Butterfly Gold (Pyrex pattern)

How to read it

Gregory Mirow designed Butterfly Gold, and Corning brought it out in 1972 as one of the first Pyrex Compatibles, made to go with the Corelle dinnerware pattern of the same name, released in 1970. The Corning Museum of Glass’s Pyrex pattern library says the Pyrex pieces came in two colours, the orange tone of the Corelle pattern and a coordinating brown. Pyrex Love, a collectors’ reference, describes it most often as a yellow-brown pattern on white, with white on yellow-brown also made. Pyrex dropped the pattern in 1981; the Corelle dinnerware went on for many years after. PYREX is a registered trademark of Corning Incorporated (see PYREX and pyrex).

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The 1972 and 1979 designs

The pattern was released twice. The museum describes the 1972 design as one large central flower flanked on each side by a leaf, a flower and a butterfly, on alternating white and orange bowls. The 1979 design is a bouquet of smaller flowers on stems, and was sold only as nesting bowl sets and 470 and 480 casseroles. Pyrex Love describes a variation with the butterflies and flowers set on wheat stalks, and notes that some mugs and casseroles have flowers but no butterflies.

Imperial and metric capacities

In the early 1970s Corning stamped capacities on its dishes in imperial measures, and by the late 1970s in metric. Butterfly Gold was at its height in between, so some pieces carry both, the museum says.