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Pyrex and Depression glass patterns

The printed patterns on vintage Pyrex and the pressed patterns of Depression glass, how to tell them apart, and the years each was made.

Pyrex 8 symbols

Depression glass patterns 5 symbols

About pyrex and Depression glass patterns

Two kinds of pattern turn up on old American kitchen glass. Pyrex patterns were printed on opal glass bowls and casseroles by Corning Glass Works from 1956; Corning went on to put more than 150 designs on its opalware. Depression glass patterns were pressed into the glass itself, mostly in transparent colours, by companies such as Hocking, Jeannette, Hazel-Atlas and MacBeth-Evans. The pages here give each pattern’s maker, years and colours, from the Corning Museum of Glass, the National Depression Glass Association and collectors’ references, and PYREX and pyrex explains what the two spellings of the brand name do and don’t tell you.

Printed Pyrex patterns

The Corning Museum of Glass’s Pyrex pattern library dates the first printed patterns to 1956, when Pink Daisy and Snowflake came out as “NEW Pyrex Decorator Casseroles”. Butterprint and Gooseberry followed in 1957, the first patterns on the handled Cinderella bowls. Town and Country (1963) mixed printed and solid-coloured pieces. In 1972 Spring Blossom Green and Butterfly Gold launched the Pyrex Compatibles, made to match Corelle dinnerware. Smithsonian magazine notes that turquoise pieces such as Butterprint, and pink ones, are especially popular with collectors.

Pressed Depression glass patterns

The Corning Museum of Glass defines Depression glass as inexpensive, machine-pressed American glassware made between about 1920 and 1950. The National Depression Glass Association says what sets it apart is really the time it was made, and that many patterns were given away as promotional items. Its table of 92 major patterns gives the years of the five here: American Sweetheart (MacBeth-Evans, 1930 to 1936), Cherry Blossom (Jeannette, 1930 to 1939), Mayfair (Hocking, 1931 to 1937), Miss America (Hocking, 1933 to 1937, though other sources give 1935) and Royal Lace (Hazel-Atlas, 1934 to 1941).

Where the two meet

In the 1930s Corning completed a merger with MacBeth-Evans, the maker of American Sweetheart, at Charleroi, Pennsylvania. The Corning Museum of Glass says that merger began the next chapter of the Pyrex story, the colourful opalware of the following decades, and its library notes that the Charleroi plant made clear Pyrex ovenware.

Sources

  1. Pink Daisy, Pyrex Potluck pattern library, Corning Museum of Glass
  2. Snowflake (Turquoise), Pyrex Potluck pattern library, Corning Museum of Glass
  3. Butterprint (White on Turquoise), Pyrex Potluck pattern library, Corning Museum of Glass
  4. Town and Country, Pyrex Potluck pattern library, Corning Museum of Glass
  5. Snowflake Blue, Pyrex Potluck pattern library, Corning Museum of Glass
  6. How Pyrex Reinvented Glass For a New Age, Smithsonian Magazine, 2015, Smithsonian Institution
  7. Are dishes that have the Pyrex stamp with all capital letters made with borosilicate glass? (Ask a Glass Question), Rakow Research Library, last updated 6 August 2025, Corning Museum of Glass
  8. What is Depression glass? (Ask a Glass Question), Rakow Research Library, last updated 9 April 2024, Corning Museum of Glass
  9. What is Depression Glass?, by David Adams, National Depression Glass Association
  10. 92 Major Glass Patterns of the Depression Years, by Joyce Krupey, table, 2002, National Depression Glass Association
  11. Miss America, by Glenita Stearns, Glass Review, June 1981 (reprinted), National Depression Glass Association
  12. Pyrex in the 1930s, The Corning Museum of Glass blog, 2015, Corning Museum of Glass

Last reviewed October 8, 2026 by Rory Hansen. How we research