Thursday, June 26, 2014

Wonderfully Winsome Wheat - My W-Series Wheat Menu-ette Set

Yes, it is official now.   The Corning Ware Menu-ette Set was manufactures in the infamous Wheat pattern.  I have tracked down all three of them over the last few months.  It all began with the W-81 (the 1 pint P-81-B menu-ette) that I found in Medford, OR.   The "hunt" began, though I was worried that it may have just been a promotional piece and that the full set have never been produced.

Success!

It is interesting to note, that the W-81 & W-82 both have the 1960s marks on them.....


While the skillet has the later 1970 mark on it with the little Cornflower and "For Range & Microwave" added.

This only shows that the Wheat pattern lasted at least until 1970... though not past 1972 when the A-Series began.  Since none of the books mention a definitive timeframe of production, nor do they list which pieces were produced.  Wheat is still kind of an enigma.

Where is your CorningWare??
~~

Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Gone Fishing

Yep, it's that time of year again....



Gone fishin' at the Snake River.  Be back on the 20th of June.

Until then........

~~

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Here Kitty, Kitty, Kitty! - My Unintentional Garden Cat Collection

I Rescued these from an antique store, simply because they were filthy dirty and in need of some love and attention.  Sort of like pet rescue on a different level.

Unbeknownst to me, at the time of purchase, this appears to be the entire set of "Garden Cat".

It was only produced from the fall of 1996 to 1997 and, as far as I have been able to ascertain, the only sizes produced were the  1 quart (A-1-B), 2 quart (A-2-B) and 3 quart (A-3-B).

As interesting as they are, the jury is still out as to whether they are staying in my collection or not.

UPDATE: 7-12-2014   Well, they didn't stay in my collection.  My mother saw this blog post and fell in love with them, so they are gracing her kitchen now, along with her Shadow Iris.  

Where is your Corning Ware??
~~

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Corning Ware of a Different Color - My Princess House Nouveau Collection (Arcoflam by ARC)

When I first came across the Nouveau line made by ARC in France, exclusively for Princess House, I was not interested all that much in it.  After all, it isn't Corning Ware, right?   Well, that has changed over the years.  Collecting it can be a bit of a chore though, since it IS a much newer product and was only available through Princess House originally And, when it hit the general market place in 1986, it doesn't seem to have sold all that well because it was more expensive than Corning Ware AND since it is a newer product and required a higher investment, most of the people who purchased it are probably still using it. This last reason is also an issue when collecting the late CorningWare patterns... they are only 15-20 years old and the original purchasers are more than likely still using them, so they are hard to find in the thrift stores.  Hey, I still have my original French White Quiche dish (F-3) and Souffle dish (F-5) that I bought in 1992 and even before I was a became Corning Ware nut, I never. at any point, considered taking them to a Thrift Store for resale.

Arcoflam is still available and is still produced by ARC in France.  It looks a little different now, since the Nouveau design was a Princess House Exclusive.  I have seen a smooth version and a swirled pattern design as well... All in white, of course. 

So here is my collection as it stands now.  I seem to find these in waves.  There will be nothing for months, then all of the sudden I am adding 3 pieces in a little over a week. 


1 quart, 1 1/2 quart and 2 quart Saucepans with detachable handles in Blue and Green.

10 inch Saute Pan / Chicken Fryer with Domed lid (for steaming) and detachable handle in White.

1 quart Casserole and 2 quart Casserole with 20cm Steamer Insert made of Borosilicate Glass.  (I do not have the original lid to the 2 quart Casserole, but the lid to the steamer fits quite nicely)

The Casseroles are shallow and wide, thus the lids are slightly off....  The 1 quart Casserole takes the same lid as the 1 1/2 quart Saucepan.  The 2 quart Casserole is 8 inches across, so I am assuming it takes the same lid as the 8 inch skillet.

Where is your Arcoflam??
~~

Monday, June 2, 2014

"My Collection" Monday - Festival in the French Countryside?

These are some seriously awesome photos set to me by Heather in Washington.....  A veritable plethora of Country Festival.... WOW!

and French White....

 
So, Where is your Corningware??
~~