Saturday, August 31, 2013

thrift store spoils, ch. 2: Cora barware and some Tupperware



I stopped in at my usual thrift haunts only a couple of times this week, because two of my kids returned to high school on Monday, causing us all to be busy, busy, busy with the usual back-to-school stuff. Meetings. Shopping trips. Forms. (I swear, I need to commit the dates of all of my kids’ latest Tetanus shots to memory. It would save me repeated trips up the stairs.)

Still, I did pick up a few things, including items like those my Florida Mamaw used to own.


I inherited several yellow, orange, and green Tupperware Servalier canisters from Mamaw, though I’m pretty sure that they weren’t all originally hers. (One day I'll write about her tendency to thrift shop, storage-war shop, and hoardway before it was cool!) These canisters are so retro-stylish for storing gum and candy, granola bars, and even odd batteries and such right there in the open on the kitchen counter. So I buy more as I find them. Until now, though, I've had none like this yellow one, which I think is called a SnackKeeper Tall Sevalier Canister? The top is rounded like the others, but the bottom is more squared off.

I also picked up pieces of Sheffield Serenadetwo bowls and a small platter (or perhaps it's a bread and butter plate?). Again, I have several dinner plates from Mamaw in this pattern, as well as a few pieces I found thrifting over the past couple of years. (I see this pattern often in thrift stores in my area.) I don’t want to collect the entire set. But I like platters, and I convinced myself that I needed these modly shaped bowls, because I’d never seen them before in the wild.




I found these ultra-cool rocks glasses in a GW. They’re signed “Cora” in gold, although it’s difficult to make out even in person, because of the herringbone pattern. (I had to leave the store, go to my vehicle in the parking lot, retrieve my over-the-counter readers, and return to the store—just to be able to read the name.) I’ve searched and found other barware by Cora online, but I’ve yet to locate this exact line. So I can’t really tell you a thing about the age of these glasses. But they’re ultra-cool.




More butterflies! They’re similar to the ones Mama bought when she went thrifting with me, and they’re made by Homco.
 


I understand that most folks don’t much care for the brown and tan Pyrex patterns. That’s what I’ve read, anyway. But I like them, because I love most things brown. And I had to scoop up this 1 ½ oz. (442) Cinderella bowl in Sandalwood. I did some research (on Corelle Corner, a fun and informative site for Pyrex nuts, let me tell you) and discovered that this pattern was only the fourth one that Pyrex used on their then-new Cinderella bowls. The Cinderella bowls were introduced in 1957, while the Sandalwood version came out in 1961. 




Three more of the Fortune plates by Homer Laughlin, like the ones I found the other day.

While I had these in my hand at the thrift store, I listened to a painful conversation (that carried from the next row) between two ladies who'd come in together. One of them had just learned that it was senior day at the store and that the discount was 35%. So the ladies were trying to figure out what a $2 item would cost them with the discount. The back and forth took about a minute, and one of the ladies even took out her cell phone to help her calculate. It was excruciating. 




An odd sampling of plates, I know.  But who can resist Blue Heaven? And the price was right.



I found two small Star Glow plates! (I actually like the logo on the back more than the design on the front!)


I'll have to stock the bar if I plan on trying all of the drink recipes written on this fun frosted cocktail tumbler by Federal Glass that I found.



I bought this frosted glass (the Organ Pipe), because I already have another in this series (the Century Plant). For great info by folks who love the Blakely series, check out this ode-to-Blakely site. There, I learned that these glasses were giveaways at Blakely Gas stations in Arizona in the 1950s and 1960s. (So they were collectible before becoming collectible!)




The blue refrigerator dishes here are in nice shape; the red, not so much. There were actually two of the red ones on the GW shelf, but I took only this one. The other was in even worse shape (over-dishwashed). This one, I thought, I could nurse back to health with a bit of Bar Keeper’s Friend. But, alas, I couldn’t. It’s still a little dull.



Yay! Another magazine rack. If you're interested, please see my post about my magazine racks here. (I’m a nut.)





I found a never-used Tupperware Gel-Ring Mold. In the 1970s, Mama would make a yummy (in a 1970s sort of way) Jello dish in her own Tupperware mold. Think green jello and cottage cheese. I loved it.

This mold is from the 1990s. I know this, because I have measuring cups out of the same speckled color—measuring cups that I bought at an actual Tupperware party. (Does this make me vintage?)