Receta In The Beginning - Corning Ware 1st Generation BPE (Before P# Era - 1958-1959)
So I have been photographing various chunks of my Corning Ware collection over the last couple of months. This was for a 2 fold reason. Firstly, I really didn't have anyplace that I could spread it all out and photograph everything all at once and second, well... there is only so much room for a photo on a blog post and I would have to stand back so far to get it all in that you probably would not be able to see much of anything except a bunch of little blue cornflower shaped dots.
Be that as it may, I decided that I was going about this the wrong way. I should have been organizing my collection by Era and/or generations. You see, there are several "Generations" of Corning Ware and those generations can be grouped together into Eras. To make matters even more confusing, some of the patterns within generations can be broken down into "Editions"... Such as the Floral Bouquet pattern. This is further complicated by the fact that there are separate "series" runs that occur for a short time within a generation that are retired, but then resurface again later... So lets just start at the beginning...
In the first Era (AKA: Fin Lid Era), which encompasses 1958 - 1961, there were actually 2 generations of Corning Ware.... an embossed bottom generation and a blurry blue ink generation... but today I am going to concentrate on Generation 1 (numero uno) from 1958 thru 1959.
In the beginning of the beginning there were no P, B, W, N, A, C, S, DC, F, G, U or L model numbers.. You see, Corning was unsure how well their cookware would be received by the American housewife, so they made a limited number of pieces for the initial release in the fall of 1958 to test the waters..... These would be the 1 quart, 1 1/2 quart and 1 3/4 quart saucepan with fin lids (similar to the Pyrex FlameWare design) along with the 10 inch skillet topped with the infamous pyroceram lid adorn with more cornflowers. With only 4 pieces, it was pretty easy to keep track of what was what, so no model numbers were really needed at this point.
Corning Ware was such a hot seller, that by Christmas retailers were screaming for more. So, in spring of 1959 Corning unveiled 2 additional skillets (9 inch and 7 inch with fin lids), a 2 1/2 quart Saucepan and the famed 8 cup & 6 cup pyroceram lipped percolators (which would later be referred to as P-108 and P-106).
All these pieces, percolators aside, have an embossed stamp on the bottom stating either "Corning Ware" with a volume measurement or, in the case of the skillets, width in inches. (7 inch skillet-top, 1 3/4 quart saucepan-bottom)
or simply "Corning Pyroceram" with no other identifying marks. (bottom of 2 1/2 quart)
There ARE alpha-numeric characters embossed on the pieces as well, as is evident above with the A-19, D 16 and B-34, but these are by no means model numbers... they are glass mold numbers used for quality control purposes. The model numbers we all know and love would not surface until the second Era of Corning Ware in 1962 (3rd Generation) with the the P & W series followed shortly in 1964 by the B-series (and the C-series for Centura coordinated casseroles)
So there you have it.... The 1st Generation of the 1st Era of Corning Ware.
Where is your Corning Ware??