Holiday Gifts : Confessions of a Pyrex-Maniac

Since I’ve been a virtual lifelong collector of a wide variety of things, I suppose it was only a matter of time until I started acquiring kitchen collectibles, mainly those extremely well-made, well-designed Streamline/Deco appliances.

It started this way: I fell heir to a Pyrex skillet, a relic from my father’s old motorboat, and a friend gave me the bottom portion of a Pyrex double boiler, found at a Big Bear garage sale. By now, nearly 15 years later, I must have more than 50 pieces of vintage Pyrex, ranging from a rare teapot to virtually all the known pieces in that blue-tinged glass to the even earlier stuff with the golden hue. With Pyrex you have to draw the line, however; they’ve been making so much of it for so long you really must restrict yourself to the more distinctive older pieces.

But Pyrex was only the start. I rescued my grandmother’s circa-1939 Sunbeam coffeemaker just as my mother was about to throw it out; this two-part chrome Streamline Moderne item is one of the most frequently seen objects at flea markets. The challenge comes from finding the tray and the sugar and creamer that go with it. My mother had already pitched out the matching Sunbeam half-round toaster, but I replaced it, eventually getting the proper tray for it plus the hard-to-find half-round glass divided condiment-and-toast tray.

By then I was really hooked on coffeemakers, and I now have a bunch of Silexes in varying sizes, most with their own hot plates. I also acquired a cranberry flash Kent coffeemaker--not, surely, as valuable or rare as the cranberry Silex. (I once went to a glass, pottery and china show--I collect numerous items in those categories--and one display consisted entirely of a cranberry Silex and one of those cherished World War II glass irons.)

I then began gathering up all those wonderful attachments to my mother’s circa-1950 Sunbeam Mixmaster--there’s even an ice cream maker, if you’re lucky enough to find one; later, I couldn’t pass up one of those 1957 turquoise Mixmasters in perfect condition. One toaster wasn’t enough either. I found an irresistible and reasonably priced Toast-O-Lator--that’s the one that employs a conveyor belt: You stick in a piece of bread at one end and it comes out as toast the other end. Then I bought a rare Blue Willow ceramic toaster, made in Toledo in 1930. I even found a Blue Willow toast rack to go with it.

I also found a couple of dark green Bakelite Hotpoint electric timers from the ‘20s, as pure and elegant an example of Art Deco as you will ever see. Similarly, you will never see anything more emphatically Streamline Moderne than a Hollywood Liquifier, a blender that looks like the prow of a futuristic ocean liner; the trick is locating the recipe book that goes with it--one health drink suggests blending liver and chocolate!

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Having acquired a sizable cache from a late relative, I’m not into utensils--yet. But I do have a nest of Bauer bowls and a nest of blue Hazel Atlas bowls. There’s only one catch to all this collecting--I have yet to learn how to cook!