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??
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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??
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Villainous Vitrification - Turning your Corningware into Obsidian

So, the other day, while I was struggling to clean a particularly stubborn stain from the inside of a 2 quart teapot (P-105), the proverbial "light bulb" went off over my head.

This teapot is pristine on the outside, not a mark, not a scratch.... nothing.

Inside, however, is a different story.  Oh, it's clean....   Especially after I finished with the Barkeepers Friend and then heated up Oxyclean in it and let it soak for 24 hours... But there were still grey "spots" in the bottom.  Thinking they might be hard water stains, I then soaked with CLR for 24 hours.  They were still there.  So, in desperation I decided to try the Pfaltzgraff Cleaner, even though I was pretty sure that they weren't utensil marks... How would you get utensil marks in the bottom of a teapot?  Especially round blotch utensil marks.  Well, the Pfaltzgraff cleaner didn't do anything either, the spots are still there......

So, I took a closer look at the 2 annoying spots in the bottom.

Closer...

A little closer..... 

THERE, that's close enough.  Can you see it too?  Is it translating well in the photos?  The "grey" looks like it's slightly translucent.  You can still see "white" swirled around within this translucent spot.   My working theory is that these are spots that have vitrified.

OK, maybe I should take a step back for a second and do a little explaining.

When you melt something like, say Sugar, on the stove and it becomes an amber liquid, then you pour said liquid onto a sheet pan and allow it to cool, you have not only formed a hard caramel, you have "vitrified" sugar.  Basically, creating sugar glass.  This happens with rocks as well.  Obsidian, for all intensive purposes, is a vitrified "rock".  ALL rocks, when exposed to intense heat, will vitrify to some degree.

All it really means is that something is melted and cooled in such a way that it remains in an amorphous state instead of re-crystallizing.  Some amorphous mixtures allow more light to pass through them than others.  Such is the case with a mixture of Sodium Carbonate (Soda), Calcium Oxide (Lime), and Silicon Dioxide (Silica Sand); better known as Soda-Lime Glass.

Corningware is based on the DE-vitrification of glass.  Meaning, that it is purposefully crystallized to make "Ceramic-Glass".  This, however, happens after the glass has first been formed and is in an amorphous state. 

The difference is that the glass used to make Corningware has been "seeded", in this case with Titanium Dioxide, so that when the glass piece is heated treated, after the initial forming, the Titanium Dioxide forms millions of little nuclei.  This nucleated glass is heated again and crystals form around the nuclei.  The amount of crystal growth depends on the temperature it is heated to and the duration of the heating.  There you have it, the purposeful de-vitrification of glass.  Pyrex Opal Glass uses some of this same principals but the crystal content is significantly less than that of Corningware, being less than 10%.  Pyrex Tempered Opal Glass (as in mixing bowls and such) are also not formed of Borosilicate, it's a tempered Soda Lime Glass (always has been) and, I believe, it is seeded with Tin Oxide.

In the case of this teapot, I think that it was boiled dry one too many times on the stove, and these areas have UN-crystallize, turning back into glass. Basically, its vitrified.  At least in those spots.  Mind you, this is made of "Borosilicate" low expansion glass to begin with, so I don't think it really harms anything.   It just looks weird on the inside.

As far as why it is ONLY on the inside and not on the outside, I think that has to do with the way that heat moves through and radiates from an object... There were, more than likely, minerals in the water that was being boiled dry that may have had something to do with it as well.

But my theory doesn't extend any further at this point, and I honestly think I pulled a muscle in my brain as it is.   ;-)

Where is your Corningware??
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