On September 17, 2013, Pyrex collectors around the world watched in anticipation 
as the holy grail of Pyrex, the Lucky in Love 473 1 Qt Round Casserole, went up 
for auction. Not since Sotheby's sold Picasso's Le Reve for $155M has an item garnered this much attention. Ok, perhaps that's a slight exaggeration.   

Nonetheless, online social sites like the Pyrex Passion facebook group lit up as the final minutes of the auction counted down. Collectors across North America and as far as England watched... and waited.

The auction was listed on September 10 with a flirtatious starting price of $.99. Within three hours the flurry of bidding had landed at $550. Two days later, the price was up to $1,125. For those considering a bid, it was time to seriously consider skipping this month’s mortgage payment.

As the top bid stayed put at $1,125 for two days, questions started to circulate in the online social networking sites: Who was the seller? Why was she selling? Who was the highest
bidder? What if they didn't pay? How much would insurance cost? What would be the winning bid? Scandal and speculation ensued.

The day before the auction ended, bidding had inched up to $1,275.54. Looks like that $.54 was a winning strategy, but it didn’t last long. As the “15-minutes left on your watched item” alarms went off around the world, collectors hushed their families, grabbed multiple mobile devices to keep an eye on the auction and chat simultaneously and watched the drama unfold. And then, it happened…

The Lucky in Love casserole was produced as a test pattern in late 1959 at the Corning plant in Charleroi, PA. It contains green grass around the base with two four leaf clovers in the middle. Pink hearts of various sizes are printed around the center of the casserole. An innovative part of the design was the inclusion of an opal lid, which would not reappear on any consumer products until opal lids became standard on many patterns in 1972.

In 1958 and 1959, Corning started releasing seasonal promotional items. In 1959, Corning released the first 470 set consisting of 471, 472 and 473 round casseroles in the Pink Butterprint design. The round casserole shape was new and proved so successful that the casseroles were quickly offered on all standard patterns of the time: Turquoise Butterprint and Pink Gooseberry.
 
Unfortunately, the Lucky in Love design was not produced for mass market sales. As shown in the photo above, the green color of the grass bleeds through the pink heart design. This would likely not pass the quality standards at Corning for Consumer Products. The few samples of the casseroles that remain were likely discarded and taken home by employees. The Corning Museum of Glass has the original bowl used to test the green pattern in their collection in Corning, NY.

Thanks to a recent discussion with a PYREX collector, the date of the Blue Tulip 043 1 1/2 Qt Oval Casserole is now known to be 1964. The collector recently 
acquired a new-in-box (NIB) casserole which included the original brochure showing Corning's consumer product line from the time: Golden Honeysuckle, Early American and Town and Country items. The model number, 5164, indicates the  casserole was produced in 1964.

The same design was also offered in gold on brown on a 043 1/2 Qt Oval Casserole and the larger 045 2 1/2 Qt Oval Casserole. The gold on brown casseroles are quite hard to find, leading some collectors to speculate that this version was produced as a test pattern and not available for purchase. The exact date of production for the gold on brown version is unknown, but presumed to be during the same time period.