Early American - Corning Ware, not Pyrex

Most of us that collect anything even remotely connected to Corning Glass Works are familiar with some of the Pyrex patterns.  Early American Pyrex Ware, in it's lovely shades of Brown, White and sometimes Gold was a fairly common pattern in it's day. (1962-1971).

There was, however, another Corning product by the same name, though not nearly as common nor well known.  Corning Ware also came in an Early American pattern.

Granted a much simpler pattern, featuring a lone bald eagle in black, and devoid of superfluous accoutrements like weather vanes, cats, coffee grinders, bellows, kerosene lamps and ears of corn.

Very little is known about this pattern, but thankfully some of the original boxes have shown up, so the correct name has been verified.  All the pieces seem to be unmarked, however, the saucepans have P-series handle lugs, so production was prior to 1972.  The fact that there are 2 percolators in this pattern (P-119 and P-116) suggests that date should be lowered from 1972 to 1970, because Corning discontinued the P-119 in lieu of the P-149, which made it's debut in the Renaissance Limited Edition Gift Line from 1970.  Recent developments have also revealed the existence of a P-23-EP (1st generation Electromatic Percolator)... Since these were discontinued in favor of the P-80-EP model in 1966, this firmly places this pattern to a 1962-1966 production window.

There is a variation on this pattern where the eagle has a solid black head.  (As seen on this MW-11 piece)

Whether it was a test pattern or not remains a mystery.

Where is your Corning Ware??
~~

Flower Power!! Take 2 - Floral Bouquet (2nd Edition) Begins to Go Mainstream

In 1969, Corning released the Floral Bouquet Limited Edition Gift line.

Due to it's popularity, Corning decided to continue producing the pattern in 1970, though in a slightly modified form.  This, to us collectors, has become known as 2nd edition Floral Bouquet...  Though at the time, it was still called "Floral Bouquet", just like the Limited Gift line had been.

The modifications were fairly simple... First, the special ceramic knob lids used on the Gift line were replaced with the standard clear glass Pyrex lids.  Secondly, the pattern was altered by using a solid yellow background instead of a linen looking texture and the flowers were accented with blue and avocado colors to make them stand out more. Thirdly, the line was expanded slightly by the addition of a 10 inch skillet and a 1 quart saucepan.

This version of Floral Bouquet would remain in production until mid 1971, when the 3rd edition of Floral Bouquet would be released.

P-12-ES and P-22-B Electromatic Skillet set with P-12-C lid

Note the flat ground bottom....

P-10-B skillet with P-10-C lid

P-2 1/2-B Saucepan with P-9-C lid

P-1 3/4-B Saucepan with P-7-C lid

P-1 1/2-B Saucepan with P-7-C lid

P-1-B Saucepan with P-7-C lid.

Though there is a percolator to match this set, it wasn't released until 1971.  The percolators for Floral Bouquet (2nd & 3rd editions) are exactly the same.  All 9/10 cup percolators have a significant amount of yellow in the background of the front medallion (for the pattern does not wrap around like Renaissance does).  These include the P-149 stove top and the P-80-EP & E-1210 Electromatics.

P-149

 P-80-EP

All the 6 cup percolators, however, have a small single patch of yellow between 2 of the flowers.  As far as I can tell, there were only two 6 cup models produced.  The P-146 Stove Top and the P-6-EP electromatic.

P-146

P-6-EP

No matter when the percolator was produced (1971-1974) it is the size, not the edition, that determined the pattern.  For this reason, I usually leave them out of the "Editions" list... Aside from the Original Gift line P-119, they all look the same.

Where is your Corning Ware??
~~

Still Growing Like a Wheat - My Corning Ware P-Series Mystery Wheat Collection (part 2)

I originally posted about this pattern a year ago, March 4th, 2014 to be exact, when I first came across this weird pattern.  I still know absolutely nothing about it except that it is pre-1972, because of the P-series numbers on the bottoms of the dishes.

I started out with a 1 3/4 quart Saucepan and a Roaster (P-1 3/4-B & P-21-B).  Then, thanks to a friend on FaceBoook, I was able to add a 1 quart (P-1-B) to my collection of this unusual pattern.  I posted a "My Collection" article in April of last year, hoping that some information might surface.  It took awhile, but in September, Francisco sent some photos, via email of his P-41-B Petite dishes.

Up until about December, that was the only other piece I knew of.... Then, someone in one of the Corning Ware Facebook groups posted a picture of a most fortuitous thrift store find..... A 10 inch skillet (P-10-B) in this pattern.  Since that day, I have been on the hunt for one....   I was finally rewarded and my collection grew by another piece (actually 3 pieces).

My collection of this mysterious pattern is, to my current knowledge, finally complete.... Or rather, it is complete until the next previously unknown piece comes to light.

UPDATE:   Which, as of August 2016, it has.  It is now known that a P-80-EP Electromatic Percolator (Smart Phone Photo Below)  was produced as well.  This 10 cup percolator model was released in 1966 with the advent of the Platinum Filigree Gift line, thus, we can now narrow the production dated for this pattern down to somewhere between 1966-1972.

The current count of pieces produced in this pattern is 6 so far.  They include, but are not limited to... (because there may be more as yet undiscovered pieces)

The 2 saucepans....

1 quart (P-1-B)

1 3/4 quart (P-1 3/4-B) - this piece may have been available as a Party Buffet set  (P-20)

10 inch Skillet (P-10-B)

13 inch Roaster (P-21)

12 oz Petite Dishes (P-41)

Newest addition to the line-up (08/2016) - P-80-EP Electromatic Percolator (10 cup)

To this day, the pattern name is unknown...   Green Wheat, Avocado Wheat, Wheat Sheaf, Harvest Wheat, Gold Wheat, Wheat Floral... All these names are still being thrown around, and any combination of them are used on eBay, but no one seems to have seen an original box (upon which the official name would be printed)  So for now, it remains the "pattern of many names".

As of 07-28-2022, the name of this pattern has been revealed as "Avocado Wheat" available exclusively to Atlantic Richland Company card holders (ARCO gas) around 1970.

Where is your Corning Ware??
~~

Harvest Time - Corning Ware P-series "Harvest" Pattern

Originally available in early 1970 as part of the Floral Bouquet Limited Edition Gift Line, the 1 3/4 quart Party Buffet set (P-516) in solid Butterscotch (with matching butterscotch ceramic knob) appeared to have been a hit.  Or at least enough of a hit for Corning to expand the color into a line.

That line was called "Harvest".  (not to be confused with "Garden Harvest", a 90s A-series pattern)

Though expanded beyond it's original 1 piece offering, the "Harvest" pattern was only available in 3 sizes; the 1 quart (P-1-B), 1 1/2 quart (P-1 1/2-B) and the 1 3/4 quart (P-1 3/4-B) all came with Pyrex clear P-7-C sized lid. (The ceramic knob had disappeared)

Production continued until 1972 with the release of the A-series model Corning Ware.

Where is your Corning Ware??
~~

Flower Power! - The Floral Bouquet (1st Edition) Limited Gift Line

Though the Floral Bouquet pattern is covered in "the books".  I think these dates refer only to the 2nd and 3rd editions of the pattern (1970-1975) at which point a larger selection of pieces were in production.  1st Edition Floral Bouquet, however, was originally released in the fall of 1969 as a Limited Edition Gift line, just like Platinum Filigree (1966), Renaissance (1970) & Nature's Bounty (1971).   Unlike the other 3 gift lines, however, Floral Bouquet evolved over time, even before breaking out into a full fledged line.

At the end of 1969 Corning released just 3 pieces.  Similar to the Platinum Filigree Gift Line, the Party Buffet (1 3/4 quart) and the Royal Buffet (2 1/2 quart) were chosen.  However, unlike Platinum Filligree, the percolator released was a P-119 Stove Top model instead of an Electromatic (P-80-EP or P-6-EP).  It should be noted here that some of the P-119 percolators are marked as P-219, which means they were originally intended to be sold as "Just/All White" percolators, but apparently the popularity of the pattern forced Corning to dip into their "Just/All White" back stock to produce more Floral Bouquet percolators

These 1st Edition Floral Bouquet saucepans featured a wrap around pattern of white flowers in "negative" due pale avocado outlining and gold linen textured background print.  The matching percolator did not have a wrap around pattern, merely a portion of the design was set front and center.

As with all of Corning's Limited Edition Gift Lines these Floral Bouquet pieces were sold in specially designed boxes featuring a unique numbering system.  Thus, though the piece itself may be marked as a P-1 3/4-B, the box, containing the dish, lid and candle warmer cradle, was labeled as P-520.

Now this is where it gets fun.   Apparently, the gift line was a huge success, so Corning scrambled to add more pieces to the line.. Thus, in early 1970, more pieces were added, though not ALL had the floral pattern.  A couple of coordinating solids were added to break up the busy-ness of the design, when it went to the table.  After all, serve ware should compliment your table, not perpetrate a chaotic assault on your visual cortex.

Added to the original 3 pieces were the P-1 1/2-B with plastic trivet (box P-510), along with a new option for the P-1 3/4; being the plastic trivet (box P-515) instead of Family Buffet candle warmer (box P-520).  The solid complimentary colors were an Avocado P-2 1/2 with Candle Warmer (box P-517) and a Butterscotch P-1 3/4, also with Candle Warmer (box P-516).

1st Edition Floral Bouquet (and coordinates) kicked off what would become a tradition for Corning's "Limited Edition Gift Lines"; the "special" lids.  While Renaissance and Nature's Bounty both had pebble textured lids, the 1st Edition Floral Bouquet & Complimentary Colors had a ceramic knob that literally screwed down onto a threaded stump on the top of the lid. 

These knobs matched the dish.  

Floral Bouquet print pieces had white knobs (to match the negative space flowers) the Butterscotch Party Buffet had a butterscotch knob and the Avocado Royal Buffet had an Avocado knob.

The lid sizes are equivalent to the standard sizes, but followed by an extra C in their model number.  Thus, the P-1 1/2-B and P-1 3/4-B both have a P-7-CC sized lid and the P-2 1/2-B has a P-9-CC sized lid regardless of the knob color.

Though Floral Bouquet changed to the solid yellow background in late 1970 (2nd edition) it appears that a few other pieces were produced in the 1st edition pattern before the change to the design was made   The P-22-B Electromatic Skillet would be one of these pieces.

I also tracked down a P-80-EP Electromatic percolator... Alas, it was smashed during shipping because the seller did not properly pad the heating element inside..

To date, I have found no catalog information giving a date for the addition of these 2 pieces to the Gift Line.

Where is your Corning Ware??
~~

Which Came First, The Trefoil or the Variant? - The Trefoil Collection (Pre & Post P-series)

I have posted about the Trefoil pattern before, but I think it's time to break the entire collection out. Not just the standard 1 3/4 quart & 2 1/2 quart Saucepans, Electromatic Skillet and the 3 percolators in the pattern that we are all most familiar with....

I mean the whole kit and kaboodle. 

Meaning the "Standard" Trefoil and all it's variants. (for there are 2)

Made available in 1960 to catch a "higher class" consumer, Trefoil hit the market smack dab in the middle of the Pre P-series era (1958-1961).  Thus, older pieces have the blurry blue ink print found on 2nd generation Corning Ware, which means they were paired with Fin handle lids,

while others are stamped with the standard P-series model # of the 3rd generation, meaning they deserve knob handle lids. (1 3/4 quart is the only "P-series" cookware piece I currently have)

The P-139 and P-136 Stove Top percolators (1963-1965) seem to have only been available in the "standard" pattern, but the Electromatic Percolator (P-13-EP) predates the Stove top models by 3 years. (being available in 1960 along with the Electromatic Skillet)  It is possible that it is available in the variant pattern.

Speaking of Electromatic Skillets, the Trefoil Electromatic Skillet predates the Cornflower model by 1 year.  Trefoil patterned Electromatics were available in 1960 while the Cornflower patterned version was not made available until 1961.  It seems that ALL three variants were available at some point in Electromatic Skillet form.  Since the Electromatic Immersible Warming Tray was not on the market until 1964, it is possible that a Trefoil pattern was never produced since the pattern was discontinued shortly after in 1965.

The "Scroll" variant (right), was only available on the Electromatic Skillet.  (Note: that though the booklet has the "Standard" pattern and the box states "Trefoil" the skillet that came out of it, is a "Scroll" pattern one)

The variant on the left, however, appears to have been around from the very beginning because of this piece...

The 10 inch Skillet with the Pyroceram lid.  (which isn't available in the "standard" pattern)

It has the "Blurry Blue Ink" dating it to 1960-1961, along with the odd sized 1 1/2 quart and a 1 quart size that have been found in this same variant.

That being said, it appears that the only cookware available in the "standard" pattern, was the 1 3/4 quart, 2 1/2 quart, 11 inch Electromatic Skillet and, of course, percolators.

Where is your Corning Ware??
~~