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Pyrex Brittany Blue is an easy pattern to miss, partly because it doesn’t look much like the familiar vintage Pyrex mixing bowls most people know. Its soft blue flowers, narrow decorative bands, and unusual casserole shapes belonged to the short-lived Hearth Group. Brittany Blue was manufactured from 1967 to 1968, so its run was brief compared with many of the company’s better-known designs.
I have a soft spot for vintage kitchenware that does something slightly different, and Brittany Blue certainly qualifies. The delicate flowers have an almost hand-painted look, while some of the casserole pieces are a much darker, plainer blue. You wouldn’t necessarily think they belonged to the same collection if you found them on separate thrift-store shelves.
How Brittany Blue fits into the Hearth Group
In 1967 Corning launched the Hearth Group with two patterns: Brittany Blue and the brown-and-gold Federal Eagle. They were intended for new shapes and sizes of Pyrex ovenware and serving pieces, rather than just another color combination on the usual bowls. The whole line was discontinued in 1968, which explains why you don’t see Brittany Blue as often as patterns that stayed in production for several years.
The mixing bowls are particularly recognizable. There are just two sizes, the 1½-quart 478 and the three-quart 479. Their pale blue background carries darker blue flowering vines, with a narrow border of lines and leaf-like marks around the rim. If the decoration looks slightly purple-blue in some lighting, that doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve found a different pattern.
The unusual Brittany Blue pieces to look for
diazlinda via eBay
The casserole dishes are where this range gets especially interesting. The 483 casserole holds 1½ quarts, while the 485 holds 2½ quarts. They’re rounded dishes without the familiar projecting Pyrex handles, and some have a deep blue exterior with a patterned band near the top instead of the large floral print.
Their lids are worth a second look. The smaller 484 and larger 486 are shallow, dish-shaped pieces that could be turned upside down and used separately for baking a quiche or tart. That’s a clever bit of design, although it does mean an unfamiliar shallow dish in a thrift store could actually be the missing lid from a Brittany Blue casserole. I’d definitely check the model number before passing one by.
There was also a small mug, numbered 489, in two different treatments. One has a light blue background with larger blue flowers; the other is a deeper blue with a white leaf-patterned band toward the bottom. Both versions belonged to the Brittany Blue range, even though they don’t look identical.
How to judge a good find
With Brittany Blue, I’d be especially careful to check the rim decoration, since those fine lines and leaves are such an important part of the design. Look for worn patches, cloudy surfaces, and rough edges, and check any casserole lid for chips before assuming the pieces make a good pair. Dishwasher damage can permanently dull vintage Pyrex decoration, so a faded bowl isn’t necessarily a rare color variation.
A matching casserole and reversible lid would be a particularly satisfying find, especially if both pieces were clean and undamaged. The short production period is part of Brittany Blue’s appeal, but I’d still rather bring home one good example than pay over the odds for a chipped piece just because it’s uncommon.
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