Pyrex With Bex

Host Bex Scott lets you in on her process for going through her local Value Village thrift store in this episode. She explains the layout of the store section by section, how they’re stocked, and what to look for in each. She explains where the good stuff is on the shelf, how to check items for damage, and where some of the hot items are hidden. If Value Village is new to you or you find it overwhelming, this episode will break it down into understandable sections and help you scour for the perfect vintage score that you’re seeking. Bex also shares some key tips for collectors and resellers. Did you know that some of the best items are on the very bottom shelves in Value Village? Don’t be afraid to get on the floor and look down there. Where do they hide the salt and pepper shakers? Should you skip the book section? If you arrive at the store first thing in the morning, is sneaking into the middle of the queue a good idea? Bex answers all these questions and more in this episode. Listen in then share your thoughts and tips with Bex on Instagram @PyrexWithBex. Resources discussed in this episode:Value VillageFind a Value Village near you—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast, where you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Hey everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. On today's episode, I want to take you through my process for shopping at Value Village. Now, where I live in Alberta, we have quite a few different thrift shops, antique shops, but I find that the one that I have the most success at right now is actually the Value Village in Red Deer. So for those of you who live in this area, I would be interested to see if you kind of have the same process as me for going through the store. Now, I know that everybody has their own sections that they really love to hit up first. I know that when I used to go thrifting every day before we had our daughter, I used to show up way before the store opened and line up at the Value Village, this was in Calgary, not where we live now, but you would see the same people there all the time. The same person was always first, and you would get to know the people who were shopping there, which was kind of fun. Bex Scott: [00:01:38] And you would watch as people who weren't regulars came around the corner and they thought they could sneak into the line or try and create another line to get into the store before you did. And these people were having none of it. So one thing to know for sure is to never mess with a die-hard thrifter or reseller because they stake claim to their spot in that line and they will not move from it. So back when I used to go to Value Village in Calgary, my first stop was always the Pyrex section because there were a lot of other people who went there first. You wanted to be the first one to get the fresh Pyrex that they put out. A lot of times that's how I got my full sets. And you do have to kind of fight people for different things because you can tell, right? As you guys both lock eyes on the same set, it's like whoever is closest to that, you grab it. So you put your hand on it and you just have to be assertive, which is something that I'm not good at. I've learned to be a little more assertive since I've been thrifting for a bit longer now, but it's definitely not in my personality to fight with somebody over something. It's not worth it in my opinion. Bex Scott: [00:02:58] If somebody is going to fight with me over a set of Pyrex, I will gladly give it to them because I'm just, I don't like conflict. I will miss out on a great opportunity just to avoid the conflict with a stranger. But some other people who are there that you get to know, there was one lady, I called her the Teacup Lady because she went and cleared out the full section of teacups at Value Village every single morning, and I would kind of creep to look at what was in her cart. I have no clue about teacups at all. Nothing. No knowledge about china, any of that stuff. So it was fascinating to me to see what she was buying. And I'm sure she was a reseller, because nobody can store that many teacups in their house. Well, that might be a lie because I have that much Pyrex. But anyway, there was also a guy that would go and buy vintage books and then somebody else who would buy video games and electronics. So those were the usuals who would line up with me on at the Value Village. So since I've moved out of the city, I frequent Goodwill, Sally-Ann, Value Village, and then a few of the smaller thrift and antique stores in our town. And Value Village is definitely a big store to search through. It goes in huge cycles of being amazing and just being totally crap for what's in there. Bex Scott: [00:04:33] A lot of it goes with the seasons, which makes sense. So right now it's not too bad because people are clearing out after the holidays. Christmas is over, they have more time. So they're focusing more on clearing out, maybe getting ready to sell their houses in the spring/summer. So there's been a lot of good vintage in the stores recently, but before Christmas, it was all Christmas. That's all you would find there. Everything else was kind of junky stuff. And then right after Christmas, it went through a phase where the shelves were, like, completely bare, except for a few things. So now if, now is February, if you're getting into thrifting or reselling, now is a great time, in my opinion, to start stocking up on your inventory and looking through things before the big garage sale season comes up, which I'm extremely excited about. Bex Scott: [00:05:33] Okay, so I avoid a lot of sections in Value Village when I look for my inventory. That is mainly because it's not my area of specialty. I don't know a lot about it, and I can't buy from every single category, or I would probably be kicked out of my house. Just kidding. But it would, it wouldn't work. So right when you walk into our Value Village, on the right, there's DVDs and board games. Now, I know a lot of people who resell DVDs and resell vintage, and not even vintage, just modern contemporary games, and they do extremely well. Bex Scott: [00:06:12] So I would love to get somebody on the podcast as a guest to talk about just board games, DVDs, music, that kind of stuff, because that is a section that I avoid. The first section that I do go to is the book section. I am a massive reader. I read every day. Right now my goal is to try and read six books a month. I did that for January. We'll see for February. But I have a problem with buying books for myself, never mind books to resell and to collect. But when I do buy them for my collection, it's the Little Golden Books. I love vintage Little Golden Books. Some of the newer ones are cute too, but I buy them for the illustrations and the artwork in them, and this might hurt a lot of people to hear, but I repurposed some of the pages in crafting, so I've been making little coasters and journals, covering journals with like Disney pictures and just really nice old vintage artwork, which I know is terrible to do to cut a book up. But I try to only cut the ones up that are really damaged. I don't ever touch a brand new pristine condition book. So I collect those for myself and to read to my daughter. So I'm trying to collect as many Little Golden Books for her as I can to pass down to her. I also have had great success selling the Little Golden Books. Bex Scott: [00:07:50] So if you can find them for like $0.25 each or a dollar each, they usually resell for like $3 to $4. So not a huge profit there. But if you get enough of them, you can sell them in bulk, you can sell them as a collection. And you might be able to find some good money in that section. Next, I always buy vintage Baby-Sitters Club books and Sweet Valley High, so right now those ones are really popular. I've sold quite a few Baby-Sitters Club books, and they did release, I think it was on Netflix, a Baby-Sitters Club TV show, which is actually pretty good, I'm not going to lie. So it did make a little bit of a comeback, but people are trying to complete their collections that they had growing up. So I always try and grab those books, especially the older Baby-Sitters Club ones. Next is Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys. There are some extremely die-hard collectors here, and I know I've talked about this in a previous podcast episode. There are different types of the Nancy Drew, different time frames that they were released with different covers, artwork, that kind of thing. So keep that in mind when you are buying them if you were trying to complete a collection or you're trying to resell, that different ones will have different values just because of the time they were released and the type of cover that they have. Bex Scott: [00:09:25] Okay, so once you leave the book section in my Value Village, you go to this extremely overwhelming vase section where they've just crammed every single vase that has ever been donated from a florist shop. So you'll see a bajillion of them. They all look the same. They're all in there. I don't know why, but the same two vases could have two different prices. It drives me insane. But this is where I have had the most luck finding swung vases. And you need to be quick on these. Like this, when I walk in, I scan that section first to see if they've put anything really tall on the top shelf, because that's where they usually are. If I don't see any, I head to the books, but I've found qu

Host Bex Scott shares the five Pyrex patterns that she doesn’t love in this episode. In addition to naming the unloved patterns, she explores their history and what dishes made up the sets on offer. Everyone’s tastes are different so listeners may love a pattern Bex doesn’t. You may agree with Bex or you may want to bring a case in defence of a favourite that appears on this list. Or possibly you’re new to Pyrex and want to explore different sets. Whichever way you lean, there’s something for you in this episode. All the information Bex shares is from the Pyrex Bible, more formally known as Pyrex Passion 2nd Edition by Michael D. Barber. From Golden Acorn to the infamous Old Orchard, Bex lets you into her opinions on her least loved Pyrex patterns. What is it about these patterns that put her off? What other patterns does she dislike? What is the best way to ruin a gold pattern Pyrex bowl? And is there anybody who will stand up in support of Old Orchard? Listen in then share your agreements, arguments, and collection display photos with Bex on Instagram @PyrexWithBex. Resources discussed in this episode:“Pyrex Passion 2nd Edition” by Michael D. BarberGolden Acorn PyrexGolden Honeysuckle PyrexOld Orchard PyrexForest Fancies PyrexPyrex brown hugger cradle—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast, where you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Hey everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. On today's episode, I wanted to talk about the five Pyrex patterns that I don't love. I figured that since I've talked in the past about so many of the patterns that I do love, and I've had guests talking about their collections and the ones that they collect the most often, I'd switch things up a little bit and talk about the ones that I don't love as much. Now I do enjoy all Pyrex and I'll use any kind of pattern. I have even put patterns that I don't love in displays just because they go so well. And you'll realize that there's a bit of a pattern to the ones that I don't love once I start going through them. But I wanted to give you an idea of some of the ones that I don't necessarily collect as much of, and I'd love to hear your thoughts on whether you agree with me, which ones you don't love, and get a conversation going. You can find me on Instagram at Pyrex with Bex, and feel free to share your thoughts about this episode there. Bex Scott: [00:01:42] So starting off, we have the first one, and I'll start by saying all of the information that I'm going to give is from the Pyrex Bible, the Pyrex Passion Book by Michael D Barber. I have the second edition, and that's where I get all of my of my information from. So I wanted to, once I say which pattern I don't love, give you a little bit of background information on the dish so that you can learn a little bit more about it if you're a new collector, or maybe you have been collecting for a while, but you haven't necessarily read up about certain patterns. And just to give some fun information on each of the pieces. Because regardless of whether I like it, there's tons of other people out there that do like these pieces, so to each their own. Bex Scott: [00:02:30] So the very first one is the Gold Acorn. And I have owned various pieces of this set, and I believe I started off liking them, but it just wasn't a pattern that grew on me. So this one was produced from 1959 to 1963, and it came in an assorted bakeware set. So it was gold applied to a beige background. It paints a little bit of a picture, and it's like a scrolly kind of ivy leaf pattern with little acorns on it. And it says that the boxes didn't include the pattern name, but marketing materials from the time used the name Gold Acorn on Ivory or Golden Touch in reference to this pattern. And it says that the first edition of Pyrex Passion referred to the pattern as Golden Acorn, but Gold Acorn was more commonly used in the catalogs. And most items were offered from 1959 to 1963, with the exception of the 053 oval open baker, which was dropped in 1962. So the ones that I've had are the oval casseroles, and they come in the one and a half quart and two and a half quart with the clear lids. And I've also had a divided serving dish. And one of the things that I learned early on when I was collecting Pyrex is that you don't put anything abrasive on gold, and this was me being naive. I should have known better. But I remember getting a tube of peek because starting off in my collecting, I had heard that peek is the perfect thing to take the utensil marks off of Pyrex and just clean them up, which it is. But you cannot use anything abrasive on gold because it will wear it off. So I remember squeezing the peek onto a piece of paper towel, and I rubbed off the whole bottom half of the gold acorn pattern. And I still haven't forgotten that it was a good lesson for me to learn, but for any of you that are just starting out, you can use peek to clean your Pyrex but do not use it on the gold. It will ruin it. Bex Scott: [00:04:58] Okay, so the Gold Acorn was also offered in the stamp catalog carousel with a cradle, and the stamp program was where you would redeem your stamps at the store and they would give you the Pyrex in return. So it says the item appears in the 1961 Top Value Stamps Family Gift Catalog. The cradle was the same one used on the 1959 duet, or also known as Dandelion Casserole. And that one kind of has the same colorings. It's more of a yellow, though, actually. And I really like the Dandelion. The oval divided serving dish also came in Gold Acorn and then the oval open baker. And I have to say, I don't love this pattern, but I do have a weakness for space saver casseroles. I just love the size of them, especially if they come with that metal lid. Perfect for the freezer. So these ones were sold individually with a clear lid from 1959 to 1963. And then they came out with another set, same time frame though, with the oven freezer serving set. And they were both packaged in a set that included one clear lid and two metal lids. And I know where I am in Canada at least those metal lids are very hard to come by. I think I have maybe one of them that I was lucky enough to find on Facebook Marketplace, and that's one that I will never resell. That one will stay in my collection, and I'm always on the lookout for more of those metal lids. Now, the Gold Acorn did have a prototype, and they were the 473, 474 and 475. They were the round casseroles with clear lids, and these ones were not standard production items. They have resurfaced in this pattern and are being said that they're possibly manufactured as test items in the early 1960s. Bex Scott: [00:07:00] So next up, you'll see there's a bit of a theme here with which patterns I don't love. We have the Golden Honeysuckle, so it's not all gold that I dislike. There are quite a few patterns, especially the promotional ones that have gold. There's just something about these ones that have the vines or the flowers that I don't know why, it just doesn't do it for me. The Golden Honeysuckle 1963 to 1965. It was testing, Corning was testing the market with new shapes and sizes of casseroles. And I think that's maybe why this one I don't love so much. Now, I've owned all of the Golden Honeysuckle, and they are really nice to bake casseroles in and to heat things in because they're nice and long and they're really deep. There's also shallow ones for vegetables, which is great. But to me, this isn't the standard Pyrex that I know and love. They released four casseroles, and they featured a unique square shape designed by William M Curtis. Bex Scott: [00:08:09] To ensure the gold pattern adhered properly casseroles were sprayed white on top of the opal glass. Walnut serving trays were also available in one size, a 935 that fit the two smaller casseroles, while another size, 958, fit the two larger casseroles. The serving trays were sold separately and also packaged with the casseroles when sold as a set. And these casseroles were sold individually and you have the 033, 035, 055, 058, 935 which is the tray and the 958 which is the tray. And then it came as a casserole serving set. So you have the 33, the 35, the 55 and the 58. And then there were casserole prototypes. So after the casserole style was patented in 1961, Corning tested the new shapes with many different designs. These prototype items are quite rare, but can be found in many patterns such as Early American, Green Scroll, White Snowflake on Turquoise, and White Compass on Turquoise. Bex Scott: [00:09:17] Okay, the next one. This is going to be no surprise because I've talked about it at length on many of my episodes. That Old Orchard is my least favorite pattern. And there's tons of memes out there about poor Old Orchard. And it really doesn't get a lot of love. So I would really like to know how many collectors out there or just people in general, like the Old Orchard pattern. And if you have examples of how you've styled Old Orchard in your shelves with other items, I would really like to see them because this is one pattern that is very interesting to me, and I'm sure it will look great in a fall assembly of just different items, so feel free to shoot them over to me on Instagram. Bex Scott: [00:10:06] So Old Orchard was 1973 to 1977 and it contained a mix of pattern pieces, solid colored pieces and pieces with brown shading sprayed around the top of the bowl, so it gave it kind of an ombre effect. It

Today, Bex Scott takes us back in time to the days of the 1950s housewife. An article from the New Zealand Herald in 2018 shared a vintage 1950s article on how to attract men and Bex dives into it with us to see how many, if any, of the old tips are valid. Take a trip in Bex’s time machine and learn, from different articles, how to find a husband, how to keep him happy once married, and how to keep looking pretty for this coveted man. How cringe-worthy is this article by today’s standards? Join Bex to find out. Modern dating often involves online dating so in fifty years we may look back on this era and find it extremely cringe-worthy as well. For now, 1950s sensibilities are on glorious display in this vintage article. The article was originally published under the title 129 Ways to Get a Husband in McCall’s magazine and was aimed at women who weren’t married by the ripe old age of seventeen. The suggestions range from simple - “walk a dog” - to baffling - “read the obituaries to find eligible widowers”. Of course, snagging a husband is only half the battle. Once married, he has to be kept happy. Those suggestions, from a 1950s Home Ec book, range from the expected - “have dinner ready when he comes home” - to the old school - “arrange his pillow and offer to take off his shoes”. Deep dive into the mind-blowing world of 50s husband hunting with Bex.Resources discussed in this episode:“Husband Hunting: Cringeworthy 1950s article advises women on how to attract men” NZ Herald, November 7, 2018—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Hey everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. On today's episode, I wanted to go into a topic that interests me and I'm sure interests quite a few of you as well. It's the 1950s housewife. So we just got through the holiday season. We're in January now. By the time you listen to this episode, it's probably going to be way past that. But over the holidays, I always like going through cookbooks, reading old magazines, and learning a little bit more about the 1950s and 1960s and doing some research. And this past holiday season, I came across a bunch of really good recipes, articles and books. But one in particular that I wanted to talk about today was based off of an article from a while back. It was actually published on November 7th in 2018, in the New Zealand Herald. And the title was Husband Hunting, Cringeworthy 1950s Article Advises Women on How to Attract Men. And this headline caught me right after I read it. Bex Scott: [00:01:50] I had to go through online dating before I met my husband. Dated a whole bunch of really interesting guys, not so great guys. Just ask anybody in my family. I was very lucky to find my husband and now not have to worry about how to attract a man, as this article title says. But I always find it very interesting to learn about what women had to do, or what was kind of expected of them in that time period with beauty, with how they were supposed to act, etiquette in general, and kind of what the world expected of women in the 1950s. And I think this article sums it up perfectly. So I'm going to go through it with you. And they have the actual article from, so they wrote about it in the New Zealand Herald, but they also have the 1950s article in full here that I will read for you. And I think you guys are going to get a kick out of some of it and probably cringe at most of it, but I'd love to know what you think after this episode. Bex Scott: [00:03:02] Okay, so they start off by saying a magazine from the 1950s features a cringe worthy advice column for single women on how to attract men. The article, headlined 129 Ways to Get a Husband from the American magazine McCall's, includes hilarious and bizarre tips where most would never be used in this era, I'm sure. Photos of the advice column were posted on Facebook, with the post quickly becoming viral. So this is in 2018. The post had been shared over 13,000 times and had caused widespread controversy, quickly racking up more than 4600 likes and thousands of comments from shocked and amused users. The feature, aimed at women who weren't married by 17, was created with the help of 16 people who used a brainstorming technique to see if they could come up with fresh ideas on how to find a husband. The first 30 pointers reveal where to find him, giving single women creative tips on how to run into their potential new husband. This section includes advice as simple as get a dog and walk it to very cynical ideas like read obituaries to find eligible widowers. Bex Scott: [00:04:16] Okay, so there's 13 different numbers here that they've listed on where to find your husband. Number one, get a dog and walk it. Number two, have your car break down at strategic places. That sounds very sketchy to me. I would not advise this in 2025 at all. Number three, attend night school, take courses men like. Okay. Number four, join a hiking club. I know many people, I have many friends who've actually done this and met some very nice men. So a hiking club is not a bad number here. Number five, look in the census reports for places with the most single men. Nevada has 125 males for every 100 females. Number six, read the obituaries to find eligible widowers. That is crazy. We're not going to do that. Number seven, take up golf and go to different golf courses. Okay, that could be a solid go-to. Number eight, take several short vacations at different places rather than one long one at one place. Number nine, sit on a park bench and feed the pigeons. Number ten, take a bicycle trip through Europe. Mm. That sounds very romantic and not realistic to find a man on a bicycle trip. You never know. I've known people who've met their significant other on a nice European trip. Number 11, get a job in a medical, dental or law school. Number 12, become a nurse or an airline stewardess. They have very high marriage rates. Number 13, ask your friends husbands who the eligible men are in their offices. Bex Scott: [00:06:10] Okay, so the next piece of advice is how to let him know you're there. Giving women cunning ideas to get a man's attention. Okay, so here are all 41 of the ways to let him know you're there. So feel free to try any of these if you'd like. Okay. Be nice to everybody, they may have an eligible brother or son. Get a government job overseas. Forget discretion every once in a while and call them up. Carry a hat box. I wonder what that would do now? Probably not too much. If you carried a hat box, people would be wondering what was in the box. Make a lot of money. Okay. Learn several funny stories and learn to tell them well, but make sure you don't tell them to him more than once. Walk up to him and tell him you need some advice. Dropping the handkerchief still works. You could do that with a Kleenex, but I highly doubt that a man is going to pick up your Kleenex. Have your father buy some theater tickets that have to be got rid of. Don't let him fish for your name the next time you meet. None of this guess who stuff. Bex Scott: [00:07:35] Next, single women are given advice on how to look good to him. Suggesting what cosmetics and items to wear. Get better looking glasses. Men still make passes at girls who wear glasses. Or you could try contact lenses, number 49 advises. Wear high heels most of the time, they're sexier. Unless he happens to be shorter than you, another pointer said. Okay, so here we go, continuing on. If you're at a resort, have the bellboy page you. Buy a convertible. Men like to ride in them. Learn how to bake tasty apple pies. Bring one into the office and let the eligible bachelor taste it. Laugh at his jokes. If there's a wallflower among the men you know, why not cultivate him. Oh cultivate the flower? For all you know, he may be a diamond in the rough. Accidentally have your purse fly open, scattering its contents all over the street. I don't think I'd want any, no, no, I don't want anybody knowing what's in my purse. Not that there's anything bad in there, but probably a lot of Pyrex. No, I'm kidding. I didn't have Pyrex back in the day in my purse. Bex Scott: [00:07:35] Okay. How to look good to him. So this is the next section. Men like to think they're authorities on perfume. Ask his advice on what kind you should wear. Practice your drinking with your women friends first. If you dye your hair, pick a shade and stick to it. Tell him he's handsome. Take good care of your health, men don't like girls who are ill. That's an obvious one. If you look good in sweaters, wear one on every third date. Dress differently from the other girls in the office. Get a sunburn. What? Watch your vocabulary. Blah blah blah. Oh, my gosh, that's a great word to stumble on. Watch your vocabulary. There we go. Go on a diet if you need to. What? When you're with him, order your steak rare. Don't tell him about your allergies. Oh, great, so he can try and kill you. That's a good one. European women use their eyes to good advantage. Practice in front of a mirror. Buy a full length mirror, and take a good look before you go to greet him. What does that mean? That's rude. Change the shade of your stockings and be sure to keep the seams straight. Get the fresh scrubbed look by scrubbing. If he has bought you any trinket or accessory, wear it. Use the ashtray. Don't crush out cigarettes in coffee cups. Polish up on making introductions. Learn to do them gracefully.

In today’s episode, Bex Scott shares vintage advice and tips for the retro homemaker from “The Homemaker’s Encyclopedia - 1952” book that she recently acquired. Featuring of-the-time shopping advice, meal ideas, kitchen planning suggestions, and more, this is a genuine blast from the past glimpse into the housewife’s day-to-day mealtime expectations. Join Bex for a trip into the past and learn some new (old) ways to shop and cook to please your family. “The Homemaker’s Encyclopedia -1952” includes such chapters as “Marketing Know-How”, “Different Items You Can Stock in Your Larder”, and “How Much Is Enough”. The author encourages women (the target audience for this book since it was women, the wives and mothers, who did all the grocery shopping, meal planning, and cooking in the 50s) to be unafraid of experimenting with “new foods, new recipes, and new ways of cooking”. She maintains that careful planning will enable women to provide balanced nutrition and budget-conscious meal preparation for their families. Bex also shares an amusing section on grocery store etiquette (including the gem “Dogs must be left outside, but children must often be brought inside”) and specific kitchen design shapes that maximize efficiency in prep and service. For lovers of vintage, retro cooking ideas, and amusing throwbacks, this episode is a must-listen. Resources discussed in this episode:“The Homemaker’s Encyclopedia 1952: Food-Buying and Meal-Planning” photo—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Bex Scott: [00:00:31] Hey everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. On today's episode, I thought it would be fun to go through a newly acquired book that I have called The Homemaker's Encyclopedia Food Buying and Meal Planning. Now this beauty is from 1952, so it is exactly what you might expect. The content is all about the woman being at home being the homemaker, the man going out and working his 9 to 5 job and coming home to his children and his wife being ready to serve him his meal and for him to relax with a drink in his hand. And I wanted to read some excerpts of this book to you because it was honestly very entertaining to read and to just note how different times are now than they were before. In my household right now my husband does all of the cooking. I like to do the cleaning. We both work and we both equally contribute to raising our three kids, and it was just really interesting to read through the difference in how they used to do things. And I know a bunch of you can probably remember this from your childhood, maybe your parents. That was the dynamic for them back in the 50s, and it would just be interesting to hear your take on things in your memories of how things were. Bex Scott: [00:02:11] So I wanted to start off by going through the introduction, because I believe that this gives you, as it says, a good introduction to this interesting book. So it says "Every homemaker is conscious of the need to try to get the greatest value for the money she can spend. How to do this while still continuing to provide meals that are nutritious and varied, is the subject of conversation whenever good housewives get together. Books such as this can be of great help. In an interesting fashion with easy-to-follow suggestions, the author ranges over the fields of marketing and menu planning in an effort to help you in your daily program". Now, when they say marketing, this is kind of embarrassing because that's my field of work. I'm in marketing. And when I read that, I was really confused about what they were talking about. Marketing is actually going to the supermarket. So yeah, that was an interesting enlightning fact for me. "While keeping the main objective in view, that of securing the most nourishing foods at the prices you can pay, she nevertheless succeeds in proving to the reader that this branch of homemaking need never grow uninteresting or monotonous, just as the meals you serve need never become dull for your family. The willingness to experiment, to try new foods, new recipes, and new ways of cooking should be part of every housewife's equipment. In many an old-fashioned American household, the food followed an unvarying pattern: a roast on Sunday, hash on Monday, chowder on Friday, beans on Saturday, or whatever". Or whatever. "Before the family entered the dining room, they knew exactly what would be on the table". Bex Scott: [00:03:58] Growing up, we had roast every Sunday and that was honestly the best day of the week for me. My mom's roasts, they were amazing. And when we go back home to visit with them, my mom still likes to make a roast for all of us when we get together. "Most younger women are more flexible than the old-time cooks. They are learning some of the secrets of using unusual flavor through spices, herbs, and sauces to borrow from other nations some tricks of applying imagination to the food they serve their families. American menus would be the poorer without Swiss and Italian cheeses, Hungarian goulash, French and Vienna breads, chili con carne, chow mein and chop suey, Irish stew, frankfurters and sauerkraut, England's plum pudding, or whatever your particular favorites happen to be. Bearing this in mind, you need never be afraid to experiment or pioneer in foods or methods. In this book, along with practical advice on efficient shopping techniques, cooking shortcuts, and dollar stretchers, you'll find a view of meal planning as a family affair. To many women, marketing and cooking is a burden because they do all of it alone. The author suggests ways in which the other members of the family can help. Father with the marketing, the children in preparing meals and helping to serve them. Making these projects a part of your family's life seems a practical application of homemaking. That art, which is, in the last analysis, the most important profession open to any woman". Bex Scott: [00:05:28] So now we get into the good stuff. So we've been introduced to the book, know a little bit about it, so part one is meal planning. "Number one, a good meal doesn't just happen. The experienced traveller knows that the success of a trip depends on thorough, beforehand planning. Just so homemakers whose meals get consistent rave reviews from family and friends will tell you that a good meal is made at the meal planning desk rather than at the cook stove". And there's a nice picture of a woman sitting at her meal planning desk, and it says, "when you plan ahead, you can relax and enjoy meal times too". I can tell you that my husband doesn't have a meal planning desk, but I'm going to ask him now if he would like one, and I'll let you know what he says. Okay, so it says, "and while impromptu meals can be lots of fun once in a while, a steady succession of haphazard conglomerations tells its story in flurry and worry, not to mention the added expense which substitutes for proper planning. Your family will probably be most interested in how the food looks and tastes, and in whether you are calm and cheerful or cross and worn out when you join them at the table". I can tell you that our two sons could care less what the food looks like. They are more interested in how it tastes and how quickly they can consume it. "You, on the other hand, will be equally concerned with balancing the budget and the nutritional scale, for you know that the actual health of your family is dependent upon the meals you serve. Every smart woman knows that you can lead a husband to vitamins, but you can't always make him eat". That is something that I have never heard before. "This holds true of children as well and harping on food values usually creates eating problems rather than converts to balanced nutrition. When you plan ahead, you can relax and enjoy meal times too, secure in the knowledge that you are giving your family food they need in ways they enjoy it, with a maximum of economy and a minimum of work". Bex Scott: [00:07:39] And then it goes into "four ways to help you turn meal planning from a hand-to-mouth operation into a pleasant and worthwhile habit". Next up, this is a little pull quote that I had to share with you guys. It says "Entree, usually a made-up dish of an unusual food". So if anybody ever asks you what an entrée is, please be sure to use this definition. Okay next up we have the elements of a successful meal. "When you get right down to the business of meal planning, you must remember to coordinate a number of other factors with your four menu factors of: number one nutrition values, number two economy or money-saving, number three efficiency or time and effort saving, and number four" is my favorite "honest to goodness pleasure in eating". That's why I eat. Not to survive. I eat to enjoy and experience the pleasure in eating. "So you may want to introduce new foods, provide an invalid diet or entertain company on a budget. You may decide to streamline the family's collective waistline through a high-protein but low in calorie diet. Or you may yearn to cut down on dirty dishes and utensils so as to have more time for after-dinner fun with the family. And don't think for a moment that to do all these things, you're going to have to sacrifice personal or family preferences and foods, or throw out the window sectional or national ways of eating that are dear to your heart and traditional in your family. Actually, whatever you want to accomplish thro

Bex Scott welcomes guest Ruth from Periwinkle Collectibles on Instagram to the show to talk all about Federal Glass, among other things. Ruth teaches Bex some fascinating facts about Federal Glass, their patterns, which country they released certain items in, and how to spot the collectibles in the wild. Not every thrift trip can be single-minded, however, so Bex and Ruth talk about some of the other vintage items they search for and enjoy as well.  Ruth claims Pyrex collecting was her gateway into other milk glass companies, patterns, and makers, and admits that in the early days, she would find something she thought was Pyrex only to bring it home and learn it wasn’t. Through those research lessons, she found that something she initially thought was Fire King was in fact Federal Glass and that sent her on a whole new collecting journey. Bex learns about the sheer number of varieties of dot colors and sets available in Federal Glass, how so many promotional items came to be made of Federal Glass, and how to differentiate Federal from other items in the wild. Join this episode to learn what Facebook Group to join for identifying Federal, what pieces are most sought-after, and exactly how many collections Ruth draws the line at maintaining. Resources discussed in this episode:Vintage Federal Glass Facebook GroupEarly American Pattern Glass Society: Federal Glass vintage patterns reference“Shield F - The Mark of Quality” by Marg Iwen, Winter 2006, The Federation of Historical Bottle CollectorsFederal Glass circus bowlsFederal Glass dots bowlsFederal Glass mushroom bowl1974 Federal Glass ad page—Contact Ruth | Periwinkle CollectiblesInstagram: @periwinklecollectiblesContact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex— TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Hey everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. And today I am very excited to have Ruth from Periwinkle Collectibles. Welcome back Ruth. Ruth: [00:00:41] Hi Bex, it's good to be back. Bex Scott: [00:00:44] How have you been since we last talked? Ruth: [00:00:46] Oh, it's been a great, wonderful summer. But the days are getting shorter, the leaves are starting to fall, and it's time to start thinking about collections, isn't it? Bex Scott: [00:00:57] It is. And my favorite Halloween fall season for Pyrex displays is just around the corner and I, as everybody knows, am an avid Pyrex collector. You collect Pyrex yourself, but today I'm very excited because you are going to talk to us about a different collection that you have. So maybe just kick us off and let us know what you're going to be chatting about. Ruth: [00:01:23] Sure, sure. I thought that Pyrex, at least for me, was a gateway into a lot of other milk glass companies and patterns and makers, and many of us have found something at the thrift, found something out in the wild, brought it home thinking it was Pyrex. Started doing a little bit of research. And for me, this was before Google Image and before AI put all kinds of weird things out there, but it was before Google Image, so you'd have to try and describe what you had found to figure out, well, this isn't Pyrex, because it takes a while to realize that most Pyrex pieces have Pyrex stamped on them. And so you find a pretty white bowl at the thrift store with a really cute pattern, or what you think is really cute. And I mean, now I just, I flip things over and look for the maker mark. But back then I would just go oh 2.99 and this is pretty, in the cart it goes, and I'd bring it home and I'd go, oh, I found this great Pyrex. And then I'd start looking at it and trying to figure out the pattern and oh my gosh, I realized it wasn't Pyrex. Well, then what the heck was it? Well, I found quite a few pieces that had a really large capital F in a shield and I thought, wow, I found Fire-King! And I went on, this is the days of Facebook groups being the only place to really share things. Ruth: [00:02:51] This is kind of early days of Instagram and before a lot of other social media. I remember going onto a Fire-King group and excitedly sharing what I had found. And wow, I got politely but quickly schooled that what I had found was not Fire-King, but it was Federal. And I'm like Federal? What the heck is that? So I started looking up the patterns of that and going, oh. So I mean, Federal Glass was a company that was around for, I think, around 80-ish years in the States. I think they were in Ohio. They started off making, I think it was like pressed glass in the early 1900s. They made an awful lot of depression glass. And I'll be honest, even though I lived through the 80s and 90s, I have never collected depression glass in my life. A lot of my friends were collecting depression glass during that time, but I never really got into it. It didn't, it didn't appeal to me because depression glass, that's a whole nother discussion. But Federal made a lot of depression glass. They made a lot of barware. But what I particularly really enjoy is the opal ware or the, what people call milk glass, and the pretty patterns that I thought were made by Federal. Because when I flipped the bowl or the casserole or the mug over, it had an F and a shield. But I also discovered that, well, Federal made an awful lot of milk glass or opal ware, they also sold what was called blanks to decorator companies. And so I live in Canada, and what I have learned over the years is that in particular, there was a company outside of Toronto that did a lot of decorating of Federal blanks and other Fire-King and a few other blanks too, and they were called Cutler. C U T L E R. So they, like, printed on Federal blanks. And that's kind of the main reason why the Federal glass that's found in Canada, it's a lot of different patterns. I mean, there is some overlap, but there's quite a lot of patterns that are more commonly found in Canada than in the States. Bex Scott: [00:05:19] Interesting. I am already learning things from you because I had no idea. I had heard of Cutler and I'd heard of Federal Glass, but that is very cool. Ruth: [00:05:29] Yeah, I mean Cutler, they bought blanks from other companies and they did a lot of glassware. But basically their thing was they decorated glassware. You know, they painted onto items made by other companies. So there's a lot of Federal Glass in Canada that is tourist ware, you know, mugs with city, city and town names on them and festivals and hockey teams and businesses and things like that. And of course, it exists in the States also, and Federal in the states was also making decorated milk glass and other glass items. But it explains why some patterns show up in Canada in way larger quantities. There was a gas company in Quebec, I believe it was, that gave away the circus bowls. That's a pattern that a lot of Federal collectors, or you've probably seen it too, it has like red, orange, green, blue pattern around the edge of various circus animals and circus carts and things. Well, that was a giveaway from a gas station in Quebec. Bex Scott: [00:06:41] No way. Ruth: [00:06:43] Yes way. Bex Scott: [00:06:44] I would love to get that from a gas station. Why can't we get that from gas stations now? Ruth: [00:06:48] I know. When I could, when I could afford gas in the 80s, it was Petro Can. And all we got was those ugly glasses that said every garage sale you ever go to in Canada. But this was an earlier time because I think Federal Glass was out of business by 1980, for sure. I've seen a whole bunch of different sources. Some say 77, some say 79, whatever. By 1980, they were gone. So a lot of this stuff was given away in the 60s and 70s. But that's why there's so many circus bowls in Canada, in particular in Ontario and Quebec. And maybe the company was in Ontario as well, but definitely found way more in the eastern half of Canada than the western half of Canada. Bex Scott: [00:07:31] So has that made the circus bowls more popular in the States for collectors? Ruth: [00:07:37] Yeah, yeah, that does do that because they're harder to find. And isn't that what always happens with collectors is the sought-after is the harder to find? Is that just the way we are as people? Is that just... Bex Scott: [00:07:54] Yeah. We always want what we can't have. Ruth: [00:07:56] Exactly, exactly. So it was like the circus bowls. And then there was also the dots. There's way more of them that show up. And that's in particular one of my favorite patterns, because along the way, as I was looking for Pyrex, I found a brown dot Federal mug that I thought was kind of cute. So I brought it home and started looking at how many colors does that come in? And I went, well, I'm going to see what I can find. And eight years later, 27 mugs later, I'm still finding new ones. Bex Scott: [00:08:35] That was going to be my next question. How many different dot colors does it come in? Ruth: [00:08:40] Oh boy. Well, yeah. First of all, there's two dot variations. There's one where all the dots are the same size, basically, and another where there's two sizes of dots. And then the shape of the mug, there's three variations. So the colors, I think basically it's about 6 or 8 per shape. And then on the two size dots I've only ever been able to find or hear of about 6. We have on the Facebook group, the Federal Facebook group that I belong to, which Bex is going to link in the podcast. Bex Scott: [00:09:23] Yes. And they finally just accepted me. They actually accepted me really fast. S

Bex Scott shares her adventure thrifting at the Goodwill Impact Centre blue bins in Calgary, Alberta. The Goodwill outlet bins are where items like clothing, small home decor, fabric, toys, and similar donated things go to be upcycled if they don’t sell or can’t be used in the store. Bex explains what her very first visit was like, the treasures she found, the bin etiquette, and tips for other thrifters wanting to visit the bins themselves. Admittedly nervous because she is a shy and introverted person, Bex visited the Calgary Goodwill bins on a hot Sunday during the Calgary Stampede which likely made her visit less crowded than it would otherwise be. She was initially afraid of confrontation over items but while each new bin wheeled out was immediately pillaged by eager thrifters, there is a code of conduct that Goodwill enforces. Bex talks about the vintage Cabbage Patch Kids, vintage fabric, World War Two DVDs, and other treasures she found during her visit. She details exactly what happens when new bins roll out, where to leave shopping carts, how to check out, and how items are priced. She also divulges that some Whatnot sellers get permission to live-sell right from the bins. This episode is a how-to guide for Goodwill bins and an absolute must for thrifters wanting their first visit to be a success.Resources discussed in this episode:Goodwill Impact Centre of AlbertaGoodwill Outlets Location Finder for America—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex With Bex podcast, where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Bex Scott: [00:00:31] Hey everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex With Bex podcast. On today's episode, I wanted to talk to you guys about my adventure at the Goodwill bins. And for many resellers I know in the States, the bins are a common thing, they've been around for a while. And in Canada, at least where I live, the closest city to me is Calgary, and Calgary got the Goodwill bins in April of 2023, and I had never been to them. It's always been something that I wanted to do, but, to be honest, I've heard some stories about how savage it is and seen some videos, so I've been putting it off. It's also an hour away from me, so being able to just go and have somebody watch the kids isn't as easy as it used to be. So I finally decided to go. I went on a Sunday and it was a Sunday during the Calgary Stampede, so I'm pretty sure that helped. A lot of people were out at the Stampede. If you don't know what the Calgary Stampede is, it's like a big Western fair that happens every year. Bex Scott: [00:01:48] It was also very hot that day, so there were a few things working in my favor. But I decided to go. And I want to give you guys a little bit of a background about what the bins are first. So the Goodwill bins are where all of the items, the clothing, everything that Goodwill sells, it doesn't sell in the retail stores so they bring it to their big warehouse and they put it in these big blue bins, and you have to go and you sort through everything in hopes of finding some treasure, which makes it really fun. So where I went in Calgary, you pay by the pound and it was $1.45 per pound of items. And it's very great if you're going for clothing. Clothing is relatively light. You can stuff a whole bag full of clothes and have it be super cheap, but if you're going for hard goods, it can get a little more expensive faster than it would with clothes. So most of it is the bins full of just the random stuff that didn't sell. And then there's the other part of the store that is furniture like lamps, large decor, and that's all priced individually. So that isn't by the pound. You have to just pick it up and pay what they've labelled it as. Bex Scott: [00:03:19] So I pulled up to the Goodwill bins. I was honestly very nervous. I wanted to bring somebody to go with me, but didn't have anybody that was available. So I'm a very introverted, shy person. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to get my elbows out or get into a confrontation with somebody over something amazing. Luckily, I didn't have to. So you walk in and you see just rows and rows of these huge blue bins, and I walked up to a few of them. It's mostly clothes on one side. I was looking through some things, and I saw this group of people at the back, and I honestly must have looked like I'd walked into the strangest situation I've ever seen because I stopped and I was staring at all these people that were just standing around in a rectangle. No idea what they were doing. And then I realized they were waiting for the next bin to roll in. So there's these yellow rectangles on the floor, and you line up at the designated yellow location marks. You're shoulder to shoulder with these people, and they roll the bin in between you and the person who rolls it out, they say you have to wait until - I think there's three bins to a row - you have to wait till all three bins are there. You have to have your hands above the bin. You can't touch anything in it. And once the last bin is rolled into your row, they say you can go and everybody just goes nuts. They dive in, clothes are flying everywhere, like you're hitting people's elbows. You're just hoping to find something that's in this bin. Bex Scott: [00:05:03] And one of the suggestions on their website is that you wear gloves. I thought about this before I went, but then I forgot to bring them. But I 100% understand why you need to wear gloves. Because the stuff in there is not clean. It's dusty, it's dirty, and you can feel it after when you leave. Your hands are grimy, but everything can be washed, totally fine. But there's people in there that are wearing gloves, sorting through things. It's a great idea. So if you're going to go to the bins, make sure you bring your gloves. So next thing, you can use a shopping cart, but you can't have your shopping cart by the bins in the aisles at all. So everybody leaves their shopping carts on the side walls. They're just lined up in rows and rows and rows, and a lot of them have people waiting by them so that things aren't taken out of the carts. There's a rule that if it's in a cart, somebody claimed it. So a lot of people push their carts to the side and they pull from the bins, and then they go dump it in their cart and they go back. They have these little wheelie baskets that you can bring. So that's what I tried to do. I originally went in without a basket and then my hands were all full. I realized that's why you need a shopping cart. So you just keep going until you're done. And at the end, you go up and they have this massive scale on the floor. Bex Scott: [00:06:28] You either roll your little cart up to the scale and they weigh it for you, or you dump everything into this shopping cart that is on the scale as well. So I ended up getting, I think it was $15 of things. And for $15, I got a full set of World War Two DVDs. What else did I get? Two Cabbage Patch Kids, vintage ones. My kids were not happy about those because they terrify them. I got a little dress for my daughter. I got a Roots hoodie, brand new. What else? What else? Oh, I got a huge pile of vintage fabric. Now I'm blanking on what I got. Oh, a box set of Playmobile. There was one tiny little piece missing, but that was a great find. And there were a few other things I got. So most of it was for my kids or my family. Not a lot of stuff that I could resell there, but there were a ton of dishes like pots and pans, clear Pyrex. If you need housewares like that, stuff for your kitchen, it is definitely the place to go. Oh yeah, I got a pot for camping. That was another one that was pretty heavy, so that bumped my price up quite a bit. Clothing there, there's a lot of like underwear in there that you have to sort through. A lot of the clothes are not in the greatest shape, but if you're looking for something really cheap and affordable for your family, great place to go for that. Bex Scott: [00:08:05] Handbags, tons of handbags and backpacks, if you have the time to sort through them there's definitely some stuff that you could get in there to resell or even just to use for yourself. Toys for kids. This was the most exciting part for me. I think that they had some really great toys for kids. Some of the parts may be missing, but once again, if you dig through you can find some great toys, either to resell or for your kids to play with. And then the home decor. I was really surprised at the amount of picture frames and posters and paintings that they had, so that was a really great deal. And then just little decor pieces. And I think maybe because I went on a Sunday, they didn't have as much there as they would during the week. So my next trip would be definitely to go during the week, probably when it is more busy, unfortunately, and see the difference between a weekend thrift and a weekday thrift. Bex Scott: [00:09:10] So one of the most shocking parts of the bins for me was the age range that was there. I'm 35 and I felt ancient. I swear I walked into, it looked like a high school dance. Like these kids, it was all guys, they were probably like 13 or 14 years old. I felt kind of like I was trying to hang out with my son's group of friends. It looked like they were professionals. They stood on that line, they rotated kind of through the bins like robots, all in a little, a gaggle of 14-year-old boys, and they would stand on the yellow lines, waiting all on their phones, heads down. Looked like they were, I don't know

Bex Scott welcomes guest Dariya from The Thrifty Fox Shop to talk about her love of Pyrex and how many vintage collections she maintains. Bex met Dariya on Instagram and credits her with getting Bex onto Whatnot. They talk extensively about Pyrex, from their favorite pieces to their greatest finds, but as Dariya has an enthusiasm for a great variety of vintage items, there’s more than Pyrex to explore in this episode.  Dariya, like many collectors, got into vintage collecting via her mom. She truly leaned into Pyrex around age sixteen and hasn’t stopped since. Pyrex and thrifting for vintage items is a family affair for Dariya too, as both her mom and sister are as avid about collecting as she is. She shares some of her most memorable Pyrex finds with Bex and they discuss their most and least loved patterns as well as which Pyrex dish both their husbands manage to explode during use. Beyond Pyrex, Dariya introduces Bex to her love of crewel embroidery, vintage mushrooms, glass animals, lucite flowers, vintage linens, brass, and many more of her very eclectic collections. Dariya’s philosophy is to collect what makes you happy and decorate the same way, so tune in to find out just what pieces bring her the most joy in her home. Resources discussed in this episode:WhatnotPink Butterprint PyrexStarburst PyrexAmethyst Viking swung vaseZodiac 475 casserole dishOld Orchard PyrexCatherine Holm turquoise bowlStrawberry Hill pottery mouseWabasso Flower Power floral sheets“Stranger Things” rainbow sheets@ThriftersDelight on InstagramFika Coffee House in Camrose, Alberta—Contact Dariya | The Thrifty Fox ShopInstagram: @TheThriftyFoxShopPoshmark: @dariyasimsEtsy: The Thrifty Fox ShopContact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Hey everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. And on today's episode, I have my friend and fellow vintage reseller Dariya from the Thrifty Fox Shop. Welcome, Dariya. Dariya: [00:00:43] Hello. Bex Scott: [00:00:44] How's it going? Dariya: [00:00:45] Oh, good. Bex Scott: [00:00:47] Nice. I see you have your awesome Halloween display behind you. Dariya: [00:00:51] I do. We couldn't wait to start decorating for October, so we started in mid-September for decorating Halloween. Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:00:59] That's how my family is but with Christmas. Dariya: [00:01:01] Oh, fair. Bex Scott: [00:01:02] My mom starts decorating the day after Halloween for Christmas, so I've kind of-- Dariya: [00:01:05] -- oh, wow-- Bex Scott: [00:01:06] -- got that Christmas bug from her. Dariya: [00:01:08] Yeah. That makes sense. Bex Scott: [00:01:10] Mhm. So I wanted to start off kind of with how we met. So we met on Instagram. I was following you for a while. And then I came across your Instagram story about your Whatnot show. And it was a Christmas show which is one of my favorite things obviously. And I watched your show got some amazing things from you and you helped me get into the Whatnot selling, which I'm very grateful for that. Dariya: [00:01:37] I actually didn't know that. Bex Scott: [00:01:38] You're the first person I found out about Whatnot through. And you made selling look so easy. And I remember a while back in some of the episodes I was talking about how I thought Whatnot was difficult because you have to be, like, on for an entire hour and talking and kind of, I'm a very severe introvert, so doing Whatnot is kind of stress-inducing. But I've loved it so far. Dariya: [00:02:05] Yeah, once you get into it, then you find yourself more comfortable and stuff. Yeah, because I'm also an introvert and I never thought I'd ever do lives in my entire life. But hey, look at us go. Bex Scott: [00:02:16] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Your one year just passed on Whatnot. And I think mine is coming up sometime soon, so. Dariya: [00:02:23] Yeah. You'll have to do a show. Bex Scott: [00:02:24] Yeah. For everybody listening, come find us on Whatnot. We have an awesome group of Canadian sellers. So how did your Pyrex and your vintage collecting begin? Dariya: [00:02:35] With my mom. She's always, yeah, it's always someone in the family that gets you hooked. Yeah. My mom always loved, like, antiques and vintage. And so, you know, growing up around that. And then I kind of got my own style going, which has changed drastically over the last, like, years. When I started collecting, which was probably when I was 16, I started collecting, I've always like collected knickknacks, like ever since I was a little girl. But Pyrex was when around 16 when I started collecting all the Pyrex and I've never stopped. Bex Scott: [00:03:09] It's good. A good collection you have going. Then for all that time, I. Dariya: [00:03:12] Think of all the stuff I left behind at that time when all the prices were good. So many regrets. Bex Scott: [00:03:17] Yeah, that's what a lot of collectors I've talked to say. Like, if they would have known that, they should have just grabbed things when they saw it. Yeah. Dariya: [00:03:26] And the stuff that I started collecting nowadays and just thinking about what I could have left behind back then. Oh, man. Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:03:35] So your mom kind of got you into it. Does your mom still collect Pyrex? Dariya: [00:03:40] She does. Yeah, and so does my sister. So all three of us collect Pyrex and other collections we kind of share the same love for. So we're either fighting or finding each other stuff. Bex Scott: [00:03:52] Yeah, I was going to say, when you go thrifting together, how do you decide who gets to keep what? Dariya: [00:03:56] Basically, whoever finds it, gets it. Or else if one of us has something, then we'll, yeah, let whoever has it get the first dibs. But it's a competition sometimes, that's for sure. Bex Scott: [00:04:09] I guess I'm lucky that way that I don't have any family competition. If anybody finds anything, they know to just give it straight to me. And I don't have to fight my mom over anything. Dariya: [00:04:19] Well, and whenever one of us starts a new collection, we all get hooked. So then it's like there's no winning. Bex Scott: [00:04:26] That's awesome. Dariya: [00:04:27] Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:04:27] I guess on the flip side, that would be really fun if you had people in your family who you could go thrifting with and kind of had the same interests as you. Dariya: [00:04:35] Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:04:37] Cool. And what have been your best Pyrex finds so far? Dariya: [00:04:42] I think my best one was the two pieces of pink Butterprint at a garage sale and, in Alberta, which you never see pink Butterprint? And it was posted online and I, like, messaged them because it was a bit of a drive and I had like two little kids, so I was like, okay, like I'd love to get these, but would you be able to hold them? Because I don't want to drive there and get there and them not being there. So they held them for me and I paid 60 bucks for two of them, which is high for a garage sale. But like, again, pink Butterprint. Bex Scott: [00:05:13] That's good. Dariya: [00:05:14] Yeah, yeah. So I kept one and then gave one to my sister. Bex Scott: [00:05:18] Lucky sister. Dariya: [00:05:20] I know. Would have been nice if there was three. And then I could have given one to my mom too, but yeah. Bex Scott: [00:05:26] Yeah. Dariya: [00:05:26] No, I think that was, I was trying to, like, wrack my brain and that was definitely one of my best Pyrex scores. Bex Scott: [00:05:33] Yeah. That's really good. Especially at a garage sale. That never happens. Dariya: [00:05:37] And I'm so curious as to how they got the pink Butterprint, because I think it was only for the States and you had to get them through coupons or something? So it's curious to know how they got all the way up to Alberta. Bex Scott: [00:05:50] Interesting. Yeah, I think I found a set of the Butterprint. It was in a Value Village and only one of the bowls was good, but it was still, it was still a good find, right? Dariya: [00:06:03] Yeah, yeah, I'd love to find an orange. The orange Butterprint, but... Bex Scott: [00:06:08] Oh yeah. Yeah. I keep seeing listings through Facebook for them and I'm tempted. Dariya: [00:06:13] But that price tag. Bex Scott: [00:06:15] Yeah like $750, $1000. Dariya: [00:06:18] Yeah. No. Nope. Bex Scott: [00:06:22] Cool. And what would you say is your holy grail piece, if you, you might already have it. But if you don't have it what would it be? Dariya: [00:06:28] I don't actually. I still need that Starburst Pyrex. I was trying to think. Starburst, I kind of have three. Starburst. What's the - Pink Stems. And then this isn't Pyrex, but I really love like, a amethyst. Amethyst, Amethyst, Amethyst I don't know, um, Vikings swung vase. So those are like my three holy grails. Yeah, yeah. But yeah. Do you have a Starburst? Bex Scott: [00:06:54] I don't. Dariya: [00:06:55] I know, like, they're like they seem common enough. But the price tag again is just like, hmm, yeah. Bex Scott: [00:07:02] And you see photos of people who have like ten of them in their collection. Dariya: [00:07:05] Just hand one over to me. Please, please. I did see a Starburst at a antique, at the Antique Mall in Edmonton. Bex Scott: [00:07:13] Oh, yeah. Dariya: [00:07:14] And I think it was like $2,000. So I was like, oh, that was like, look at you from through the glass. Bex Scott: [00:07:19] Yeah. Take a picture. And then just, that's as close as I'm going to get. Dariya: [00:07:22] P

Bex Scott is back for a new season of Pyrex with Bex and in this first episode of the season, she’s diving into the rabbit hole of collectible salt and pepper shakers. Her own collection started when she found lots of them in an online estate sale and discovered that her favorites are the kitschy anthropomorphic shakers. Why were so many made? When were they popular and why? Which ones are most valuable now? Bex reveals what she learned in this episode. Salt and pepper shakers were easy to collect because of their size, small, and they were also very affordable. They date back to around 1858 though there is some dispute over the exact person who created them. Strangely, the kitschy eye-catching salt and pepper shakers were one of the few things whose sales didn’t dip during the Great Depression. Because they were small and cheap, they were easy to continue producing and still affordable to collect or gift. Bex explores how salt and pepper shaker designs reflected the time periods they were created in, the themes that became most popular, the rarest and most valuable salt and pepper shakers to look for now, and a family who collected 80,000 sets and started a museum just to house them. You don’t want to miss this episode. It will make you look twice at salt and pepper shakers when you come across them.Resources discussed in this episode:Lefton Bluebirds salt and pepper shakersExtra long dachshund salt and pepper shakersPink poodle chef salt and pepper shakersHolt Howard pixieware salt and pepper shakers“Would You Like Some Salt and Pepper? How About 80,000 Shakers’ Worth?” by Derek Workman, Smithsonian Magazine, January 23, 2012—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast, where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Hey, everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. And on today's episode it's salt and pepper time. We are talking all about salt and pepper shakers. And for me, this is a super fun topic because I have been collecting salt and pepper shakers on and off for the last couple of years. I don't have a huge collection, but they are one of the easiest things I've found to collect and to unfortunately amass in large quantities. Bex Scott: [00:01:04] So my salt and pepper shaker collection started back when I found a bunch of huge lots of them in an online estate sale, and I didn't actually know how many I was buying until I picked them up. And I probably had three moving boxes full of them, and unpacking them and cataloging them and photographing them was a massive endeavor. But one of the most fun things you can do as a collector, as you guys probably know, is unboxing and seeing what's inside, what you've bought from a sale or an online auction, and finding the little nuggets of maybe a really collectible item or something that you really love. Bex Scott: [00:01:53] So most of these salt and pepper shakers that I did buy, I ended up selling online on Facebook Marketplace or on Poshmark and some of them even on Whatnot now. And I've had a few friends on Whatnot who have had full on salt and pepper shaker sales, and it's so fun to watch them go through each of the shakers and to see just how fun they were. My favorite ones, hands down, are the kitschy salt and pepper shakers, and my great grandma had an absolute love of Lefton Bluebird, so I've been lucky enough to inherit some of her bluebirds. I have the salt and pepper shakers. I also have some of the more kitschy anthropomorphic ones. I have little kittens that are sitting on balls of yarn. I have some skunks that are sitting on logs and they're just very fun, cute, and you can store a lot of them in a small place. So this led me down a hole of looking into salt and pepper shakers, their appeal, their history. And I actually learned quite a bit about them. Bex Scott: [00:03:07] So. Salt and pepper shakers were easy for people to collect because of their size, and they were so affordable and they were just really easy to come across as well. They held on to them or passed them down. And you could, before, get a figural set of a dog, a cat, a bird for 5 to $7. Now the prices have gone up a little bit because they are in higher demand. People are reselling them and there are more that are collectible, some more than others. Salt and pepper shakers, they go back to about 1858 and they were created, some believe, by a man named John Mason who also created the Mason jar. So some people kind of refute this and are questioning whether that's actually true. But this is what I've found so far in my research. And before the salt and pepper shaker came to be, people used a bowl of salt called a salt cellar. And I've come across a lot of salt cellars in my collecting days, and a lot of the really cute ones are the little hens on the nest. I didn't actually know the purpose of a salt cellar. I knew that it was called that and you scooped the salt up with a spoon. People often added rice to it to keep the moisture at bay. And then it wasn't until 1911, when the brand Morton Salt Company introduced magnesium carbonate into salt that helped it to not clump, which is why people don't often put rice into their salt shakers now. Bex Scott: [00:05:02] So with these cute little kitschy and fun sets on home and restaurant tables, there was a high demand for the aesthetically appealing styles, and it was important for homemakers to have these on their table to show them off and to just have fun collecting them. So many people purchased them on road trips back in the day. One of the most popular types of salt and pepper shakers was the souvenir shaker that you got on your road trip that may have said the location it was from and where you got it. Now the Great Depression came along and there was no dip in salt shaker sales because it was one of the cheapest items in the kitchen. And during the 1930s and into the 1940s, the salt shakers went from glass and tin containers to the ceramic or plastic figurines. Most were from occupied Japan after a halt in production during the war. And the kitschier the better. So salt and pepper shakers became more cute, more eye-catching, and the number of salt and pepper shakers sold at local five and dimes and the fancier stores was just increasing. So some of the fun ones that you could find were the anthropomorphic fruit, fish, dogs. There's a set called the Extra Long Daschund that is really cute if you want to look up these funny little skinny wiener dog salt and pepper shakers. Bex Scott: [00:06:45] So by the 1970s, these cute figural shakers had completely gone out of style, out of production, and they were replaced by what we now have, which is a more standard boring cylindrical-style salt and pepper shaker. Don't get me wrong, there's some beautiful salt and pepper shakers out there now still, but it's just not the same anymore. And some of the ones that they were replaced by that people still collect are the Tupperware salt and pepper shakers, which were really popular during that time and not so much the conversation starters of all the cute, anthropomorphic, kitschy ones that you used to be able to find. So by the 1990s, people started to realize that the salt and pepper shakers were worth something because of the demand that collectors had made for them. And some of the most popular ones are cute little ones hanging from trees that have little baskets. I just sold a set. It was an adorable little dog that had two hanging baskets on the left and the right that you could remove, and those were the salt and pepper shakers. And the baskets were filled with flowers. Lots of kissing and hugging shakers. I have two little bears that when you put them together, their arms wrap around each other. Lots of Christmas ones. And some of the most sought after are from Lefton, Napco, Holt Howard. Bex Scott: [00:08:18] So a lot of this information that I found from my friend Worthpoint, and in this article that I was reading they went through the most collectible shakers from Lefton, Napco and Holt Howard, which I thought was super interesting because as a collector, I'm always wondering which ones I should be on the lookout for. So if you want to start the hunt, Lefton's most collectible are Bluebirds, Christmas angels, Miss Dainty, which is the girl with the red and white hat, Mr.Tootles the Maltese dog, Miss Priss the Blue Kitten, Thumbelina, The Green Fairy, Kissing Santa and Mrs. Claus, Christmas birds which are green, the Puppy Pal dogs wearing blue hats, and pink poodle chef, which in brackets they say is beyond expensive. I've actually never seen the pink poodle chef. Bex Scott: [00:09:21] Napco, you have number one, Miss Cutie Pie, two anthropomorphic fruit people, so that would be the artists, musicians, kissing Valentine birds, the bowler and hard hats, devils, flower girls, and long neck animals. And then Holt Howard, you have the Nodder Rock and Roll on springs, merry mice,they are pink and mischievous, Holly Poinsettia girls, winking Santa, Daisydorables, rooster, and pixieware are the most desirable of all the Holt Howard shakers I've seen. Not in person, but on a lot of my favorite collectors Instagrams and some on Facebook Marketplace. The pixieware salt and pepper shakers. They are so cute! Next up we have Enesco. Number one is the Sweet Shop. It says very pricey and rare. Anything anthropomorphic, fruits, vegetables, forks and spoons. I have had some forks and spoons. They're very cute. You can't really hold a lot o

Bex Scott welcomes guest Kim, owner of The Red Rooster Shoppe on Instagram and Whatnot, to the show to discuss everything to do with Whatnot. Kim, who has accumulated quite a following on Whatnot and is practiced at live shows, shares tips and advice on how to make Whatnot both fun and valuable. She also talks about all the vintage delights she collects and the many thrift stores she visits in Ontario. Whatnot, according to Kim, is a social selling platform that combines entertainment and thrifting. It’s a buyers and seller social marketplace where live auction shows are commonplace. Kim and Bex talk about exactly why Whatnot has become so valuable to their vintage resale endeavours, not just as a sales platform but as a place to make like-minded friendships and support circles. Kim dishes about her childhood growing up with collector and reseller parents, her time as an auctioneer, the extensive vintage collection she has amassed, and exactly how to get started on Whatnot and in vintage collecting in general. The conversation is fun, full of laughter and tips, and a great way to get a feel for Whatnot as a platform.Resources discussed in this episode:WhatnotValue VillageReStore: Habitat for HumanityOwl Always Love VintageBlue Mountain Pottery Goebel Friar TucksHibid.comMaxsold—Contact Kim | The Red Rooster Shoppe:Instagram: The Red Rooster ShoppeRed Rooster Shoppe at Twindmills Antique MarketLinktr.eeContact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbexContact Bex on her website—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Hey, everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. On today's episode, I'm going to be chatting with my reseller friend Kim, also known as the Red Rooster, all about Whatnot, what we love about the app, and how to get started on it as a new reseller. Bex Scott: [00:00:49] Thanks for tuning into another episode of the Pyrex with Bex podcast. Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to Kim from the Red Rooster Shoppe. Welcome, Kim. Kim: [00:01:00] Hello. How are you? Bex Scott: [00:01:02] Good, thanks. How are you? Kim: [00:01:03] I'm good. I'm good, very good. Bex Scott: [00:01:06] So I met Kim through a fun little platform called Whatnot, and we'll get into Whatnot a bit later. But I wanted to start off with you telling us a little bit about you. Kim: [00:01:17] So my name's Kim. I live in Hastings, Ontario, Canada, or just outside of Hastings, technically. I'm a full time dementia caregiver, but I used to be an auctioneer and my parents were big collectors and resellers. So when I was a kid, that's all we did as vacations was go to flea markets and meets, and weekends were spent in some gym, in some school somewhere in Ontario selling things. So it's just kind of what I'm used to, and I enjoy doing it now as kind of like a fun activity. Bex Scott: [00:01:56] That is very cool. I didn't know that about you. Did you love doing that as a kid when you were growing up? Was that something that you really enjoyed doing or what were your feelings around that? Kim: [00:02:07] I was an only child. I am an only child. So I don't think I knew anything different. Right? Just this was my normal. It was a little boring sometimes. But then mum would get me making crafts in the background, which of course we'd sell. You know, we had these pencils you could rub between your hands and they were your frustration releasers and they would go all funny hair. So I would sit there and--. Bex Scott: [00:02:31] -- oh I remember those. Kim: [00:02:32] Yeah, yeah, I forget what they were called, but, or the anger busters, I think we used to put labels on them sometimes is that. The only problem with them was because I used to take them to school with me, they were my fidget toy, but the eraser gets covered up by the hair and it's really hard to correct your mistakes. So you can't make any mistakes when you have that as your pencil. Yeah, but it was so normal that in grade seven I did speech arts, which I don't know if you did, but where everybody has to write a speech and then everybody goes in front of the classroom. It's probably too anxiety driven to be done anymore for kids. Bex Scott: [00:03:12] Yeah. That was my worst. Fear. Kim: [00:03:14] Yeah, it's it probably ended in like the late 80s, early 90s. But in the 70s and 80s, it was the thing you, every single kid had to do it. And I was good at it. I was, I was good. I could memorize and I could perform a little bit, but then I would get up on stage, and usually I would do a five minute speech in 2.5 minutes, because I would get really nervous and I would just go through it really, really fast, which took away from points. So I never went to like regionals or anything. Anyways, in grade seven, I wrote a speech. The first line of it is, have you ever gone to Pennsylvania for a screw? And it was so normal to me and I, and I was, I was like 13. I had no idea what a screw like that, what the connotation of that was until I was up on stage in front of the entire school. And the moment it came out of my mouth, like a millisecond later, I'm like, oh, I know what I just said, but I have to carry on. I have to carry on. But we would go like, we went every year to this swap meet for classic cars because my dad, who never finished building it, but he was building a 1928 model A coupe, which is kind of like a truck. Bex Scott: [00:04:32] Very cool. Kim: [00:04:33] But he never finished it because he wanted it to be 100% original, which meant every single part down to screws. Which is why we would go all the way to Pennsylvania, because that's every October at Hershey, Pennsylvania there's a meet for classic cars, antique car enthusiasts. And it's just, it's mud. It's an entire field of mud that you trudge through because it always rains, it always rains and there's so many people and everyone's pulling their wagon with their car parts in it, and I would have to trudge along in the mud holding on to a precious screw or something. But I just thought it was normal. So I wrote, in grade seven I asked the entire school if they'd ever gone to Pennsylvania for a screw. Bex Scott: [00:05:25] I love it. That's very cute. Kim: [00:05:27] It's a little embarrassing now. Bex Scott: [00:05:30] Oh, so you had the childhood of flea markets and auctions and being an auctioneer. So how did the reselling side of what you do now begin? Kim: [00:05:41] I had to close my business as an auctioneer. Auctioneering was actually like the last career I had before I got sick. I have what's called central sensitization syndrome. And so it's like fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue put together into one. So I was pretty much laid up in bed for a few years. And then the pandemic hit. And then my mother started to have the signs of moderate dementia. And so it got to the point where I had to move her in with me. So we moved here to near Hastings on the Trent River. And it's beautiful here and there's lots of activities for her to do. But I was looking for another outlet and mom and I always loved thrifting. It was our thing to do was to go thrifting. And I love that treasure hunt. But then you get the stuff home and it's like, oh, I don't really need this. And I had a huge, I had when I was sick and laid up at home, I had started trying to, like, ADHD really, because I never really completed anything, but I would get into a whole bunch of different crafts. So I had a whole like room full of craft supplies, and I was on Instagram and it wasn't even related to reselling, the woman that I was following. Kim: [00:07:06] But she posted that her son and daughter-in-law were doing some, you know, Funko Pop sale on Whatnot. And I went, what's Whatnot? Like, I need to Google this. So I didn't use the referral code or anything, so I didn't get my little your bonus of using a referral code from a seller or another Whatnot or... But I looked into it and I was like, this sounds cool. This is fun. I think I want to do this. So first it was just to kind of get rid of my craft section, and then it was like, nah, you know what? I like these vintage decor people. The people who do vintage decor are fun. And I love these sellers and I love that community. So that's where I want to start, I started buying from there and then I was like, you know what? I think I want to, I want to sell in this category too. And next thing you know, I've got an entire basement full of stuff. Bex Scott: [00:08:04] I understand that fully. Yeah, that's what my basement looks like as well. Kim: [00:08:09] It's bad. It's really bad. But it's all inventory as far as I'm concerned. It's all inventory. So it's just a matter of when I manage to get time to sell it. Bex Scott: [00:08:22] That's what I say every time I bring a new box home. Like this will be sold one day and it's going to make me a lot of money. So that's why I bought it. And then it's the slippery slope of the next box is the same thing. Kim: [00:08:34] Yes. My husband just, he just shakes his head because he likes everything new, so he doesn't understand it. But he likes me being thrifty. He likes that. He likes that I can always find a way to save money somewhere. I will figure out a way. Bex Scott: [00:08:52] That's perfect. Kim: [00:08:52] He doesn't think that way. So he's always like, oh, good, like we don't have to buy a brand new fridge. We can go to the restore and get a fridge that's pretty much brand new because it came out of some remodeled house, you know, those sort of

In today’s episode, Bex Scott uses her confessed addiction to thrifting to share the top six items that she always seeks out at thrift stores. Bex lives in Canada so the availability of items, and store names, may vary from country to country, but the general categories of vintage items Bex looks for are a great guide. She walks us through what to look for, why, and how to value an item if you do find one. Bex’s list of items she frequents Value Village, Goodwill, and Salvation Army to find wouldn’t, of course, be complete without Pyrex occupying the number one spot. She tells stories of lining up before the store would open to be one of the first inside and she divulges some of the greatest Pyrex finds she’s experienced. Her six top sought-after items after Pyrex are brass, Blue Mountain pottery, cross stitch and crewel patterns, vintage linens, and kids' books. Why does she search for these specific items? Bex tells all in this episode: the why, their collectible value, and some of the pieces and brands to be on the lookout for. Tune in and then share your own top ten list with Bex on Instagram @PyrexWithBex.Resources discussed in this episode:JAJ Cherry Blossom PyrexWhatnotBlue Mountain Pottery blue glaze bowlBrass lounging frogs“Blue Mountain Pottery Angelfish - A Star is Reborn” by C. Biernacki & T. Milks for Antique67.comCrewel curtain c 1696, English leaf detail—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Bex Scott: [00:00:30] Hey, everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. Today. I wanted to go through the top six items that I always pick up at the thrift store if the price is right. That is the most important part of this. If the price is right for you to resell, if you're a reseller, or if it's right to you as a collector. So for those of you who know me, I am addicted to thrifting. And I realized that I had an actual addiction this year when I took all of January off of thrifting and buying anything vintage, and it was so difficult for me, I had no idea it would be that hard. But it really brought to light the fact that I love going to Value Village. I love going to Goodwill. And it is a huge part of my life. It's become a hobby, something that I like to do when I'm feeling stressed, and it's really helped me to connect with an amazing group of people on Instagram and whatnot, and it's just something that's really fun to do. Bex Scott: [00:01:41] So when I go to the thrift store, I usually have a few things in mind that I'm always on the lookout for. And for those of you who are new to thrifting or new to reselling, I thought I would bring up these six things so that maybe you could start taking a look when you go to Value Village, Goodwill, Salvation Army. And I'm located in Canada so what I'm finding might be a bit different than what you're finding in the States or different parts of the world, and I would love to know what your top ten items are as well. So feel free to find me on Instagram @PyrexWithBex to let me know your opinion of what I'm going to go through in this podcast episode, and what you would add or maybe take out from what I'm going to mention, because price has a huge impact on what you pick up when you go out thrifting. If you're a collector, that price may have a lot higher of a ceiling, because you'll pay a lot more to have that piece in your collection. I know I'm like that with Pyrex. If there's a piece that I absolutely need to have and I find it at the thrift store and it is a bit higher than I would usually pay, especially if I'm going to be reselling it. I don't hesitate to invest that money in it. But if I'm looking to make some profit off of it, then I'm looking for a lot lower of a cost. Bex Scott: [00:03:15] So let's get into it. The first item that I have on my list is obviously Pyrex. I would be feeling pretty weird if I didn't have Pyrex on this list. Unfortunately, it's becoming harder and harder to find good Pyrex in the thrift stores, and I'm sure all of you know this. It's the same across the board with all of the collectors that I talk to, and those of you who have been collecting for quite a long time, not myself, you have mentioned to me how easy or how much easier it used to be, even 5 or 6 years ago, to find good pieces at the thrift store. So before we had our daughter, I would wake up early a couple of times a week to go to Value Village and Goodwill. Those are the ones in the city that I lived in that I like to hit up, and I would line up before it opened, so I'd be there super early. It was cold a lot of the time. I was still going in the winter. And this was the only way that I could find good Pyrex at the thrift stores, and it was definitely worth it for me. It was pretty funny because the same people lined up every single morning, there were about 15 or 20 of us, and I always try to be maybe 4th or 5th in the line. Any earlier than that and I was not awake enough to be out there. But you would start to recognize the people who were in line and start chatting with them, and you'd get to know them. And there was always a teacup lady. She was always ahead of me. There was always a video game and book guy. And then you had your handful of what I like to call vintage generalists like myself. And those ones were my main competition. You'd see the doors open and everybody would pile in all at the same time, and then kind of disperse into the store. And if you were fast enough, you could grab a cart. But sometimes there wasn't enough time because people were in it to win it, and you'd all rush towards the same shelf and kind of scan the shelves that you pass to see if there's anything good on your way back, and you would hope that you got there first. And some of the best finds that I've had at Value Village and the Salvation Army have been an almost full set of the Friendship Cinderella bowls. The 441 was dishwasher damaged, but it was, the rest of it was in amazing condition. I found a charcoal Snowflake divided dish, a Friendship divided dish, a full primary set. I found a few full primary sets at the thrift store. And a bunch of other just random, little less desirable pieces here and there. Bex Scott: [00:06:01] Something that I see all the time is the JAJ Cherry Blossom, and those ones I always leave behind. When I first started reselling, I would pick them up, but they are so common now that they've kind of lost their appeal to me. Those are the ones that I would buy if I needed something to cook in, that I wasn't going to put into my collection or my display, or if I wanted to gift somebody something. I've heard that people, they make their friends and their family casseroles, and they gift them the dish that it comes in and I think that's a really great idea to do with some of these less desirable, more commonly found casserole and pieces of dishware. Bex Scott: [00:06:46] Next up is brass, and I only pick up brass if the price is right. And depending on what it is, that price is usually $7 or under for me. And my favorite have always been the animals, especially deer. Our baby's nursery was full of deer. I even put some brass deer in there. And I know I always mention this on my podcast, but my husband despises brass and I try not to put it around the house. I love it at Christmas. I've purchased huge brass deer for Christmas decorations, and I've also found large seagull wall hangings, a massive brass easel, a set of lounging frogs. The frogs were probably top of my list for my favorite. I like to call them the sexy frogs because they're both lying on their side with their arms under their head, lounging like they're striking a pose on a beach. And I've been pretty lucky as well with brass at online auctions. Just this past week, I won a box of 11 pieces for $17, which I'm pretty excited about because the Whatnot Canadian group of resellers that I'm a part of, we're thinking of having a brass, glass and wood seller train coming up, and I'm hoping to join that one to sell a bunch of brass and glass goodies. So most antique brass items are solid brass, and something that I've learned, a way of identifying solid brass pieces is by using a magnet. And if you feel a pull when you put the magnet up to it, then the item is brass plated and not solid brass. And a lot of the vintage or antique brass pieces, they don't have the display stamps or maker's marks to depict the place and year of manufacturing, so that's not as common. So usually if they do, you'll know that they are more modern pieces and not the antique or vintage brass. So any brass that I pick up now I don't usually hold onto. It's listed for sale on Marketplace or in one of my Whatnot shows. So if you're a reseller or looking to get into reselling, brass is definitely a no-brainer if you're able to find it for a decent price. So always keep your eye on that price tag. Bex Scott: [00:09:08] Next up we have the Canadian favorite Blue Mountain pottery. So I have sold a large amount of Blue Mountain pottery over the years, especially animals; elephants, deer, dogs, and then other common objects like vases, ashtrays, candy dishes. And it's actually a pretty hot seller with Americans right now. A lot of my fellow Whatnot sellers, they sell Blue Mountain pottery online in their auctions and their live shows, and it does really well. So word to the wise, though, when you find it at a thrift store, check every single inch of it because it

Bex Scott announces a surprise in this episode. She found a Betty Crocker recipe cad library from 1971 in one of her Value Village thrifting trips, which is exciting enough in itself! But, inspired by her husband Rex, she is going to now cook something randomly chosen by Rex from the recipe card library every week. How can you join in the fun? That’s what this episode is all about. Bex describes the 24 different sections of the Betty Crocker recipe card library and how she and Rex will go through the categories starting at the beginning with ‘Seasonal Favorites’. Rex chose a card at random and Bex reads through the two recipes the card reveals, choosing one to make. Her efforts in recreating the recipe will be documented in a new feature on her Instagram - @PyrexWithBex - and the actual result of her cooking will be judged by husband Rex and their two sons, ages 13 and 10. The recipe Bex is challenged to cook for this feature is revealed in this episode and you can join in and cook along with her, using your own Pyrex to do so. Just like Bex will be doing for all of you. Resources discussed in this episode:What is mace?1971 Betty Crocker Recipe Card Library: Seasonal Favorites “Ways With Squash” recipes“Betty Crocker’s How To Feed your Family To Keep Them Fit & Happy… No Matter What”—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast, where you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Bex Scott: [00:00:31] Hey, everybody, this is Bex Scott and you are listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. On today's episode, I am going to announce a little bit of a surprise. I have a new segment that I am going to be adding to my podcast and my Instagram account. And this is all thanks to my wonderful husband. His name is Rob, but he likes to go by his stage name Rex for purposes of the podcast. And if you listen to one of my previous episodes where I spoke to the husband of a Pyrex collector, it was actually Rex, my husband, and he is my biggest supporter with my vintage collecting and reselling, and he has lovingly agreed to be the star of this next segment. So I came across, in Value Village, a Betty Crocker recipe card library from 1971, and I was talking to Rex about how I was going to be recording my next podcast episode and I was going to originally go through some of the 1950s Chatelaine magazines that I have. And he said to me, kind of in passing, I hope you don't bring up any of the jello salad seafood rings that you've been talking about. And we both agreed that these jello seafood ring recipes are so disgusting. Bex Scott: [00:01:59] I've actually heard, though, that people think they're delicious, and this got us talking about doing this cooking idea together. And I don't do any of the cooking in our house - full disclosure, I love baking but I've never been one to cook - so Rob or Rex, he is an amazing cook, our kids love his food, so I thought I would turn the tables and every week choose one of these random 1970s recipes from the Betty Crocker recipe card library. And it'll be totally random. I'm going to have him choose the card on video, so you can follow along on my Instagram @PyrexWithBex and whatever he chooses, I will cook to the best of my abilities, and then he will test it out and our boys will as well. The 13 year old and a ten year old, as well as our 16 month old daughter. But she won't be having any of the food. Well, maybe she will. She might even like it. But they're going to be my test subjects and I will reveal what it looks like, the reaction, all on my Instagram feed. Bex Scott: [00:03:14] So a little bit of backstory on the Betty Crocker recipe card library. It says, here is your handy comprehensive index to your complete Betty Crocker recipe card library. Spend a few minutes browsing through it to get an idea of the range of your recipe card library, particularly the many unexpected treats in store for you. Some of them are great. I've done a little bit of a browse through and I think my husband should be a bit worried, not just because of my cooking ability, but because of some of the recipes in here. This index has been designed to fit your recipe card file, and then it goes into, although the index cannot be completely useful until you have received all 24 decks of cards, we felt that it would be helpful for you to get the fullest enjoyment out of the categories you have already received, as well as give you a preview of many good things to come. So after I read that, I realized that this was actually part of a monthly subscription where I think that you purchased either the box or the cards, and they sent a new set of cards to you every month, something similar to that. So if anybody else has this or had it in the past when it was actually freshly coming out, let me know because I'm super interested. It has 24 different sections and they're all alphabetized, so you would receive one section at a time and they are Seasonal favorites, American classics, Budget casseroles, Salads for every occasion, Men's favorites - ooh, that's going to be my favorite section - Children's parties, Come for coffee, Entertaining on a shoestring, Dessert spectaculars, International favorites, Recipes for calorie counters, Gifts from your kitchen - oh no, I don't think anybody wants a gift from my kitchen if I'm cooking - Snacks around the clock, Favorite family desserts, Fondues, Crowd size entertaining, Convenient oven meals, Outdoor entertaining, Hurry up main dishes, Impromptu party fare, Family breakfast brighteners, Gala menus from the Betty Crocker dining room, Foods that go places - interesting - and Recipes children can make. Bex Scott: [00:05:31] So those are the categories that we have to choose from. And I had Rex choose one of them randomly from - we're starting at the beginning, so letter A - Seasonal favorites. And what he chose is 'Ways with Squash'. And it looks like, I don't even know what it looks like. There's a picture on the front and it's some kind of glazed squash situation. Squash and apple bake. Okay, so there's two recipes on the back. One) 2 pound butter nut or butter cup squash. Half a cup of brown sugar, packed. A quarter cup butter or margarine, melted. One tablespoon of flour. One teaspoon of salt. Half a teaspoon of mace. Two baking apples, cored and cut into half inch slices. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cut each squash in half. Remove seeds and fibers. Pear squash, cut into half inch slices. Stir together remaining ingredients except apple slices. Arrange squash in ungreased baking dish. Top with apple slices. Sprinkle sugar mixture on top. Cover with foil. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until squash is tender. Six servings. Bex Scott: [00:06:51] The next one is Squash Gourmet) 3 pounds of Hubbard squash. Two tablespoons of butter or margarine. One cup of dairy sour cream. Half a cup of finely chopped onion. One teaspoon of salt and a quarter teaspoon of pepper. Cut squash into serving pieces. Remove seeds, fibers and rind. Cut into cubes. Heat one inch salted water, half a teaspoon salt to one cup water, to boiling. Add squash. Cover and heat to boiling. Cook 15 to 20 minutes or until tender. Drain. Heat oven to 400 degrees. Mash squash. Stir in remaining ingredients. Turn mixture into ungreased one quart casserole. Bake uncovered 20 to 30 minutes. 6 to 8 servings. So, based on the two recipes we have here, I think the first one is a little bit too tame and something that seems pretty familiar. So I think we're going to go with Squash Gourmet for my dear old Rex, and I can't wait to let you guys know how it goes. Bex Scott: [00:07:53] So as I was digging around in the recipe index, I also came across a card that says how to plan the meals your family needs for glowing health, not just regular health, this is glowing health. It says 'the right kind of meals in good living habits can bring a glow to complexions, sheen to hair, health and good cheer to your whole family's outlook. Serving foods from the basic four food groups helps you with this important job. Basic four food groups: Start by planning every day's meals to include the amounts given below in every group for every member of your family. Meat: two or more servings, poultry, fish, eggs, peanut butter, dried beans or peas. Vegetables and fruits: four or more servings, one dark green or yellow vegetable every other day and one citrus fruit every day. Milk: 2 or more cups for adults, 3 or 4 cups for children and teenagers, including cheese and ice cream'. Ooh, ice cream. That's good. It's in the food groups. 'Breads and cereals: 4 or more servings. Make sure they are whole grain enriched, restored or fortified. Fat, sweets, and extra servings from the four groups provide additional food energy and other food values'. I really like how they justify the fat, sweets, and extra servings. 'To help you keep your family healthy, we've written a new book, How to Feed Your Family for Health and Happiness, No Matter What, look for it, won't you?' That's a cute little card. It really inspires me to keep going on this journey. And also, I'd like to mention that I will be using my Pyrex when I cook. So we usually use the Homestead and the Black Snowflake dishes on a daily basis for serving and cooking and baking. So those will be showing up in my videos, and I'm also going to try and incorporate a few of the other pieces that I have that are mostly either on display or might be in boxes right now, just to add that extra Pyrex element to it. Bex Scott: [00:09:58] And if any

In today’s episode, Bex Scott talks about something a little different in vintage collectibles: vintage books. Recently reminded about Nancy Drew, Bex explores the origins of Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys series: how they came to be, what editions were printed, and what collectors can look for when assessing value. This is a trip down memory lane for avid readers. Bex discusses the Edward Stratemeyer literary legacy which is where all the juvenile books of memory originated. Stratemeyer created everything from the Rover Boys to Tom Swift and the ever-popular Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series. Published through Grosset and Dunlap, Bex explores how each story idea was passed to a team of ghostwriters writing under a pseudonym - Carolyn Keene for Nancy Drew and Franklin W. Dixon for the Hardy Boys - and details the many volumes, dust covers, and endpapers that each incarnation of Nancy Drew hardcover went through. There is a devoted collectors base for many of the series so to assess the many incarnations, Bex offers tips about what’s rare and what’s sought-after. Book lovers, this is your episode!Resources discussed in this episode:Nancy Drew dust coversNancy Drew yellow spine picture covers“Farah’s Guide” by David Farah—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Bex Scott: [00:00:31] Hey, everybody, this is Bex Scott, and thank you for joining me for another episode of the podcast. And today's episode is going to be a little bit different. Still vintage, but it's going to be on the vintage book side of things. I know a lot of my friends and family members are avid readers, and some of them are even collectors of vintage novels. So I thought today might be a little bit of a fun change in direction from what I usually talk about. So growing up I was addicted to reading. I still am, although I don't have as much time anymore to read, but I would stay up all night in my room reading mystery novels, fantasy novels, and waiting to go to the library every week to take home dozens of books. And this is kind of what, I believe, started my love of mystery shows, mystery books, and it was Nancy Drew. And somebody recently reminded me of Nancy Drew, and I hadn't thought of these novels in quite a long time. So I started going back and doing a little bit of research to find out more about the author, the books, the huge community of collectors that are interested in Nancy Drew, and other novels that are like that. Bex Scott: [00:01:55] So I found out a ton of really cool information that I wanted to share with you guys. And it kind of starts off with the literary legacy of Edward Stratemeyer, and he's the one that kind of brought to life these juvenile books. So I wanted to talk to you a little bit about him and give you an introduction to the man behind the magic, as they might say. So Edward Stratemeyer was born in 1862, he died in 1930, and he was the mastermind behind a literary syndicate that shaped the entire early 20th century. So picture the early 1900s, where this visionary created a literary empire responsible for thousands of juvenile series books. And that's from the Rover Boys to Tom Swift and the ever-popular Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys. His imagination really knew no bounds at all. So here's the twist, though, Stratemeyer wasn't just a storyteller, he was the architect of ideas and characters. He crafted each storyline and then enlisted a team of ghostwriters. These unsung heroes wrote under various pseudonyms, giving life to the words that Stratemeyer envisioned. And all this creativity wasn't just in his mind. It hit the shelves thanks to dozens of publishers, with Grosset and Dunlap being the most common. So fast forward to 1979, and the syndicate's reins were handed over to new hands, Simon and Schuster. They took control, bringing with them significant changes to the style and format of the beloved series. But before we explore that era, let's focus on the golden age of Nancy Drew. Bex Scott: [00:03:45] Nancy Drew spanned from 1930 to 1979, and during this nearly five decade period, the Nancy Drew series saw a constant evolution in physical formats. Early editions, the first six books, they were thick volumes with blue or bluish-gray split covers. The end papers were blank, and the title lettering was a subtle light orange. Dust jacket sported illustrations only on the front, leaving pristine white spines on the shelves. The evolution didn't stop there, though. In 1932, with volume number seven, a garish orange silhouette of Nancy adorned the book cover, and the endpapers transformed into vivid orange silhouettes. I haven't seen this version, but I would love to. This sounds like something you definitely have to see in person. Production costs led to changes, so three glossy internals were trimmed in 1937, leaving only a glossy frontispiece. The saga continued with a blue silhouette of Nancy joining the party in 1941. To fast forward to 1946, volume number 23 marked a dramatic shift. This is when white spine dust jackets adopted the wraparound style and the orange silhouette end papers turned into a deep, mysterious blue. And I don't know about you guys, but dust jackets drive me nuts. Bex Scott: [00:05:14] I always take them off when I read hard covers, and they're beautiful if they're designed nicely, but they just get in the way. I'd love to know, you guys, how you feel about that as well. So the silhouette on the book cover followed suit. This is where we say goodbye to the orange hue and the silhouette spine symbol on the dust jacket, it lasted for just four more volumes before transitioning into a circular color portrait. So the journey gets even more exciting. In 1947 and 1948, some volumes surprised collectors with marvelous maroon Dana Girls end papers. This was a rare treat for the keen-eyed collectors. These volumes are both hard to find and highly collectible. And for those of you who have never heard of the Dana Girls, this was a series of mystery stories by Carolyn Keene, who was the author of Nancy Drew, and they were published non-continuously from 1934 to 79, and after the publication of volume 13, they were discontinued. So during the mid 1940s, Grosset and Dunlap terminated many series that weren't selling very well, and the Dana Girls was one of them. The sudden termination of the series is probably the reason why some scattered copies of Nancy Drew books from the late 1940s contain the Dana Girls end papers rather than waste the end papers, which had already been printed, the bindery put them to good use. Bex Scott: [00:06:56] Okay, so back to Nancy Drew. The dust jacket took a turn in 1950, with the older volumes embracing the wraparound style and a new illustration by a fresh talent. Volume number 30, in 1953, introduced a shift from slick blue covers to a blue cloth tweed, a style that would eventually become the most common. And who can forget the mysterious digger ends from volumes 30 to 35, depicting Nancy observing a clandestine figure digging in the night. These sought-after end papers added an extra layer of intrigue to the collector's hunt. Now we're going to fast forward to 1959, and the iconic multi-scene end papers took center stage, gracing various styles until volume number 56 in 1979. The oval cameo end papers made a fashionable appearance as an offshoot of Simon and Schuster's reprints. So for those of you who love dust jackets and collect them, here's a little bit of a trivia nugget. The last volume featuring a dust jacket was volume number 38, 'The Mystery of the Fire Dragon', a rare gem produced only in 1961. Next up we have the 60s. In 1962, there was a shift to the yellow spine picture covers accompanied by revised text, updated content, and a drastic reduction in page count. The golden age of Nancy Drew books was undergoing a metamorphosis. As the 60s continued, Nancy Drew's popularity sparked continuous reprints. Each new format brought older editions out of retirement and it created a bunch of different styles in the book covers. From leather-bound Easton Press sets to yellow spine picture covers, the Nancy Drew collection became an amazing thing for collectors to attain. Bex Scott: [00:09:06] So how do you identify the gems in this massive collection? It's all in the details, so check for intact and clean copies, undamaged spines, and the presence of dust jackets. Even though they're annoying when you read them, it is really necessary to have them for a complete collection and to increase the price you can get if you decide to sell them. Pay attention next to publication dates, publishers and page counts, and signed copies by the author, definitely a bonus, obviously. So first editions. It's always a thrill - I'm sure, I've never held a first edition of anything - to hold an original print of the original manuscript. That's what defines a first edition. But it's not just the number one in the number line. Scarcity plays a crucial role as well. Thousands of copies may dilute the value, so keep an eye out for those rare finds. Bex Scott: [00:10:08] So next I wanted to talk a little bit about the mystery behind Nancy Drew's inception. For years, the question of who wrote the Nancy Drew books remained elusive. While Stratemeyer crafted the characters in synopsis, the actual writers remained silent, with Mildred A Wirt revealed as the ghostwriter behind Carolyn Keene. So Mildred was an independent and resourceful woman herself. She breathed

Host Bex Scott talks with another Pyrex collector in today’s episode, but this time it’s a conversation with her first Canadian guest! She welcomes Ruth from Periwinkle Collectibles to the show and they talk all about Pyrex, thrifting, and the life cycle of secondhand items. Ruth also shares her greatest Pyrex finds with Bex, finds from out in the wild.Ruth has been an avid thrifter for years but her “gateway Pyrex” happened in 2012 or 2013 when she discovered a 404 Poinsettia bowl in a church thrift store for $10. That led her into what she calls “Pyrexia” and she became a knowledgeable avid collector. Ruth tells Bex what the local market is like in her part of Canada, how thrifting prices have changed, and how she enjoys bringing dishes to family potlucks in some of her treasured Pyrex pieces. Ruth collects a lot of vintage items aside from Pyrex and Bex learns what they are. She also identifies which ones she needs to research because Ruth’s many passions include names that aren’t known even to Bex. Ruth has words of advice for all collectors about passion and joy.  Resources discussed in this episode:Ruth at Periwinkle CollectiblesChairishDelfiteJeannette GlassMcKee GlassFenton cake plateCathrineholmGeorges Briard balloons and more Georges Briard balloonsChalkware fish—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbexContact Bex on her website—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Bex Scott: [00:00:30] Hey everybody, welcome to another episode of the Pyrex with Bex podcast. And I'm very excited because today I have my first Canadian guest on the show. We have Ruth with Periwinkle Collectibles. You can find Ruth on Instagram at Periwinkle Collectibles as well. Welcome, Ruth. Ruth: [00:00:49] Hey, thanks for having me. Bex Scott: [00:00:51] Thanks for joining me. It's awesome to have another fellow Canadian on the show. Ruth: [00:00:56] Yay! Go go, Canada! Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:00:58] Yeah. The snowy Canadian weather we have now, it's cold. Ruth: [00:01:05] And the place where when people complain about the cold, you just go, but I live in Canada. Bex Scott: [00:01:12] Yeah. So I wanted to start off today with how you got into Pyrex and vintage collecting. Ruth: [00:01:20] That's a great question. I've been thrifting for a very long time, and so I was buying vintage things before they were vintage. But I'd say that my real gateway piece of Pyrex was a 404 Poinsettia bowl with lid and cradle that I found at a local church thrift store. It was behind the glass. It had a $10 price tag on it, which at the time - I think it was about 2012, 2013, you know, somewhere in there - and I literally did not have $10 cash in my pocket because at that point, that thrift store was super cheap, and I would often go with a $5 bill and buy things on my lunch hour from the day job. So they had this $10 piece of Pyrex behind the glass. I thought it was really pretty and that I could use it for Christmas serving. And so I ran across the street to the ATM, paid a ridiculous fee to get $10 out - I think it was at the time, I think it was like $2 or something, and I thought it was crazy - and ran back and bought that piece of Pyrex, took it home and started researching it because I bought it because it was pretty, it was a nice shape. And I had been buying, you know, like I said, vintage and thrifted goods for several decades before that. But that was the piece that really led me down the rabbit hole of Pyrex, was that $10 purchase. Little did I know what that, you know, I'm complaining about the $2 ATM charge. Little did I know what it was really going to cost me. Bex Scott: [00:03:02] That's amazing. I wish that would have been my first Pyrex find because I love the Poinsettia. It's so beautiful. Ruth: [00:03:11] Something about the gold on the red is just so pretty. And since then I have found the large casserole, the 045 with the designed lid. You know, the Christmas one also, I think some people call it Poinsettia as well. I can't remember off the top of my head what the name for it is. And I actually have the box. That's one of the few pieces that I have a box for. I'm not as much of a cradle and box collector as some people are, but I have found that one with the box and the cradle, paid a little more than $10 for it, but I think I paid like, I don't know, $30 for it back in like 2014. And I thought that was a lot of money. That progression of what I think is a lot of money for Pyrex has slightly changed since those days. Bex Scott: [00:04:02] Oh no kidding, I would have loved to find it for 10 or 30. Now that would be a steal. Ruth: [00:04:08] That was back in the day when I could go on Kijiji, for the non-Canadian listeners is like what Craigslist used to be. But you would go on Kijiji and I would hunt for Pyrex. And of course, you know, you find a lot of things labeled Pyrex that weren't, but you know, there would be a lot of things listed for $10, $20 that wow, you know, if I had a crystal ball, there's a few more things I would have bought back then. Bex Scott: [00:04:35] No kidding. I was looking through Facebook the other day in a city close to me, and there was a collector that was liquidating his whole collection of Pyrex. He had everything, and I messaged him and he said, oh, I have got probably 380 messages to get through. And there were a few pieces that I really wanted that he had, but it ended up that he was asking for like $450 for a set of pink bowls and turquoise bowls, and it's like, sorry, I can't pay that much for them. Ruth: [00:05:08] Yeah, it's funny when people want online world market prices on a local marketplace. Bex Scott: [00:05:18] Yeah, yeah. Ruth: [00:05:20] People don't necessarily drive those things, you know. Or they go, oh, but I found that on Chairish it's worth yadda yadda yadda. But that's like the highest level of where designers go to buy things like don't ever base any price on Chairish. And so many people who don't even know how to look up an eBay sold or look and see what did it actually sell for on Etsy. Oh, but it's on Etsy for $682. Yes, it's listed for that. Bex Scott: [00:05:51] Yeah. My favorite is when you go into some of the smaller thrift shops and they have the printout of the eBay listing and not the sold, and then they've priced their item based on that little printout that they have. I just want to go up to them and be like, no, this isn't the price. Ruth: [00:06:08] Have you been to garage sales where they do that? Bex Scott: [00:06:10] No. Ruth: [00:06:11] Yeah, I've been to a few where they do that. And it's just, I'm just like, well, good luck. You're still going to have it all at the end of the day. Not necessarily a well received comment. That's usually when my garage saling partner pulls me by the hand and goes, Quiet, let's just leave. Bex Scott: [00:06:31] Not today. Ruth: [00:06:33] Not today, not today. I've been known to tell a thrift store manager or two what I thought about certain prices, and what the difference is between an online worldwide market and their little thrift store in the corner of Darkville, southern Manitoba. But anyhow. Bex Scott: [00:06:53] Oh that's great. I wish we lived closer so I could take you with me. I need someone like that. Ruth: [00:06:59] Oh, I've been known to embarrass people, but, I mean, in reality, if they don't get the appropriate customer feedback, if everybody just shakes their head and goes, no way and walks away, how do they know? Bex Scott: [00:07:13] Yeah. Ruth: [00:07:14] The sad part is there's almost always, in the end, somebody who will pay that price. I mean, not always. Sometimes you see it sitting on the shelf or in the cabinet for weeks or months on end. And then what happens? It goes in the trash. Bex Scott: [00:07:27] Yeah. Ruth: [00:07:28] When nobody buys it, I don't know. Bex Scott: [00:07:30] That's sad. Ruth: [00:07:32] Yeah. Really sad. Really, really sad. Bex Scott: [00:07:36] Do you have any family members that collect as well? Ruth: [00:07:40] Not that collect Pyrex. No. I am the one that they humor when it comes to Pyrex, I have other family members that collect other items, but I'm definitely the person with the Pyrexia. The person that loves the vintage bowls and the vintage casseroles more. And I joyfully like to bring dishes to family gatherings, you know, if appropriate. You know, I won't bring one of my treasured bowls to a cement picnic table lot in the middle of the park. But I love to, you know, use them to bring things to family potlucks or wherever when possible. When possible. Because it's nice to share when people go, oh, that's a pretty bowl. Oh yeah. Bex Scott: [00:08:33] Yeah. Let me tell you about this bowl. Yeah. Ruth: [00:08:40] Yeah, yeah. They're like don't comment or she'll tell you all about it. Bex Scott: [00:08:43] Yeah. They whisper in the background of the family events, Don't bring up the Pyrex bowl. Ruth: [00:08:49] Yeah. So no, no one else in the family collects it. Do I gift certain patterns and things to people where I'm like, oh, I don't like this pattern quite as much. It's not a super, you know, in the collecting world it has a different perspective than to someone that's going to use it. They're always like, well, if I take this, am I allowed to put it in the dishwasher? Like they all know that. It's like, yeah, there's things you put in the dishwasher and things you can't put in the dishwasher. Bex Scott: [00:09:23] Absolutely. And what have been your best Pyrex finds to date that

Bex Scott hosts one of her all-time favorite Pyrex and vintage collectors, Nate Smith of @MyVintageIs1976, on the show today. Bex and Nate talk about all things Pyrex from how they got started collecting and Nate’s favorite patterns to Pyrex swaps and overpriced pieces. Nate is a natural educator and happily shares his passion and Pyrex knowledge, which is vast, with all Bex’s listeners.Nate, like Bex, started collecting in 2020 through the need to clear out family houses. Once started, he fell in love with Pyrex and dug into research and collecting on his own. While his husband doesn’t share his Pyrex collection love, he is incredibly supportive of Nate’s thrifting, reselling, and the revolving seasonal displays in their home. Nate lets Bex in on the best Pyrex finds he’s made, his most treasured complete collection, and the rare boxes he’s now searching out. They discuss their belief on why kindness and sharing knowledge with new collectors is the best way forward, investigate the differences between pieces named differently in America versus in Canada, and Nate shares his top tips for thrifting success. If you love Pyrex, and you must if you’re here, this is one conversation you won’t want to miss!Resources discussed in this episode:Nate Smith on Instagram: MyVintageIs1976Colonial MistHorizon Blue“Lady on the Left” Butterprint bowlWillow 473Penn Dutch Friendship boxMrs. Maisel“Pyrex Passion (2nd ed.)” by Michael D. Barber—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbexContact Bex on her website—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Bex Scott: [00:00:31] Hey everybody, thanks for tuning in to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. Today I am super excited because I have one of my all-time favorite collectors of Pyrex and vintage on today chatting, and it's Nate Smith. You can find him on Instagram at MyVintageIs1976 and I was super excited when I came across your Instagram, Nate, because I love all the education you provide, all of the things that you sell. I wish I had enough money to buy all of them because they're adorable and I could see all of them in my house. But you were also the friendliest and most open to teaching people about what you know and helping new collectors, and I'm super grateful for that. So welcome to the show. Nate Smith: [00:01:16] Thank you so much. It's my pleasure to be here. Bex Scott: [00:01:19] Awesome. So I thought we'd start out with how you got into Pyrex and vintage collecting. Nate Smith: [00:01:26] That's a great question. I had a lot of tragedy actually in 2020, and my sister and I were forced to clean out both my parents and my grandparents homes. My dad died in September and my grandmother died in October right after. And then my mother went into an assisted living at the time. So my sister and I were left with all this stuff and we were like, what are we going to do? So we just started digging in and having to clean out the houses. And that's in Kentucky and I'm in Texas now, so I would go as often as I could to go and help her out. But as we were cleaning out my parents home, we just kept coming across these beautiful bowls and casseroles in this huge variety of patterns, and my parents came by it, honestly. Me growing up too, if there was a wide spot in the road for a yard sale, if there was a thrift store, my mom would want to stop on the way to town. And just in case they put something out on the way back that she would want to stop on the way back. So she was a double stop thrift store kind of gal. Nate Smith: [00:02:32] And a lot of these bowls still had the original $2 $4 dollar thrift store tags on them when she picked them up and my sister and I, we took a lot of stuff to the local thrift store just to donate back. But I couldn't take these bowls. I just kept circling back to them, and I just found them to be so beautiful. And so I asked my sister, can I take some of these back to Texas with me? I just want to research and find out a little bit more. And that deep rabbit hole kept going and going and going, and I started as to resell some of the things instead of just donating them. I saw value in them and I told my sister, like, I'm going to sell some of these. And then there were more and more patterns that I couldn't sell back because I didn't want to let go of them, because I started falling in love with them. And then a new collector was born. Bex Scott: [00:03:31] That's awesome. And do you have family members that collect as well? Does your sister collect? Nate Smith: [00:03:40] My sister has a pattern that she likes. She does the Colonial Mist, which is great because I don't care for it at all. Even though it's blue, I still don't care for it very much at all. But it was one of the last kind of opal ware patterns that Pyrex put out. And so it's pretty easy, still pretty common to find because it's one of the newer patterns. And so I've helped her complete her collections just in my own sourcing and thrifting and antiquing, I've been able to finish out her collection of Colonial Mist for her. But the next generation, like her kids and her kids' kids, no, I think we're pretty much it in the family. So, and none of my husband's side of the family really collects. So yeah, it's just me. I do enough for all of us. Bex Scott: [00:04:30] That's like me as well. It's just me right now. We have two boys and a girl, and I'm trying to get our sons into it. I don't think I'm going to be successful, but maybe. Our daughter's only one so there's lots of years to get her into collecting and hopefully passing my collection on to her, because there's quite a bit of it. Nate Smith: [00:04:50] Yeah. Bex Scott: [00:04:53] And does your husband share your love of vintage as well? Nate Smith: [00:04:57] No, not even a little bit. And like, he humors me sometimes and goes with me to the antique stores, but he will find himself bored pretty quick and will ask me for the keys to the car pretty quick because he can go up and down the aisles relatively quickly and just say, yeah, I'm done. But he humors me, like he never makes me feel bad about my collections. He never questions me about anything. So if anything, he is also like all-star drop stuff off at the post office. All-star I have a lot of boxes to box will you help me? Absolutely. So he's roll up his sleeves, all hands on deck when it comes to that stuff. But he's not himself a collector by nature. Bex Scott: [00:05:51] Yeah, it's good to have that support on that side of things too, with the packing. And that can get to be a lot. Nate Smith: [00:05:58] Yeah, I turn and burn it pretty quickly. Like I can't let it pile up because then my OCD and anxiety just kind of spirals out of control. So like if somebody buys something, I try my best to hurry up and get it out because if it piles up, then I can feel my anxiety increasing. Bex Scott: [00:06:17] Yeah. I remember buying some little bluebirds from you and they arrived so quickly. I was very impressed. So you definitely do get things out the door quickly. Nate Smith: [00:06:30] Thank you, thank you. Bex Scott: [00:06:32] And what does your home look like for displaying your Pyrex and your other vintage items? Nate Smith: [00:06:39] Yeah. Good question. So again, I'm very lucky to have a husband who gives me that kind of creative license, but under a watchful eye of control, which is also good. We live in Texas, so there is no basement. The land of basements is not in Texas, so there aren't a lot of basements here. So I just have to make do with what we've got. And so I have kind of a prized hutch collection of my Pyrex kind of in our sitting room. And then we have some display cabinets in the kitchen that I display pretty regularly. And then I have a rotating seasonal display as well. Other than that, it's usually put in a what I call my Pyrex closet that I use to rotate things in and out for display. And then I also have an inventory room, which is where all the things that I have in preparation for my upcoming Instagram sales or Pyrex swaps kind of lives. So no kids. So easy to just put that stuff in the extra bedroom. Bex Scott: [00:07:49] Yeah, yeah, that sounds like a very organized way to do it. I might have to implement some of that, because I took over our extra bedroom in the basement of our old house, so my parents and my in-laws weren't able to stay over anymore. So that was the Pyrex room. That was an issue. And now we have more storage in this house, but it's quickly escaping the storage room and making its way into other places. So definitely need a new system. Nate Smith: [00:08:19] I could easily fill every cabinet and every display shelf and every closet with my collections. And so then I just kind of realized, yes, I love to look at this, but I know not everyone else does. And so that's why I just make sure I rotate things out so that I can appreciate it not all year long, but for a significant amount of time. And then when I'm tired and I want to see something different, I can pull something else out of the closet. Bex Scott: [00:08:48] Yeah, that makes it fun too, coming up with new displays and seasonal things. Mhm. Nate Smith: [00:08:54] Yeah, absolutely. And my collection too has evolved, I will say. So a lot of the things that I used to collect, like I've kind of pared down. So I don't do a lot of like, when I started collecting I had every refrigerator set. And so then over time I've gotten rid of most of those. I collected a lot of the bowl sets. I don't do any Cinderella bow

It’s all about rare, hard-to-find, and one-of-a-kind Pyrex pieces on the show today. Bex Scott dares to wade into often-times controversial waters to discuss some of the rarest Pyrex that collectors avidly pursue. Personal feelings on what is rare and what is hard to find may vary, but these pieces are all frequently difficult to find and coveted by Pyrex lovers. Bex focuses in-depth on eight so-called Pyrex Unicorns based on an article from WorthPoint. The article says that scarcity of Pyrex depends on “condition, popularity, whether it’s a complete set, a pattern in unusual colors and shapes, a trading stamp exclusive, or a test piece or prototype” and by those laid-out guidelines Bex talks about everything from the beloved Lucky in Love pattern to the Blue Dianthus to the Starburst Cinderella serving casserole. She shares facts about how certain test pieces came by their names and what colors are most infrequently found. She also lists some rare pieces that real collectors have found in the wild. Collectors all have favorite patterns and pieces, and definitions on rarity may vary, but all can agree that the Pyrex gems in this episode are truly unique and worthy of hunting down.Resources discussed in this episode:WorthPoint - “Pyrex Unicorns: 8 Elusive Patterns Collectors Pursue” by Adina FrancisShiny Happy Pyrex PeoplePyrex PassionBlue Dianthus 440 Cinderella bowl setLucky in Love patternDuchess casserole with warmerGypsy Caravan patternHex 475 casserole in turquoise with underplateAtomic Eyes chip and dipPink Stems patternStarburst Cinderella serving casserole with warmer and lid—Contact Rebecca Scott | Pyrex With Bex: Website: PyrexWithBex.comInstagram: @pyrexwithbex—TranscriptBex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast, where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat. Bex Scott: [00:00:31] Hey everybody, this is Bex Scott and you're listening to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. On today's episode, we are going to talk about a topic that is a little bit scary to me. I am by no means a Pyrex expert. I'm an avid collector. I love learning about it. And today I thought I would talk a little bit about rare and hard to find Pyrex pieces. Now, this is a topic that I know has gotten a lot of people in trouble on Facebook groups while talking to other collectors and kind of voicing their opinions on whether they think something is rare or hard to find. And I myself once asked in a popular Facebook group what the difference was between something that's rare, something that's hard to find, and something that's like a one of a kind. And the post caused so much trouble that the owner of the group had to take it down. And it just goes to show that there are true definitions of what is rare, hard to find, and one of a kind and what people believe it to be. Bex Scott: [00:01:43] And what kind of sparked this podcast episode was an article that I found on Worthpoint. So most of the information that I'm going to be talking about is based on this article. So it may or may not be true. Take it with a grain of salt. But I did learn a ton from reading it and digging through the different parts of what they talked about in this article. And it's called Pyrex Unicorns: Eight Elusive Patterns Collectors Pursue. So factors that affect rarity, this is the first part of the article that they talk about. And it says "the scarcity of Pyrex pieces depends on several factors: condition, popularity, whether it's a complete set or if it's a pattern in unusual colors and shapes, a trading stamp program exclusive, or a test piece or prototype that wasn't produced. Some patterns that were promotional pieces or didn't appear on any standard production dishes weren't given an official name. So as these pieces have been discovered, collectors have made up names for them" and they give the example of the Golden Thistle. And this is something that's really cool to me because I actually didn't know this. I know that most of the Pyrex pieces out there have names, and that they were given these names at production, but it's really interesting to read that collectors have given other pieces names over the years. Bex Scott: [00:03:16] Other patterns, like Angelfish, that was a name that was given by collectors. So it says, according to Shiny Happy Pyrex People, a site that I'm new to after reading this article, it's actually really cool. So head over to Shiny Happy Pyrex People, she has a book that you can buy, but she also has informational blogs that you can read, and she talks about her Pyrex friends and collectors that she knows who have found these rare, one of a kind pieces. They send her pictures and then she talks a little bit about them. So if you're interested in the really cool, kind of less known about pieces, check out her site. So it says "a site that documents rare finds, this 475 angel dish was found in New York in 2022, and it's only the second known dish of its kind". It says as well that there is an alternate color of gold on white that was discovered in 2021. Bex Scott: [00:04:21] Next up in the article, they go into the eight patterns that collectors dream about, and the first one is Lucky in Love. This is one that I'm sure all avid Pyrex collectors know of, and it says that it's elusive because it was either a test or limited production piece. And according to the article, the price for it ranges between $1,800 to $9,000. And just a reminder, this is just what I'm reading from the article, what I've learned through my research, so it may or may not be accurate. So it says "nearly everyone in the Pyrex collecting community agrees that the most elusive piece ever created is the number 473 Lucky in Love casserole dish from 1959". It has little pastel pink hearts and green clovers and was a prototype. There's also a prototype of this dish without the pink hearts as well. And several of these have sold for four figures, including over $4,000 in 2015, $5,994 in a Goodwill auction in 2017, $9,000 in 2018, and $6,700 in 2019. And it was so loved by Pyrex enthusiasts that the company reissued it in 2018 as a modern pattern on clear glass in darker colors. Bex Scott: [00:05:51] Next up we have the Blue Dianthus piece, and this one is pretty cool because I remember not too long ago in one of the Pyrex groups that I am a part of, somebody mentioned that they found one of the blue Dianthas Cinderella bowls at their local goodwill for something like $6.99, and if in fact it was true, which I'm sure it was, that would be a once in a lifetime find and super amazing for them to have that in their collection. So the Blue Dianthus remained a mystery until 2014, when a collector acquired a boxed set from the estate of a Corning employee. I went on to the Pyrex passion site and found an article from March 19th, 2014 talking a little bit about this Blue Dianthus, and it says that it in fact was produced as a sales test piece in 1963. And they discovered this because a collector acquired numerous vintage Pyrex items from the estate of a 50 year employee of Corning. And this is all information from the Pyrex Passion website, and one of the items they purchased was the three piece 480 casserole set in the original box. The box reveals the date of production as 1963. It shows that Blue Dianthus was a sales test pattern, so this was considered a Pyrex mystery that had been solved. And if you go to the Pyrex Passion website, you can see that there is a photo courtesy of a Flickr member, and it's the box with the stamp. It says 480 of one sales test. Kind of an awesome piece of history to see. Bex Scott: [00:07:40] So for those of you who have never seen the Blue Dianthus, it came in the Cinderella bowls 441, 42, 43, 44 and the 483 piece casserole set 473, 74 and 75. Based on the backstamp, items dated before 1974, which we know it was now produced in 1963. So for those of you who haven't seen the Blue Dianthus before, it featured a blue floral design on opal that resembled the dianthas, which is why it was given its unofficial name by collectors. And the pattern is on pieces in blue on white and then there's a reversed white pattern on blue as well. Bex Scott: [00:08:25] Next up is the Duchess casserole set, which is hands down my unicorn Holy Grail piece. And this was a promotional piece with prices ranging from $520 to $4,326. It was produced in small numbers and was made as a hostess party gift for Stanley Home Products. The set includes a Cinderella casserole with a matching lid and a warming stand. It featured gold flowers on a pink background, and it included a Perk King coffee pot with a warming stand, a sugar and creamer set with a holder, a juice carafe, and glasses in three sizes. And so far, the only thing I have of this set is four of the juice glasses. I found them when we were in Portland, Maine for my cousin's wedding in the summer and I was so excited to find them. It was hands down a no-brainer to purchase them, but one day I will definitely need to find this Duchess casserole. Next up we have the Eyes chip and dip set. It says price range $56 to $1,476. If I found this set for $56, I think I would, I wouldn't even know what to say. $56 is crazy. So it says Eyes circa 1950 to 1959, is another pattern name made up by collectors and is also known as Atomic Eyes. It's a turquoise and white design, and it was one of the first hot and cold chip and dip sets. Some of the bowls have a Pyrex stamp, while others are unmarked. The pattern was also printed on a coffee carafe in gold and a juice pitcher with a turquoise lid, which can sell for hundreds, as can individual bowls. And