Sunday, March 6, 2011

Pyrex Primary Mixing Bowl Set Completed!

This is a tale of re-uniting Pyrex bowls to create the timeless classic, a full set of Pyrex Primary Colors Mixing Bowls! You will not believe the serendipity and weirdness in this story of discovery...


I regularly see orphaned Pyrex bowls from the Primary Colour mixing bowl set. Because I had previously come upon an awesome haul of Pyrex Primary bowls and fridgies, I usually leave them on the shelf for others, thinking that perhaps they have a set to complete. However, I saw a craiglist ad for a seller who had a bunch of vintage stuff to sell, and I went to visit her after work one day.


The seller lives in an old brick building on the 5th floor, and it turns out she was leaving the country and had to sell all of her great wares. I made my way up and saw that she had three beautiful Pyrex bowls - the large #444 Butterprint (rough condition, but I just love the pattern), the green 403 and blue 401 in great shape. For $15, I just couldn't say no.


I figured with half of the complete set of Primary mixing bowls that I better be on the lookout for the red and yellow ones to round out the set! I kicked myself for all the ones I had seen and left at various church basements and Value Village's.

Lo and behold, literally within two days, an ad showed up on craigslist for another seller who indicated she had three Pyrex bowls for sale at $15: Yellow, Green and Red...


You will not believe this - She lives in the exact same old brick building as the first seller. This person was also selling them off because she is leaving the country at the end of the month! I thought this was pretty bizarre. Like two ships passing in the mist, these two young women live in the same building and had two pieces each of a full set!  Both sold their precious Pyrex because they were leaving the country, and I happened to the buyer!

I think it is pretty strange... what are the odds? I'm pretty excited about having another set of these beauties, plus extra Butterprint and Verde mixing bowls.


Linking up to ATG's Thrift Share Monday!

19 comments:

  1. Nice that you completed your primary set! We have one complete already but I've been trying to thrift all 4 bowls for my mom over the past year or so. Has taken so long, because we decided to be picky so if the bowl isn't perfect.. makes it a fun game though =)

    ReplyDelete
  2. That is a crazy coincidence! But I'm so glad you could reunite them. Always a good feeling, isn't it?

    ReplyDelete
  3. I need the red one, and I find EVERY other color!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am jealous! Still searching for the blue & green ones, but my aunt told me she would give me her set when I come for my annual summer visit. She is 70 though, so I am hoping she doesn't forget!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Wow, that's insane good luck! I see pieces from that set occasionally, but they are usually so well-used I leave them on the shelf.

    ReplyDelete
  6. What a great story. Now that I think about it, other than well worn ones at church thrifts, I do not see these primary colors on thrift store shelves. You know I will pay more attention this summer.

    ReplyDelete
  7. That's an awesome Pyrex tale! That's what makes thrifting so fun. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. That is the craziest story! It's a small Pyrex world :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. What are the odds of that?! How lucky you are! We are happy that you completed your set.

    Have a great day,
    Laura and Michele

    ReplyDelete
  10. These kind of stories give me chills!!
    Luck, fate...who knows what to call it :)

    ReplyDelete
  11. That is awesome! Funny how things work out some time!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Oh that is so bizarre! I wonder if they were twins separated at birth or some crazy story like that!

    ReplyDelete
  13. Cool story. I'm still looking for the elusive red bowl. The only primary bowls I see in the thrift stores are either yellow (and I have 2) or colorless except for a thin stripe of color under the band.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Thanks for all the comments everyone! I do feel a bit bad for the two sellers - I'm sure they weren't too thrilled about having to give up their belongings in order to move away from Canada. They seemed happy it was going to a good home. :) I'm glad that most of the bowls were in great shape!

    ReplyDelete
  15. I've also seen the largest bowl in the prettiest pink. My country-barn-sale-expert sister-in-law has found more than one.

    ReplyDelete
  16. Impressive. Antique stores in my area carry the full set for $90+, saw them in photos for an estate sale and went only to see how much they were going for... a thrifty $75!

    ReplyDelete
  17. I love your Pyrex tale! Very neat. I just started collecting a couple months ago, and have managed to build quite the collection. It's so addicting! I'm not patient...so I just bought my Primary set on Craig's List for $40. They are MINT, so I figured this was a good deal!
    I'll be following you
    Erica :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. I have a set of the primary color mixing bowls that I inherited from my grandmother. My children (40 years old) still believe a yellow pyrex bowl equals chocolate chip cookies. I also am an addicted Goodwill shopper. Could not believe my eyes when I saw a complete primary set perched on a shelf. For an old lady, I moved pretty fast to get to that set of bowls. As I was checking out, I received several comments of "wish I had seen them first!", or "Those bowls are kind of valuable." I just smiled and paid my $15.00.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...