Gettin' Sauced with Corning Ware - Cornflower Saucemaker Trio

It's been awhile since I have talked about the SauceMakers. 

Those really strange shaped pieces made by Corning Glass Works' Consumer Products Division starting in 1963 and discontinued at the end of 1974.  SauceMakers, according to the catalogs, were available in 1 quart (P-55/P-64) & 2 quart (P-65) sizes.  Be aware that not all SauceMakers are actually stamped with their model number (none of mine are - neither my Cornflower nor the 2 Wheat ones currently in my collection)   

The only SauceMaker to last through the entire 11 year production period was the 1 quart Saucemaker, which appeared in several patterns other than Cornflower; such as Wheat, American Oil & Floral Bouquet as well as All White.  The 1 quart started life in 1963 as the P-55 (no lid). By 1964, a lid was added to the piece and it was packaged as the P-64.  Both models were available until 1968, at which point, the P-55 was dropped all together and only the P-64 remained.

The 2 quart Saucemaker had a much shorter life span from 1964-1970.  This particular piece was always packaged with a lid as the P-65. While it's life span was shorter, it did manage to come in several patterns; Cornflower, Wheat and All White. 

Before I continue, it should be noted that the White Cookmates versions of the 1 quart (SM-1) & 2 quart (SM-2) SauceMaker were produced until about 1976 before being discontinued.


The small 1 pint SauceMaker is still a bit of a mystery.  It appears to have never been released to the market, though at least 8 have been accounted for at this point.  CMOG (Corning Museum of Glass) has one labeled as a Prototype P-5.

(Photo courtesy of Rakow Library - CMOG)

But what bothers me is that it has a lid.  Now the 1 quart P-55 was released first, without a lid. So wouldn't that mean that this one was produced later?  And if it was produced later, then why is it a P-5 instead of a P-63; following suit with the P-64 and P-65?  And just WHAT is under that sticker?  Is it really only a "-B" or is it some other number? Maybe P-54?

Needless to say, mine has nothing printed on it to give any clue as to what the model number is or whether it actually a prototype or not.  It has a lid and, because the lug is the same as a petite pan, uses a P-41-HG for a handle... (P-5? on Left)

The P-55/P-64 (right) & P-65 have standard P-series lugs and use the standard P-10-HG handle.

 (P-55/P-64 in back - P-5? in front)

(P-55/P-64 top - P-5? bottom)

None of the lids have the model numbers on them... Being P-64-C (1 quart), P-65-C (2 quart) and potentially P-5-C or P-63-C or even P-54-C (for the 1 pint) 

Thus are the mysteries of Corning Ware.  


Where is your Corning Ware??
~~

J C Penney Exclusive Design, by Corning - My JCP-Series Collection

I know very little about this pattern, except what I have read off the bottoms of the dishes themselves.  This slightly Scandinavian looking pattern may have an official name like "Needlepoint", "Candlewicking" or "Embroidery".  Your guess is as good as mine.  I usually just refer to it as the "J C Penney" pattern.  The design appears to be printed in what I would call Khaki green (somewhere between avocado green and taupe....  closer to the color of army fatigues than anything else)

Like the "Wheat" pattern, the J C Penney pattern has it's own model designation "JCP", even though it has P-series handle lugs.  Also of note, and what makes the model numbers slightly different from the norm, is that the ending hyphen is missing.   Thus, what would normally be a P-1-B or a W-1-B (in the case of the Wheat pattern), a 1 quart saucepan in the JC Penney pattern is marked as a JCP-1B with no hyphen. 

The only pieces I am currently aware of are the 1 quart (JCP-1B), the 1 1/2 quart (JCP-1 1/2B) and the 22oz Petite dish (JCP-43B)

As you can see from the bottoms, this was a pattern made exclusively for the JC Penney stores sometime before 1972, when the handle lugs were enlarged.  Since it has the proverbial "For Range & Microwave" printed on the bottom, my guess is that it began production in 1970.  It is unclear if these pieces actually graced the store shelves, or if they were only available through the Catalog.

Where is your Corning Ware??
~~

In The Beginning - Corning Ware 1st Generation BPE (Before P# Era - 1958-1959)

So I have been photographing various chunks of my Corning Ware collection over the last couple of months.  This was for a 2 fold reason.   Firstly, I really didn't have anyplace that I could spread it all out and photograph everything all at once and second, well... there is only so much room for a photo on a blog post and I would have to stand back so far to get it all in that you probably would not be able to see much of anything except a bunch of little blue cornflower shaped dots.

Be that as it may, I decided that I was going about this the wrong way.  I should have been organizing my collection by Era and/or generations.  You see, there are several "Generations" of Corning Ware and those generations can be grouped together into Eras.  To make matters even more confusing, some of the patterns within generations can be broken down into "Editions"... Such as the Floral Bouquet pattern.  This is further complicated by the fact that there are separate "series" runs that occur for a short time within a generation that are retired, but then resurface again later...   So lets just start at the beginning...

In the first Era (AKA: Fin Lid Era), which encompasses 1958 - 1961, there were actually 2 generations of Corning Ware.... an embossed bottom generation and a blurry blue ink generation...   but today I am going to concentrate on Generation 1 (numero uno) from 1958 thru 1959.

In the beginning of the beginning there were no P, B, W, N, A, C, S, DC, F, G, U or L model numbers..   You see, Corning was unsure how well their cookware would be received by the American housewife, so they made a limited number of pieces for the initial release in the fall of 1958 to test the waters.....  These would be the 1 quart, 1 1/2 quart and 1 3/4 quart saucepan with fin lids (similar to the Pyrex FlameWare design) along with the 10 inch skillet topped with the infamous pyroceram lid adorn with more cornflowers.  With only 4 pieces, it was pretty easy to keep track of what was what, so no model numbers were really needed at this point. That does not mean that there WEREN'T model numbers.   They existed, but were only found on product order forms, not the dishes themselves.

Corning Ware was such a hot seller that, by Christmas, retailers were screaming for more.  So, in spring of 1959 Corning unveiled 2 additional skillets (9 inch and 7 inch with fin lids), a larger 2 1/2 quart Saucepan and the famed 8 cup & 6 cup pyroceram lipped percolators (which would later be referred to as P-108 and P-106).

All these pieces, percolators aside, have an embossed stamp on the bottom stating either "Corning Ware" with a volume measurement or, in the case of the skillets, width in inches. (7 inch skillet-top, 1 3/4 quart saucepan-bottom)

or simply "Corning Pyroceram" with no other identifying marks.  (bottom of 2 1/2 quart)

There ARE alpha-numeric characters embossed on the pieces as well, as is evident above with the A-19, D 16 and B-34, but these are by no means model numbers... they are glass mold numbers used for quality control purposes.  The model numbers we all know and love would not be applied to pieces until the second Era of Corning Ware in 1962 (3rd Generation) with the the P & W series followed shortly in 1964 by the B-series (and the C-series for Centura coordinated casseroles)

As mentioned before, they existed for ordering purposes, but were not present on dishes or lids.  While the dishes are the same as later, marked pieces, the official fin lid numbers are a little different.   There are only 2 lid sizes and the Pyroceram lid for the 10 inch skillet. 

The 7 inch fin lid is a P-11-C and fits the 1 quart, 1 1/2 quart and 1 3/4 quart saucepans as well as the 7 inch skillet.  The 9 inch fin lid is a P-2 1/2-C  and fits the 2 1/2 quart saucepan and 9 inch skillet.  The pyroceram lid is known as a P-10-C.  The later glass replacement lid was originally released as a P-10-C-1, but after the pyroceram lid was discontinued all together, the model number of the glass lid was changed to P-10-C.


So there you have it....   The 1st Generation of the 1st Era of Corning Ware.

Where is your Corning Ware??
~~

Mid-Centura Modern - My Centura Covered Casserole Collection

From the creative mind of Jerry Wright, the original Centura saucepan collection SCREAMS mid-Century Modern design.

Available in 1 quart, 1 1/2 quart and 2 quart, these saucepans/casseroles were designed to accompany the Centura dinnerware line (originally only available in coupe style, with no rim) and released in the fall of 1962 along with the dinnerware. They have their own special handle (601-H)....  Which is a slightly modified version of what was already being used on the traditional "square" Corningware.

The saucepans themselves are made of the "CorningWare" pyroceram formulation, however, the lids are made of some form of ceramic material that is neither Centura nor Corningware.  Sadly, this line was discontinued in 1967 to make way for "Buffet Server" styled Centura serveware (B-series).

Where is your Centura by Corning??
~~

Making a Saucy Trio - Corningware Saucemaker Eye Candy

Some totally gratuitous pictures of my Saucemaker Trio...  1 Pint, 1 Quart and 2 Quart. (Take a close look at the 1 Pint Saucemaker....  There are 2 leaves missing from the center flower that have been replaced by a single leaflet on the left side - Also, the 1 quart is missing a leaflet on the left flower, but the 1 pint and the 2 quart both have that particular leaflet) 

Just some food for thought on variations in the Cornflower design, depending on the piece.

Your going to start checking all your pieces now, aren't you?

None of my Saucemakers have P-#s on them....

They simply state the size of the Saucemaker.

That's all, nothing else.

Where is your Corningware??
~~

Super Secret Saucemaker - 1 Pint Saucemaker

Well, another "find" found it's way into my hot little hands.

The most interesting thing is that I cannot find it in any of the books I have on Corningware, nor can I find it anywhere on the internet.  My guess is that it's either a "super secret squirrel piece" that was being tested by a group of consumers, or it was a promotional item.  I'm really not sure.

I see the 1 quart (P-55-B & P-64-B) and 2 quart (P-65-B) models all the time. (OK, I see the 2 quart size less frequently, but they are out there)   I had no idea that this piece ever existed and evidently neither do any of the Corningware dedicated blogs and sites, nor did any of the authors of Corningware Collectors Guides.  So in the interest of disseminating as much information as possible to everyone, THIS is my "find".

Corningware 1 Pint Saucemaker 

in Cornflower

As you can see, it's significantly smaller than my 1 Quart Wheat Saucemaker.

It requires a Petite handle (P-41-HG) instead of the regular handle (P-10-HG) used on the 1 & 2 Quart sizes.

It's marked inside up to 2 cups/16 Oz.

There is no model number on the back, like all my others.  It simply says "1 PT. Saucemaker".

The lid has no numbers on it, which I think is a little odd.  My 1 Quart lids has an A-6 on it.

Be that as it may, I am excited to have found something that seems to be unknown.  As far as using it?  Well, I can think of no better crucible for making browned butter.  :-)

Where is your Corningware??
~~