It is the model mark on the base of the rectangular Pyrex butter dish. The cover is often unmarked and is identified as 72-C on parts lists, by fit. A different molded number is a different dish. Do not guess the size from the photo and then borrow this number.

Is Butterprint the same as a butter dish?

No. Butterprint is a pattern, usually on mixing bowls and some other pieces, including some 72-B dishes. The bowl guide is the bowl. This guide is the covered rectangle. A 72-B with that print is both a butter dish and that pattern. Say both. Do not list the bowl here.

The cover has no number. Is it the wrong lid?

Not from that alone. These covers were often left unmarked. The test is whether it sits the base correctly and whether you are willing to call the pattern a match. If it rocks or the print is a different design, say mismatched. Do not invent a molded 72-C that is not in the glass.

How much is a Pyrex butter dish worth?

A Pyrex butter dish is the covered rectangle marked 72-B on the base. Butterprint is a mixing bowl. The print, the lid, and chips decide the search.

By WorthLast updated October 26, 2026Kitchenware Thrifting Journal

Short answerA Pyrex butter dish is the covered rectangle whose base reads 72-B. The cover is often unmarked. Butterprint on a mixing bowl is a different object. The print, a missing cover, and chips at the corners change the sale. Compare sold listings of that base and that print. A photo of the lid cannot show the number.

The Pyrex butter dish people mean is a rectangular covered dish, longer than it is wide, sized for a stick of butter. When it is that dish, the base is marked 72-B. The cover is often unmarked. Parts lists used by people who replace lids call that cover 72-C, the C for cover and the B for base. If your base says a different number, you are holding a different dish. Do not borrow 72-B comps for it. A margarine dish with a plastic lid is a different number again. Read the glass before you pick the title.

The print is a second fact, not a synonym for the form. A 72-B in Butterprint, a 72-B in a gold floral, a clear 72-B, and an amber 72-B are four searches that share a shape. Butterprint on a mixing bowl is not any of them. The bowl has its own guide. Dating the stamp, the country line, and a microwave warning is the journal note on Pyrex backs. This page is the dish: both pieces, the print you can name, and the chips at the rim and the corner, which are where this thin glass fails.

What should you look for?

72-B on the base: The model number molded in the bottom, with the Pyrex line and the country or trademark wording. Photograph the whole bottom. A number you cannot read is a dish you have not identified. Extra small digits are mold marks. Do not promote them into a second model or a year.
The cover: A glass cover that sits the length of the base. It is often unmarked, so you match it by fit, not by a number you wish were there. A chipped knob, a cracked corner, and a cover from a different pattern are the usual problems. Say if the cover is missing. A base alone is a base alone.
Print or clear: Name the print only if you can see it: Butterprint, a floral you can actually identify, clear glass, amber. If you cannot name the print, describe the colors and show them. Do not call a clear dish Butterprint because both are associated with butter. Clear is clear.
Chips at the corners: The rim of the base and the rim of the cover chip first. A flake you can catch with a nail is a chip. Show both rims in a raking light. A dishwasher-dulled print is condition on an opal piece. It does not change 72-B into a rarer number.

What moves the price?

Form plus print: Comp 72-B against 72-B in the same print and with or without the cover. A Butterprint bowl price is the wrong column. A complete covered dish and a lone base are different sales. One pretty sold listing of a different floral does not price the clear dish in your hand.
Completeness: Base and cover, matching or honestly mismatched. A mismatched cover can still be useful. It is not the complete object. Say so in the first line. Buyers of this dish are often replacing a broken cover. They need the truth more than a styled photo.
Chips and stains: Corner chips, a crack that has started at the rim, and a stained interior on opal glass. Stains in milk glass and opal are hard to move. Do not claim you will soak them out if you have not. Show the stain. A sound clear dish with bright glass is the easy listing.
Not a bowl: Nesting mixing bowls, a casserole, and a refrigerator set are other Pyrex. The dating note explains the stamp they share. The number on this base is the split. If you wanted a pattern guide, open that pattern. If the glass says 72-B, stay here.

Where can you sell it?

eBay: 72-B, the print or the word clear, cover or no cover, and the chips. Photos of the bottom and both rims. A lone chipped base may not clear a label once you read the current fee. A complete dish in a named print is the listing that can.
Local: Right for a chipped useful dish and for a heavy lot of mismatched lids. A cook will buy a sound clear dish to use. A collector wants the print and the cover. Know which person you are talking to before you price it as scarce.
Keep: A sound covered dish is a butter dish. That is a successful thrift buy even when it is not a flip. Wash it by hand if the print is already tired. The dating article is how you stop calling a new stamp a 1960s dish.

What can a photo settle?

The base bottom with 72-B readable, the cover from above, both rims, and the print in daylight. Worth can call a covered rectangle a butter dish. It cannot read a number you left in shadow, tell Butterprint on a bowl from a floral on this dish if you only shot the lid from across the room, or see a corner chip you set down on the table.

What else do people ask?

What does 72-B mean?: It is the model mark on the base of the rectangular Pyrex butter dish. The cover is often unmarked and is identified as 72-C on parts lists, by fit. A different molded number is a different dish. Do not guess the size from the photo and then borrow this number.
Is Butterprint the same as a butter dish?: No. Butterprint is a pattern, usually on mixing bowls and some other pieces, including some 72-B dishes. The bowl guide is the bowl. This guide is the covered rectangle. A 72-B with that print is both a butter dish and that pattern. Say both. Do not list the bowl here.
The cover has no number. Is it the wrong lid?: Not from that alone. These covers were often left unmarked. The test is whether it sits the base correctly and whether you are willing to call the pattern a match. If it rocks or the print is a different design, say mismatched. Do not invent a molded 72-C that is not in the glass.