Bex Scott hosts one of her all-time favorite Pyrex and vintage collectors, Nate Smith of @MyVintageIs1976, on the show today. Bex and Nate talk about all things Pyrex from how they got started collecting and Nate’s favorite patterns to Pyrex swaps and overpriced pieces. Nate is a natural educator and happily shares his passion and Pyrex knowledge, which is vast, with all Bex’s listeners.
Bex Scott hosts one of her all-time favorite Pyrex and vintage collectors, Nate Smith of @MyVintageIs1976, on the show today. Bex and Nate talk about all things Pyrex from how they got started collecting and Nate’s favorite patterns to Pyrex swaps and overpriced pieces. Nate is a natural educator and happily shares his passion and Pyrex knowledge, which is vast, with all Bex’s listeners.
Nate, like Bex, started collecting in 2020 through the need to clear out family houses. Once started, he fell in love with Pyrex and dug into research and collecting on his own. While his husband doesn’t share his Pyrex collection love, he is incredibly supportive of Nate’s thrifting, reselling, and the revolving seasonal displays in their home. Nate lets Bex in on the best Pyrex finds he’s made, his most treasured complete collection, and the rare boxes he’s now searching out. They discuss their belief on why kindness and sharing knowledge with new collectors is the best way forward, investigate the differences between pieces named differently in America versus in Canada, and Nate shares his top tips for thrifting success. If you love Pyrex, and you must if you’re here, this is one conversation you won’t want to miss!
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Transcript
Bex Scott: [00:00:02] Hey everybody, it's Bex Scott and welcome to the Pyrex with Bex podcast where, you guessed it, I talk about vintage Pyrex, but also all things vintage housewares. I'll take you on my latest thrifting adventures, talk about reselling, chat with other enthusiasts about their collections, and learn about a bunch of really awesome items from the past. Subscribe now on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you love listening to podcasts so you don't miss a beat.
Bex Scott: [00:00:31] Hey everybody, thanks for tuning in to the Pyrex with Bex podcast. Today I am super excited because I have one of my all-time favorite collectors of Pyrex and vintage on today chatting, and it's Nate Smith. You can find him on Instagram at MyVintageIs1976 and I was super excited when I came across your Instagram, Nate, because I love all the education you provide, all of the things that you sell. I wish I had enough money to buy all of them because they're adorable and I could see all of them in my house. But you were also the friendliest and most open to teaching people about what you know and helping new collectors, and I'm super grateful for that. So welcome to the show.
Nate Smith: [00:01:16] Thank you so much. It's my pleasure to be here.
Bex Scott: [00:01:19] Awesome. So I thought we'd start out with how you got into Pyrex and vintage collecting.
Nate Smith: [00:01:26] That's a great question. I had a lot of tragedy actually in 2020, and my sister and I were forced to clean out both my parents and my grandparents homes. My dad died in September and my grandmother died in October right after. And then my mother went into an assisted living at the time. So my sister and I were left with all this stuff and we were like, what are we going to do? So we just started digging in and having to clean out the houses. And that's in Kentucky and I'm in Texas now, so I would go as often as I could to go and help her out. But as we were cleaning out my parents home, we just kept coming across these beautiful bowls and casseroles in this huge variety of patterns, and my parents came by it, honestly. Me growing up too, if there was a wide spot in the road for a yard sale, if there was a thrift store, my mom would want to stop on the way to town. And just in case they put something out on the way back that she would want to stop on the way back. So she was a double stop thrift store kind of gal.
Nate Smith: [00:02:32] And a lot of these bowls still had the original $2 $4 dollar thrift store tags on them when she picked them up and my sister and I, we took a lot of stuff to the local thrift store just to donate back. But I couldn't take these bowls. I just kept circling back to them, and I just found them to be so beautiful. And so I asked my sister, can I take some of these back to Texas with me? I just want to research and find out a little bit more. And that deep rabbit hole kept going and going and going, and I started as to resell some of the things instead of just donating them. I saw value in them and I told my sister, like, I'm going to sell some of these. And then there were more and more patterns that I couldn't sell back because I didn't want to let go of them, because I started falling in love with them. And then a new collector was born.
Bex Scott: [00:03:31] That's awesome. And do you have family members that collect as well? Does your sister collect?
Nate Smith: [00:03:40] My sister has a pattern that she likes. She does the Colonial Mist, which is great because I don't care for it at all. Even though it's blue, I still don't care for it very much at all. But it was one of the last kind of opal ware patterns that Pyrex put out. And so it's pretty easy, still pretty common to find because it's one of the newer patterns. And so I've helped her complete her collections just in my own sourcing and thrifting and antiquing, I've been able to finish out her collection of Colonial Mist for her. But the next generation, like her kids and her kids' kids, no, I think we're pretty much it in the family. So, and none of my husband's side of the family really collects. So yeah, it's just me. I do enough for all of us.
Bex Scott: [00:04:30] That's like me as well. It's just me right now. We have two boys and a girl, and I'm trying to get our sons into it. I don't think I'm going to be successful, but maybe. Our daughter's only one so there's lots of years to get her into collecting and hopefully passing my collection on to her, because there's quite a bit of it.
Nate Smith: [00:04:50] Yeah.
Bex Scott: [00:04:53] And does your husband share your love of vintage as well?
Nate Smith: [00:04:57] No, not even a little bit. And like, he humors me sometimes and goes with me to the antique stores, but he will find himself bored pretty quick and will ask me for the keys to the car pretty quick because he can go up and down the aisles relatively quickly and just say, yeah, I'm done. But he humors me, like he never makes me feel bad about my collections. He never questions me about anything. So if anything, he is also like all-star drop stuff off at the post office. All-star I have a lot of boxes to box will you help me? Absolutely. So he's roll up his sleeves, all hands on deck when it comes to that stuff. But he's not himself a collector by nature.
Bex Scott: [00:05:51] Yeah, it's good to have that support on that side of things too, with the packing. And that can get to be a lot.
Nate Smith: [00:05:58] Yeah, I turn and burn it pretty quickly. Like I can't let it pile up because then my OCD and anxiety just kind of spirals out of control. So like if somebody buys something, I try my best to hurry up and get it out because if it piles up, then I can feel my anxiety increasing.
Bex Scott: [00:06:17] Yeah. I remember buying some little bluebirds from you and they arrived so quickly. I was very impressed. So you definitely do get things out the door quickly.
Nate Smith: [00:06:30] Thank you, thank you.
Bex Scott: [00:06:32] And what does your home look like for displaying your Pyrex and your other vintage items?
Nate Smith: [00:06:39] Yeah. Good question. So again, I'm very lucky to have a husband who gives me that kind of creative license, but under a watchful eye of control, which is also good. We live in Texas, so there is no basement. The land of basements is not in Texas, so there aren't a lot of basements here. So I just have to make do with what we've got. And so I have kind of a prized hutch collection of my Pyrex kind of in our sitting room. And then we have some display cabinets in the kitchen that I display pretty regularly. And then I have a rotating seasonal display as well. Other than that, it's usually put in a what I call my Pyrex closet that I use to rotate things in and out for display. And then I also have an inventory room, which is where all the things that I have in preparation for my upcoming Instagram sales or Pyrex swaps kind of lives. So no kids. So easy to just put that stuff in the extra bedroom.
Bex Scott: [00:07:49] Yeah, yeah, that sounds like a very organized way to do it. I might have to implement some of that, because I took over our extra bedroom in the basement of our old house, so my parents and my in-laws weren't able to stay over anymore. So that was the Pyrex room. That was an issue. And now we have more storage in this house, but it's quickly escaping the storage room and making its way into other places. So definitely need a new system.
Nate Smith: [00:08:19] I could easily fill every cabinet and every display shelf and every closet with my collections. And so then I just kind of realized, yes, I love to look at this, but I know not everyone else does. And so that's why I just make sure I rotate things out so that I can appreciate it not all year long, but for a significant amount of time. And then when I'm tired and I want to see something different, I can pull something else out of the closet.
Bex Scott: [00:08:48] Yeah, that makes it fun too, coming up with new displays and seasonal things. Mhm.
Nate Smith: [00:08:54] Yeah, absolutely. And my collection too has evolved, I will say. So a lot of the things that I used to collect, like I've kind of pared down. So I don't do a lot of like, when I started collecting I had every refrigerator set. And so then over time I've gotten rid of most of those. I collected a lot of the bowl sets. I don't do any Cinderella bowls in my collection, so I give myself rules in my collection so that it allows for easier storage and better and better collections.
Bex Scott: [00:09:27] So is that just a change in taste of what you were collecting?
Nate Smith: [00:09:31] Yeah, I think based on what I heard from some of your previous podcasts, we started out very similarly in that if I saw it, I bought it because like, I felt like it was finding gold in a thrift store or finding, you know, and when we first started collecting, because I was right around the same time, 2020, you know, beginning of the pandemic, it was hard to find even in antique stores, if the antique stores were even open, like you weren't finding it. I feel like everybody was just grabbing it when they saw it. And so when I did come across a piece or pieces, I grabbed it if it was affordable and it was in my budget. So that's kind of how I started. And then as you grow as a collector, you start realizing, what do you really love? What patterns do you really want to dive into and collect? I ended up collecting the entire Horizon Blue pattern. That's my favorite kind of standard pattern. So I have the entire line. And then from there you just kind of start realizing, like, okay, I use these seasonally, those I don't use at all, so they're just sitting there, I would rather either pass them on to someone who can appreciate them more than I am right now. And that's kind of how I started becoming a reseller on Instagram.
Bex Scott: [00:10:49] That's very similar to kind of how I started as well, because like you said, there were no antique stores. I bought most of it on Marketplace and not knowing what dishwasher damage and what a bowl should look like at the very beginning of my collecting, I think I bought a ton of dishes and bowls and pie plates that I really shouldn't have. They were luckily cheap. But yeah, looking back, there's a lot of things that I wouldn't get now, but it was fun. The process of it, learning about them and starting to resell the ones that I didn't use very often, and it's all part of the Pyrex fun, I think. So it's worth it.
Nate Smith: [00:11:28] Absolutely agree.
Bex Scott: [00:11:30] And what have been some of your best Pyrex finds that you've had?
Nate Smith: [00:11:34] Good question. And I don't know, have you ever been to a Pyrex swap?
Bex Scott: [00:11:39] I haven't. I don't think we have many in Canada. There's been 1 or 2 that I've heard of, but I feel like they're really common in the States, which is sad that we don't have them as much here.
Nate Smith: [00:11:50] Yeah, and they're growing. Like there are a couple near me that are starting up this next year. I know both Oklahoma and Arkansas are starting swaps and at least closer to you I know there's one in Wisconsin and one in Michigan. So depending on where in Canada you are, right. So there have been some amazing finds at Pyrex swaps just across the country. And for the listeners who aren't familiar, it's basically just kind of a focused flea market. You know, all vintage is up for grabs, like anybody can come and set up at these Pyrex swaps, but it's kind of a definite focus on Vintage Kitchen and Pyrex at these, kind of just I don't want to call it a convention, but depending on how many vendors there are, you know, like Michigan had like 60 plus vendors, Tennessee had over 60 vendors. So a lot of people come from all over the country. I went last year to Pyrex Fest in Maryland. And you do, you find treasures. And it's not just Pyrex. You also find vintage Christmas and other treasures all along at these swaps. And so you never know what you're going to find, because people are coming from all over the country to these swaps.
Nate Smith: [00:13:04] In addition, like great antique stores, great thrift stores, like you, I definitely turned online both and Marketplace and Facebook or even eBay to find some great finds that I feel like I was in the right place at the right time and was able to pounce and and grabbed it. And so that gives you that thrill. So obviously there have been just some wonderful things. Dallas where I live, it's pretty dog eat dog. So like I don't do estate sales because the lines are just mammoth around--
Bex Scott: [00:13:41] Oh, I bet.
Nate Smith: [00:13:41] I feel like there are a lot of antique stores and a lot of resellers here in such a large metropolis metropolitan area. And so I feel like the competition is high. And so I just say, you know, I'm not from here. I don't know anybody. I don't have any inside tracks here in Dallas. And so I just leave that to them. And so I turn mostly to either the people I know in the Pyrex community or online, mostly, for my finds.
Bex Scott: [00:14:10] Yeah, I'll have to start looking for Pyrex swaps, because that's something that I've watched on people's Instagrams that look so fun, and just seeing what they've found from going to them is a lot better than going to the antique stores. We have a ton of antique stores around here, and they're all super overpriced, so it's very rare to find something affordable that's on your list there. But I keep trying.
Nate Smith: [00:14:36] Yeah. And sometimes even at the swaps you think it's a gather of collectors, but also it's just people who are vendors. And a friend of mine found a Lady on the Left Butterprint 503, so the large refrigerator dish, priced as if it were a regular refrigerator dish. And so that was a huge score for her. And I was like, because even as collectors and it was like midway through the swap and how many people were there and had noticed and just like, oh, it's just another 503. And she took the time to really pay attention and realize that it was a Lady on the Left. And so big score for her. We were all just like cheering her on. It was so awesome.
Bex Scott: [00:15:22] That's awesome. I would be very excited if I found that. And it does make a difference if you take the time to look through things and you can find stuff like that if you're patient.
Nate Smith: [00:15:33] Dig a little bit. Absolutely. Yeah.
Bex Scott: [00:15:34] Yeah. Mhmm. So what would you say are the most prized pieces in your collection?
Nate Smith: [00:15:41] So I will say that as my collection evolved, I have definitely kind of refocused on two major categories. Like I'm never going to get rid of any of my Horizon Blue. That's part of my complete collection, but focused for me now as far as Pyrex goes, I collect the boxes. The boxes have been a wonderfully deep rabbit hole that I have just absolutely fallen in love with the original artwork on the boxes. And then the rares. So those pieces that were either test patterns or things that were maybe one-offs that people made in the factories, and I've even found some people from other people who found out from people who worked there at the factory. A friend of mine bought some pieces directly from someone who used to work there, and he told my friend that basically after hours they could go down into the basement, and if there was already a pattern and already colors and anything, they could just mix and match things in a way for their wives or for anybody that they wanted to. And so he was able to find a Snowflake Cinderella bowl set that somebody had made their wife. And like, obviously that doesn't exist. And so it was amazing. Absolutely. And so for me, obviously, I'm lucky enough to own the Lucky in Love and I own the Constellation, Oh My Stars as it's called sometimes. I own a one of a kind, which is the Tulips, it's usually a white on blue, the 043 Tulip pattern, and I have it as a gold on cream.
Bex Scott: [00:17:29] Oh that would be pretty.
Nate Smith: [00:17:30] It's just beautiful. I have the Clover Berry. I mean, I'm so lucky to have so many of the rare pieces. And that's actually another reason why I'm still buying and selling on Instagram. You know, My Vintage Is 1976 was kind of born because like, I want to buy and sell. And then that kind of goes into my little Pyrex fun money stockpile that I can afford some of these things that I want to treat myself with. So.
Bex Scott: [00:17:57] And the Lucky in Love, there's two different versions, right?
Nate Smith: [00:18:01] I don't know what you mean. There's the clear. You know, that's kind of the new version that they kind of reissued that's pretty common that you can find. I think it was done, you know, not so long ago. But then it's on the opal.
Bex Scott: [00:18:17] Is there one without hearts? Does it have hearts?
Nate Smith: [00:18:19] Oh okay. Now. Yes. So there is one I think in the Corning Museum before they added the hearts. And that's the reason that I also have heard why it never made it to the run. On mine you can see that this is 100% true, the way they layered the paint, so there's some overlap with the heart over the shamrock. And you can see the green shamrock through the light kind of bubblegum pink. And I think so then it didn't pass their standards that you could see one through the other. And so then that's kind of why they stopped production or it never made it to market.
Bex Scott: [00:19:01] Interesting.
Nate Smith: [00:19:03] Yeah. Yeah. And the reason my second guess is there's a one of a kind, I think that's on the 475, the large casserole. And my friend owns that one and so. It'd be pretty cool to stack a 473 on a 475 just to see it.
Bex Scott: [00:19:19] Yeah.
Nate Smith: [00:19:20] You know, but.
Bex Scott: [00:19:21] That would be very cool. That's awesome. With all of the information that's out there, what's something that people, it's kind of like how do you say it, that isn't accurate that people talk about Pyrex? That you'd say that's kind of like a misinformation about Pyrex, if there is any.
Nate Smith: [00:19:40] Sure. Well, I see a lot of times people will say Pyrex as the brand, you know, and Pyrex is a product within the Corning company, you know, so Corning that also made Corelle, that also made Corning Ware, also made Pyrex. So it's easy to talk about, you know, Pyrex as the manufacturer. But they're not, you know, it's just another brand in in the Corning company. A lot of people will call, it's kind of like, oh, you know, you call every adhesive bandage a Band-Aid, you call every facial tissue Kleenex, or every pill Tylenol. You know, I feel like a lot of people will call all kinds Pyrex. You know, whether it's Fire King, Hazel, Atlas, Federal, McKee, any of it. It's just all Pyrex. And I'm like, no, no, it's not. So, that's another one that I'm like, gosh, see that all the time, is that they'll just label it all Pyrex, you know, like it's a one stop shop, one name for all of that kind of cookware. But obviously it's not.
Bex Scott: [00:20:51] Right. Yeah, that's a good point. Lots of my family members do that. They'll bring home something for me and they'll say, I got you some Pyrex. Thank you very much. But it's glass, actually. And are there any pieces that you're still on the hunt for in terms of Pyrex?
Nate Smith: [00:21:15] Always, always. You know, and it's so easy when in any collection, I feel like, it's so easy to become jealous. And I hate that word, but jealous of other people's collections because, you know, like, oh my gosh, they just have such beautiful... Even if it's just the way they display it. And I hear that often like, oh, I'm so jealous of your collection, but you should be happy with the collection you have. And so, and I oftentimes say, if I never get another piece of Pyrex, the fact that I've been able to be a part of the pieces I currently have history, then I feel beyond lucky. There are several boxes that I would love to add to my collection. If you know the Willow casserole, the cute little 473, I would love to have that box. There are several others. The Penn Dutch promotional friendship pattern. I would love to have that box. The grapes with the little plastic hugger, I think it's a 473 as well. I would love to have that box. Some of the boxes are just really cute, and I would just love to checkmark and add that to my collection.
Nate Smith: [00:22:24] As far as just general rares go, I have the turquoise Hex pattern with the lid and it came with an under plate. So I have two pieces. I have the lid and the casserole, but I don't have the under plate, so I would love to add that to my collection. All kinds. There's all kinds. Yeah, it's so funny though that there are some that they're like, Nate, do you want this or whatever? Because once you get to a certain level, a lot of it is just passed amongst the collectors, right? Like once you hit a certain tier, people call and say, hey, I've got this and I'm going to sell. Or hey, if you ever want to sell this, let me know. And a lot of it is just passed and will never hit eBay and will never hit, you know, the market. So I'm lucky enough to be in a lot of those circles as well. And so there are definitely some pieces that my friends have that I was like, if you ever want to let that go.
Bex Scott: [00:23:17] Yeah, let me know. Have the boxes been pretty hard to find?
Nate Smith: [00:23:25] So I've run across a lot of boxes in person in antique malls. I'm trying to stay very specific. Like I'm trying not to, unless it's just a gorgeous box or Horizon Blue, I'm trying not to do standard line boxes because then that just opens the whole floodgates, right? That's like every pattern, every different casserole, every different everything that, I mean, that's just a lot of boxes. So I'm trying to stay close with just the promotional pieces or the Horizon Blue pieces as far as boxes go, but I'll see several from time to time just, you know, you can tell whether they're Spring Blossom or Butterfly Gold or Snowflake Garland or several others, the Forest Fancies I see a lot, a lot of the later ones, the Shenandoah or the Colonial Mist I'll see pretty often, and you'll see those pop up pretty often on eBay as well, the especially the later ones, because they only have had to be in a basement for, you know, 40 years instead of, uh, 60 years.
Bex Scott: [00:24:37] And my grandma has a storage room right now that nobody knows what's in it. I don't think she even knows. So my hope is that she'll let me clean it out someday soon, and I'll find something great in there.
Nate Smith: [00:24:53] That's every person's goal. And I feel like that's how, that's why so much is hitting the market and has hit the market so much in the last five years, is because I think the generations of people who received these pieces as wedding gifts, as housewarming presents, now are unfortunately of the age that either they've passed and their children are cleaning out their homes, or they're downsizing and going to live their best condo life in the beach somewhere, you know, and they're finally cleaning out that basement. And they've been in boxes for 60 years. And another reason I love boxes is because they can so easily stack in my closet. And so it's so much easier than having to find individual shelves or, you know, trying to pull a balancing act with how many bowls can I stack on top of each other.
Bex Scott: [00:25:52] Can maximize the use of space.
Nate Smith: [00:25:54] Just as if they were in a basement. So I love that.
Bex Scott: [00:25:57] That's my new reasoning for starting to collect boxes. That they stack well, yeah.
Nate Smith: [00:26:02] Absolutely.
Bex Scott: [00:26:02] I'm going to tell my husband right after this. And the number of garage sales I've been to where people have had all types of items and they've said, we got this for our wedding 60 years ago and it never came out of our cupboard. It's just mind blowing. And they're selling it for super cheap because they never wanted it, and they expect that nobody else will.
Nate Smith: [00:26:28] Absolutely. Or if when these were purchased, I've gotten the boxes that still have the original price on the cardboard or even cut slash prices, it was $3.98 now it's $1.99, you know, on super sale. And I'm like, it's easy to understand that they feel like they can sell this for $5 because it was only $2 back then, you know. So I feel like to them, if they're not checking the eBay comps and in the Facebook groups like we are, understandably so, they don't necessarily see or understand why they would be so valuable.
Bex Scott: [00:27:07] Yeah, yeah.
Nate Smith: [00:27:10] Because I've had lots of grandmas see my prices at a swap and just be like, you're crazy. I'm like, I'm really not.
Bex Scott: [00:27:19] Yeah. Oh that's funny. I've had a few of those when I had a garage sale in the summer, and they were all older women coming into my sale and looking through and seeing all these things from their past. And a bunch of them said, you can't sell it for this much, like it wasn't this when I bought it so that's ridiculous. I'm like, well, like, thanks for your opinion, but...
Nate Smith: [00:27:44] Stand over to the side and wait till a couple more customers come through and you'll see this stuff flying out the door. Yeah.
Bex Scott: [00:27:51] That's funny. You mentioned Facebook groups. So how do you feel about all of the Pyrex Facebook groups out there and the information that's being spread about, and yeah. What are your thoughts?
Nate Smith: [00:28:10] So I do have a lot of opinions about that. Now I will say I'm pretty loyal to my Instagram. Obviously I've mentioned it, My Vintage Is 1976. I feel like it's a wonderful place to come and get information. In 2022, I hosted a year-long series called Let's Chat About Pyrex. And so twice a month I did kind of an educational series, it's a great place all the way to start from here's how the numbers work, here's the different patterns, here's maybe pieces you've never seen before. And then I eventually invited guests on so that they could show pieces from their collection as well. So I feel like it's a great visual educational series that you can still go back and watch. The Facebook groups I feel like it became a lot for me, and if I'm being honest, because there's so many different groups and all of them you can sell in this one and you can't sell in that one, or you better not show a picture that doesn't have a rare in that one or it's going to get deleted. So there just became a lot of rules. And so I left a large percentage of the groups. There are a couple that I absolutely love. I'm a member of the one it's called Pyrex Snobs, so I love that one. It's really cute. It's run by my friend Annette. And then I also love the, it's fairly new group, called Homestead Relics, and that's run by my friends Lindsay and Nicole. And they are phenomenal and they have lots of sales, but they also are just open whether you're a new collector or a veteran collector, it's kind of like we all knew them from the swaps and all that stuff, and they were like, let's go do this right. And they have just been phenomenal. I'm so happy to see the success of their Facebook page. It's been great.
Bex Scott: [00:30:08] I'm going to have to go join those groups because I've been considering leaving a lot of the other ones that as a newer collector, I'm scared to ask questions in.
Nate Smith: [00:30:20] Yeah, and and there are some people, whether they're the people who run the page or not, there are people in the Pyrex community, and I don't want to just say Pyrex community because it's most collecting groups, who want to make new collectors feel bad about their lack of knowledge, when it's really not their fault and they're really just trying to learn. And as a former educator, like I was a teacher in the classroom for 15 years, and now I'm a counselor, so I've been in education this is my 25th year. And so it's really hard for me not to want to meet people where they're at because as a kid comes into my classroom, you never know where they're coming from, what their background is, what teachers they had last year, what they know, what they don't know. Maybe they're new to your school. And it's the same way with collecting. There's a whole wealth of reasons why people want to start collecting anything. Could be the passing of a loved one. It could be just they found something and they like it, and they want to know more about it, you know? And it's the people who just want to shut them out or make them feel less than because they don't know the answer that makes me just, it made me want to leave a lot of the Facebook groups originally, so I did.
Bex Scott: [00:31:35] Mhm. And how have you found the community overall? Do you find that it's mostly supportive and friendly?
Nate Smith: [00:31:44] Highs and lows. I'm going to be honest. Because it comes down with different people's personalities. You know, like I've made a lot of people mad in the community. I have people who've blocked me and don't want to talk to me anymore because of the pieces I have and how they think I got them, which it's so funny how it all just, it all spirals like that. But there are also wonderful people and and I feel like as in any group, you get to see these people. I am in the swap circuit. So like I see people a few times a year, you know, when I can and I have my like inner circle of really close friends and then they're just everyone else that you're just friendly with, you know? So I feel like, and just because you see some people a few times a year, sometimes you think people are going to be great people, and then maybe they turn out not to be great people, or you very quickly realize you have a piece that they want and so they're just being kind or nice to you because they, and then when you don't give them what they want then they're like ease on down the road. So yeah like just like in all communities I feel like it's The Breakfast Club. Right? You're going to have all the different kinds of personalities represented. So you just have to find your tribe within this much larger community that can build you up from where you are. And I think that's where you'll get your joy and find your joy.
Bex Scott: [00:33:14] I agree. That's a great way to put it. And I've met a lot of really awesome people who have ended up becoming friends just through Instagram, and those are the ones you want to focus on, the ones that support you with your collecting and learning, and just want to have fun with you throughout the whole process of it.
Nate Smith: [00:33:33] Absolutely agree.
Bex Scott: [00:33:36] And how have you found that collecting has changed from when you first started to now? If it has?
Nate Smith: [00:33:42] No, it definitely has. I feel like, well I find joy that there seems to be a steady stream of new collectors in my world on Instagram, like new customers. So there are new people who seem to be buying Pyrex. So that gives me joy to think that it's not a fad or a flash in the pan that's over. I think there are prices that are getting and becoming astronomical that I'm like, oh my gosh, like three years ago I could find that piece for this and now there's no way I'm touching it for that. You know? Like I see some of the pieces and just how they're escalating on eBay or in some of the groups, you know? So I think that has changed. But I do think the joy and love that people get from collecting Pyrex is continuing to spread. Just like I said, there are new Pyrex swaps in different parts of the countries that are popping up. That tells me that there are new people and new communities gathered together to celebrate this and to find joy in it. And I do think that as long as that continues to happen, then I'm super excited that our community is going to continue to grow. I think that people who did collect during the pandemic, it's kind of like all things, right? Like either now they're to the point of where they're over it and they're done and they're ready to move on. Or like we had said, they're to the point to where they want to fine tune their collection a little bit and make it not just a Pyrex collection, but their Pyrex collection, and have it be a reflection of what they enjoy most and what they find the most joy in. So.
Bex Scott: [00:35:24] What would you say are the most overpriced right now pieces that are out there?
Nate Smith: [00:35:31] So we just came off of Christmas and Christmas always escalates prices. Because we see, whether it be the husbands who are buying something for their wives on eBay or even in the antique stores, people trying to think like, I've saved this back for the customers for Christmas, to think that I'm going to get more out of it, etc. you just never know. So I think that has skewed what I am currently getting ready to say. Overpriced, I feel like everything has gone up, but some of the, well, I don't know, I don't know, no, I don't, I want to say like the Duchess box that went for like five grand a couple months ago on eBay, like that still blows me away. But it was pristine. It was pristine. And even the Duchess in general, which I know is the piece, your unicorn, right? Like it's a beautiful piece. I've had it and sold it. And I've had and sold Pink Stems twice. I just can't keep pink. I just, there's something about I just don't like, I just don't like their pink. So those to me seem the most, or even, oh, here's a good one, Mrs. Maisel. You know, the Mrs. Maisel casserole, the white daisy on pink 045 casserole. That was part of a standard line that was one of the first standard line so maybe a little harder to come by. But I mean, there were thousands out there, but what people were paying for it just because it was on a television show, I was like, well, this was on Murder She Wrote, could I ask more for it?
Bex Scott: [00:37:16] Oh, I love Murder, She Wrote. That's a great one.
Nate Smith: [00:37:19] Oh, girl, we need to be best friends. Jessica Fletcher and I are tight. We're tight.
Bex Scott: [00:37:26] Oh, that's a good point about TV shows and kind of what they do to Pyrex. And I was looking through on Pinterest the other day, which Pyrex pieces have been shown in which shows? And there's so many of them. And this one, yeah, Mrs. Maisel, just everybody gravitated to it and it exploded.
Nate Smith: [00:37:46] Well, and they still call it The Mrs. Maisel casserole. You know, I think it was in the first or second episode that she took something to the comedy club in that casserole. And I was like, there have been four seasons since then. Why are we still focused on that? Is that, did you guys only get to the second episode? But that just kind of came became known as The Mrs. Maisel Casserole. And then people were just paying ungodly amounts for it. You know, but yeah.
Bex Scott: [00:38:15] Yeah. That's the one that always surfaces.
Nate Smith: [00:38:16] A standard line piece. Yeah.
Bex Scott: [00:38:19] Yeah Facebook Marketplace, it's all over here, and it's always dishwasher damaged, and it's always like $300 for the worst condition piece of it.
Nate Smith: [00:38:29] So can I ask you a question? So you are obviously in the land of the North. So to me, like you always want what you can't have. Right? So I feel like in Canada, I hear about these dream Fire King mugs that never kind of made it down to our market, but they always seem so readily available in Canada. And Federal, you know, like you guys, like all the Federal patterns and bowls and they're so pretty. And I never see Federal.
Bex Scott: [00:39:05] Oh really?
Nate Smith: [00:39:06] Like yes. All my friends like in Wisconsin or Michigan said like, oh yeah, it all comes down from Canada. It all comes down from Canada. So I have to feel like you're just living in a Federal and Fire King dream up there.
Bex Scott: [00:39:20] There does seem to be a ton of it. It's always in the thrift stores and people are always selling it on Marketplace, especially the mugs. There's a few sellers in my area who seem to have every mug possible, and they just slowly leak them out on their Marketplace page, and I see them coming up and it's always 'rare, hard to find' like $1 million for this mug. So yeah, there's a lot of it up here. But yeah, if there's anything specific you're ever looking for, it's probably at Value Village.
Nate Smith: [00:39:53] I will, I'll let you know for sure. I was a mug guy for a long, long time. I'm trying to slowly break away from the mugs. We're breaking up. We're on a break. We're on a break. But then, do you know the two US Pyrex patterns that were named differently in Canada?
Bex Scott: [00:40:12] Was one Colonial Mist?
Nate Smith: [00:40:14] Oh, if it was Colonial Mist, I don't know. The two I know, and may have, so Early American was called Early Canadian, I think, because I think they found a box called Early Canadian. And then I think our Shenandoah pattern is called Wintergreen.
Bex Scott: [00:40:33] Oh, cool.
Nate Smith: [00:40:34] And was called Wintergreen in the Canada market.
Bex Scott: [00:40:37] I didn't know that.
Nate Smith: [00:40:39] I would love to have a Wintergreen box. That's the goal. It's the same as Shenandoah, but it just says Wintergreen and I think it's so cute. Like perfect for winter, you know.
Bex Scott: [00:40:51] Yeah. We, I very rarely find Early American here. I think I've found it one in British Columbia once, but it doesn't show up very often.
Nate Smith: [00:41:01] Yeah. I think it was called Early Canadian. I think.
Bex Scott: [00:41:05] That's really cool.
Nate Smith: [00:41:07] Because I mean, that makes sense for Canadian market. If it's called Early American, who's going to buy it in a Canadian market? But that's why the Colonial Mist makes pattern or makes sense too, you know, colonial is so oftentimes associated, just the word, with colonial America. So it would make sense that they would change that name for the Canadian market as well. That's being, that's interesting.
Bex Scott: [00:41:30] That's really cool. One thing I've been wondering for a long time is what is the difference between Delphite and Bluebell? Is there something different? Because I've posted about Delphite Pyrex and I've had people correct me before. So yeah, I was wondering.
Nate Smith: [00:41:49] So I feel like Delphite, so I feel like the bowls here, or the bowls that were created in the US market, are referred to as Bluebell, right? But I feel like you guys had plates and all that kind of dinnerware that I don't necessarily think of as part of that Bluebell pattern. So is that what's considered Delphite?
Bex Scott: [00:42:17] Yeah, I don't, I'm not sure.
Nate Smith: [00:42:18] In Pyrex world?
Bex Scott: [00:42:20] I have a ton of the plates and I never know because I look them up and I get different answers online, so that might be it.
Nate Smith: [00:42:29] Yeah. Like I know there's another Pyrex passion book. There's two different ones. There's one that is the promotionals and the lines, and that's kind of the Pyrex passion second edition. I love it. But then I feel like there's one that focuses on dinnerware and tableware and things like that. So I don't know if it's covered in that one or not, but I don't know the answer.
Bex Scott: [00:42:56] I'll have to take a look.
Nate Smith: [00:42:57] Like I do know in Fire King, which I found this interesting, that they called what we would normally call Delphitec Turquoise.
Bex Scott: [00:43:07] Oh.
Nate Smith: [00:43:09] Yeah. Like if you look in the old Fire King books, like the teardrop bowls, the Swedish modern mixing balls that they did, like those are referenced as Turquoise, not Delphite.
Bex Scott: [00:43:21] Interesting. Huh.
Nate Smith: [00:43:23] Yeah.
Bex Scott: [00:43:24] That makes things even more confusing.
Nate Smith: [00:43:27] Because, like, that's not really turquoise but whatever.
Speaker3: [00:43:30] No, that's definitely not.
Bex Scott: [00:43:35] So outside of Pyrex, you collect other things as well.
Nate Smith: [00:43:39] I do, so I do feel like I in general have an addictive personality, like I, by nature am a completist. So if I collect something, I want as much of it as I can have to say that I've completed the collection, and then I can put it to rest and then move on. So I do love collecting the Holt Howard pixie ware, the little condiment jars and oil and vinegar and dressing cruet, all the things like, I just, I've fallen in love with those wacky little faces.
Bex Scott: [00:44:14] They're very cute.
Nate Smith: [00:44:14] I think they're so cute. Yeah. I do a lot of vintage Christmas, but I'm very specific about what I collect in the world of vintage Christmas. I buy and sell a lot of vintage Christmas, but for me, I collect a very, very small, defined amount of that. And then, as given by my Instagram handle, my vintage is 1976. You can probably guess that I'm a child of the 80s, and so I love a good 80s toy as well. So whether if that's He-Man, ThunderCats, Monchichi, Smurfs, Pac-Man, if it brings back any sort of nostalgia for me, like I'll have a hard time walking away from that. So yeah, that too. Those three: Pyrex, the pixie ware, and the 80s toys are probably my three favorite things to collect.
Bex Scott: [00:45:08] Is it pretty easy to find toys in your area, or do you mostly find them online?
Nate Smith: [00:45:13] It's a mix, so I very rarely go looking for something specific in that world. So that's usually like if I find it and I love it, then I let myself have it. I found a boxed Monchichi in an antique store. And I was like, I can't walk away from this. Like, I want it real, real bad, like, instantly. So, like, stuff like that I have to do. I very rarely go searching for He-Man on eBay or anything like that. I tell myself eventually I'm going to recreate my entire ThunderCats collection that I had when I was a kid. So that's an eventual like, maybe I'll get there goal. But for here and now, like, if I find it and I pick it up, that's great. But like I said, I'm a completist. So if I just find a loose guy in an antique mall or a thrift store, I can't buy it because I know he had weapons or something with him, some little accessory. And if it's not there too, like, I can't because then I'll just drive myself crazy looking for that one little piece that I don't have.
Bex Scott: [00:46:24] That makes sense. Yeah. It has to be complete. Do you have any advice for new collectors that want to get into Pyrex collecting or kind of vintage as a whole?
Nate Smith: [00:46:39] Yeah. So as hard as this may be, I would try to find a Pyrex mentor if you can. You know, someone who's not going to judge you, but someone who's also going to hold your hand and help you through the process. Because while it is super exciting to buy it when you see it, if you see it you buy it, kind of thing, that can become overwhelming very quickly. And so just to have someone kind of put you on pause and say, do you really love this pattern or do you think you're going to eventually love it? Like why or do you just want to buy it because it's Pyrex? You know, something like that. I do think that there are an abundance of resources out there. The Pyrex Passion second edition that I mentioned earlier kind of was my Pyrex Bible when I started. I learned a lot, and I think it's organized very, very well, like the promotionals that you can kind of see with the brief little description in a history of when it came out, all the standard lines and all the pieces within the standard lines. It's organized in a way that I appreciated as a new collector. So I would say find a Pyrex mentor. I would say get a copy of the Pyrex Passion second edition. I would say listen to Pyrex with Bex, and I would say follow Nate, MyVintageIs1976.
Bex Scott: [00:48:09] That is all amazing advice.
Nate Smith: [00:48:10] That's all you need to do.
Bex Scott: [00:48:13] All you need for your Pyrex world domination.
Nate Smith: [00:48:19] That's it.
Bex Scott: [00:48:21] Love it. Well, do you have any other educational tidbits or anything you'd like to pass on to listeners in closing?
Nate Smith: [00:48:33] Absolutely. So I feel like if you are a thrifter, I think it's getting easier to find Pyrex at least than it was a year ago, a year and a half ago, in the thrift stores. I feel like it's showing up again, just like glass. I feel like you couldn't find mid-century glass in thrift stores a year and a half ago, and I'm starting to see it creep back in as well. So I would encourage anybody who is a thrifter to be consistent. If you're going to go, go on a regular basis is the only way you're really going to find something. Like, you might have that jackpot hit every once in a while, but it's the consistency that's really going to help you. I feel like always check the bottom shelf because boxes and other things kind of hide down there. And I would encourage you to do one pass in one direction in a thrift store. And then I would encourage you to turn around and go in the opposite direction. I would encourage you to look with the plates, and you might find some of the casserole lids or other lids that you're looking for. if they put the plates in one section, but a lot of times they'll put the pots and pans in the other section, and a lot of times for a long time, I skip the pots and pans aisle. But then I found like some of the things that they don't know what to do with, like the cradles, are living over there with the other metal pot and pans, and so it helps to look everywhere because you never know where you're going to find something if you're a thrifter.
Bex Scott: [00:50:01] Those are all great points, especially about looking in aisles that you don't expect things to be in. And the bottom. I've found so many things on the floor, like underneath the shelves too. So I've even gone on the floor flat on my stomach, looking underneath shelves. So I will do anything to find a good one.
Nate Smith: [00:50:21] Absolutely. I'm right there with you. I'm all about, you know, rolling up my sleeves and getting my hands dirty. Absolutely. We have this great, it's about an hour east of Dallas, it's called Canton. Canton. And it's called First Monday Trade Days. And it's like this, it's, I mean, it goes on and on and on, and it's this massive flea market that they have this particular weekend of the first Monday each month. And I found so many treasures there. But it's all about, like I said, being consistent. My biggest advice is just be nice, because these vendors who you're talking to, striking up conversation with, you never know what else they have that they haven't put out. But because you are nice and you asked a question that they might dig out of their van for you, or that they have a whole barn at their house that they, you know, were only able to bring so much. And I've been able to do two house picks just because I struck up a conversation with the right people. And so, you know, people always say a smile doesn't cost a dime. And that's 100% true. So I think there's no harm in putting your best foot forward, striking up a conversation with people, being nice and it's not to get something out of it. But sometimes because you are kind, good things will come back to you. And that's my big piece of advice and takeaway for that.
Bex Scott: [00:51:47] Yeah. Kindness definitely goes a long way. And it's, yeah, I agree 100% with what you said. Well thank you so much for chatting with me today. Everybody head over to My Vintage Is 1976 on Instagram. Give Nate a follow. You'll have a ton of fun looking through his posts, looking through what he's selling and up to, and just a lot of great education. So make sure to give him a follow. And thank you so much, Nate.
Nate Smith: [00:52:19] Thank you. It was a pleasure.
