Author: Doug

Thrift store stop on the way to the office. (The red slash means 50% off.) Hostess casseroles/serving bowls and ramekins were sold from 1949 to 1953. These 407s are the smaller of the two sizes of ramekins. Their condition is remarkable for being over six decades old.

1969-1972 Horizon Blue Cinderella 440 set. Finally found the 444. The condition isn't as good as hoped for, but it displays well enough.

Verde, 1967 - 1972. The pattern was marketed for five years, and it's also how long it took to satisfactorily complete this set. For some reason, the bowl most often seen with DWD in nesting four bowl sets is the 1-1/2 quart 402 or 442. So often, in fact, that at one store I even saw a DWD 442 offered free with the purchase of the other three bowls. Patience was its own reward here, however, as the 441, 443, and 444 were Goodwill finds at $8 total; the long-awaited non-DWD 442 $10 by itself.

The set that never was. The Early American (1962-1971) nesting round bowls set did not include a 4-quart. The 404 only existed in a gift set as a cradled casserole with a knob top lid borrowed from the 026 3-quart round casserole, which also happened to fit. The existence of white on brown 401 and 403 bowls suggests Corning may have toyed with the idea of marketing a 4-piece 400 set with alternating color bowls, but it never officially happened.

Sandalwood 1961-1962. Limited to a Cinderella 440 nesting bowl set and a Cinderella 470 Bake, Serve and Store set. Extremely rare refrigerator sets and a butter dish exist, but neither appeared in catalogs.

In 1987, and a year after the last opalware versions were discontinued, the three smallest 400 series nesting bowls were produced in clear glass and supplied with plastic covers as part of the Storage Plus Storage System. Designated 7401, 7402, and 7403 , they were also sold as a #7252 set. This traditional 400 series shape disappears after the 1989 catalog. Sculptured versions first appear in 1992 catalogs. There was never a 7404, but there is a sculptured 7404-S. One might be tempted to think the 7404-S is merely a clear 404 given the "sculptured" treatment, but we can see here that an opalware 404 nests comfortably inside it.

"Cinderella Casserole with Cradle" on the box, but "turquoise 'Meadow' decoration" in ads. This one took a very long time and quite a bit of patience. So many of these are seen with DWD, I had begun to wonder if the decoration wasn't even glossy to begin with (it is). It must have been finding the near-mint cradle less than a month ago that did the trick, and made this one finally turn up.

1962 special, Early American 043 oval casserole with mounter #6262. Pieces like this, dishes from a standard pattern collection packaged with an accessory, are separate from what collectors think of as "promo" pieces, which were typically, in terms of color and decoration, different from any seen elsewhere in the Pyrex opalware line. This cradle also appears to have been used for the coveted "Pink Stems" promo.

A new special for 1968, the Verde 2 qt. round 024 casserole with mounter. Also available was the Pineapple 024 promo featuring the same cradle. Marketed in the same time frame was the trading stamp program version of the Verde (aka Square Flowers) 024 casserole, which was oddly supplied with a cradle style Corning had last used for its 1962 Pyrex promos. Verde and Pineapple 024s would later be offered without cradles, and instead with 684 utility lids.

Town & Country standard version Cinderella 470 round casserole set. The 1 qt. 473 is one of two in this pattern collection, the other being orange like the 471 shown here.The orange 473 belongs to the 480 set, allowing it to follow the same color sequence as the 470.