How much is CorningWare Blue Cornflower worth?
Blue Cornflower is the blue flower on white Corning Ware, not Spice of Life. The model code, the lid, and a later stoneware revival are different objects.
Short answerBlue Cornflower is the blue flower on white Corning Ware, not the vegetable Spice of Life pattern. The bottom mark and the model code name the piece. A matching lid is part of it. A later stoneware baker with the same flower is a different object. Compare sold listings of that code.
Blue Cornflower is the blue flower printed on white Corning Ware, the pattern people mean when they say the old blue-flower dishes. It is not Spice of Life. Spice of Life is the vegetable-and-herb pattern, corn and peppers and a menu board, and it has its own guide. Both are white. Both show up in the same thrift aisle. The flower is the whole difference, and mixing their sold listings is how a common square gets a price that belonged to a different search.
The body that made the name is Pyroceram, a ceramic glass Corning sold for the oven and, when the bottom says so, the rangetop. The bottom is the identification: the words Corning Ware, often Pyroceram, a size, or a model code in the P-series or the A-series. Early pieces are often marked with a size, embossed or in blue ink, before those codes. A matching lid is frequently a glass cover with its own code, the cover side of the same number, or a cornflower lid on some pieces. A later stoneware baker that reuses the flower is a different object. It does not inherit the stovetop claim or the old comps. Read the warning on the bottom. Do not test a baker on a burner to settle the argument.
What should you look for?
- The flower
- A blue cornflower, not vegetables. Spice of Life, Wildflower, and French White are other lines. If the motif is corn and peppers, you are on the wrong page. If the motif is a flower and the body is opaque white, stay here and turn it over.
- The bottom mark
- Corning Ware as two words, a Pyroceram line when it is present, Made in USA or Canada, and either an embossed size, a blue-ink size, or a model code. Photograph all of it. A piece with no mark is not identified yet. Do not promote it because the flower looks right.
- The model code
- Codes such as a P-number or an A-number are how buyers search the piece. A suffix that marks the base is not the same as the code on the lid. “Medium casserole” is not a size. If you cannot read the code, say so and show the bottom anyway.
- Lid and knob
- A glass lid with a sound knob, a cornflower lid that fits, or no lid. The knob plastic cracks. A lid from a smaller dish rocks. A cracked lid is a different sale from a missing lid, and both are different from a complete piece. Say which you have.
What moves the price?
- Common square versus odd form
- Square bakers in this flower were made in huge numbers. A stained one-quart with no lid is often a useful baker, not a flip. Percolators, teapots, skillets, and large roasters are less common forms. They still need their own sold comps. “I never see these” at one store is not a census.
- Not the stoneware flower
- A later stoneware piece can wear the same flower and a newer company’s mark, with no model code of the old kind. It is a baker. Comp it with later bakers. Do not borrow a Pyroceram percolator’s sales because both are blue and white.
- Lids
- Complete means the lid that fits this code. Collectors and cooks both want it. A lid alone can sell to someone who broke theirs, as a part, with the code in the title. A dish without a lid is priced as a dish without a lid.
- Cracks, chips, and stains
- A crack from heat is structural. A chip at a tab handle is damage. A brown ring inside is use, and it still has to be in the photo. Crazing that flakes into food is the end of a baker. Do not call a cracked piece vintage character.
Where can you sell it?
- Local pickup
- Common squares are heavy. A local buyer who needs a baker is the honest market when the sold price will not clear a label. Say the model code and whether the lid is there. Let them lift it.
- eBay, for a named form
- Worth it when the code is readable and the form is not the millionth square, or when the lid is the part someone is searching. Title the code, the flower, and the fault. Read the marketplace’s current fee before you wrap glass.
- Use it
- A sound common piece was made to cook. If the bottom says oven, and rangetop only if it says rangetop, a baker you will use is a successful find. The stoneware revival is a new dish. Price it as a new dish.
What can a photo settle?
The flower in daylight, the entire bottom including every word and the model code, the lid and the knob, and the interior. Worth can separate the blue flower from Spice of Life when the motif is in frame. It cannot read a worn code from a side view, and it cannot see a crack under the handle you did not turn toward the light.
What else do people ask?
- Is Blue Cornflower the same as Spice of Life?
- No. Blue Cornflower is the flower. Spice of Life is the vegetable pattern. Both are common white Corning Ware. They are different searches. A square dish does not move from one to the other because both are square.
- Does the flower mean I can use it on the stove?
- The flower is a decoration. The bottom text is the instruction. Vintage Pyroceram was sold for oven use and, on pieces that say so, the rangetop. A later stoneware baker with the same flower is not that claim. Read the warning. Do not test it on a burner.
- The bottom has a size and no model number. Is it fake?
- Not from that alone. Early pieces are often marked with a size, embossed or in blue ink, before the P- and A- codes. Show the mark you have. Search that mark. Do not invent a code that is not printed.