.

G bought me the biggest (four quart) bowl of this set as my Christmas gift. The one he bought had the blue background, vs the blue print on white background.

The vast majority of sets sold were the positive-negative version, shown above. Finding the biggest bowl in the darker version is a score. A set of these — so far — isn’t into nosebleed territory. Skinned knees, maybe. I found a set of the all-dark for $250 on Etsy, which is honestly a good deal. A positive/negative set was going for more than double that on eBay. (There were none of the all-dark sets on eBay when I last checked.)

If you find a piece of Pyrex for cheap at a garage sale; in good condition; in shades of blue, turquoise, pink, or red; buy it. There are certainly collectors who like the earthy colors, but nearly every collector will buy a solid pink bowl, for example, or a solid turquoise bowl. Prints are a slightly narrower focus, but colors matter. If it’s in mint condition and in those shades, snap that baby up and flip it for a profit.

---

Cracking Up

The skies were terrific again over the weekend, so we took our cameras with us to Tucson.

When we stopped for gas a few days earlier, we discovered a big crack at the base of the windshield. It was also growing – in the time it took us to drive back home (about 3 miles) it had doubled in size.

I’m grateful we had $0 deductible insurance coverage for the windsheild. I was less thrilled to have to drive to Tucson on a Friday, particularly since we had to drive to the farthest corner of Tucson from us. (Nobody closer could do the calibration on the electronics embedded in our windshield.)

Thankfully, it all worked out. The weather was magnificent. Chilly, but magnificent.

This shot is part of Catalina State Park, at the north end of Tucson. All that fuzzy stuff atop the peak? 100+ foot pine trees, covered in snow. Yes we DO get snow in the state, though it’s not common for it to snow that far down on the mountains, much less in the low deserts. Our overnight lows at the house are supposed to be low- to mid-20s the next few nights, though, and there’s precipitation in the forecast. Probably more rain than snow, but it wouldn’t be unprecedented to see a few stray flakes falling.

We had to wrap some of our plants in quilts and comforters to keep them from freezing, because it’s already dipped below 32º a couple of nights. They’re gonna stay wrapped for at least a few days, possibly a few weeks. Mother nature is too fickle to trust her not to throw us an off-season cold snap in February again, like she did last winter.