LuRay Pastels ~ Perfect for SPRING!

Yes, it's ANOTHER post about my LuRay Pastels dinnerware collection. The last post, which you can find HERE, I gave the history on my own journey collecting the lovely pastel gems, as well as the history on the dishes themselves. Well, since I've added the "Feedjit" feature on my blog, I can see what people are searching for in google or other search engines. I was surprised by how MANY people were looking for LuRay on the internet...

Somehow, I feel as though I have let these eager searchers down. I wrote information about the dishes and where they were originally made, etc...but I really didn't SHOW my collection too well. (And by the way, I am selling my duplicate pieces here, in case you are looking to add to yours.)

So here is another shot...in my kitchen cupboard, just one of many we madeover, just to show off the LuRay. You can see the before and after HERE. The photo above was taken through the vintage style glass we ordered for the cabinets. It doesn't look this extreme in person, however!

But what I wanted to show were some different pieces I hadn't shown before. Like the set of pastel striped "Go Along" glasses I found 12 years after I started my collection. This was like finding a needle in a haystack. But I finally found them. I have no idea who made them. (Maybe Libby) and we only use them for birthdays and special occasions. (Never placed in the dishwasher either.) The celebration of spring might be a good reason! (Since I'm definitely not a winter person.)

The mixing bowls on the top shelf were long awaited, too. My first sighting of a LuRay mixing bowl was back in 1993 or 94 while attending "Atlantique City" in Atlantic City, NJ. At the time, I was a struggling local TV producer and could not afford such a luxury at the prices they were asking at the time...but it was four or five years later when I finally purchased my first mixing bowl. I finally acquired all 4, the green bowl was found relatively cheap, which is why I don't always support buying on ebay. Sometimes it is much more fun getting them at a great price! It just takes longer, if you have the patience.

Something I did not mention in my last write up about LuRay, is the book I bought, shown in the photo above. It is the ultimate book on LuRay pastels, by Bill and Kathy Meehan, called "Collector's Guide to T.S. & T. LuRay Pastels. Great photos and price values....although this was written in the early 90's and we need an updated value guide. I suppose going by prices on ebay is a good gauge.

There are other lines by T.S. & T. covered in the book, but none so popular like the LuRay.



I am always amazed by how cheaply you could buy the set of dishes (although it probably wasn't considered cheap then) back in the late 1930's! Most items under a dollar each.



My best finds may have been while I was living in New Jersey in the early to mid 90's. One day I went into a little shop where they sold handmade crafty items with some antiques mixed in. I happened to look down on the floor, and there halfway sticking out from under a shelf was this box of LuRay dishes. I gasped in amazement! The box was FULL. I took it up to the front and the nice lady behind the counter thought I was a young college age gal (I was a few years out of school by then) who needed to stock her apartment. So she sold me the whole box for $20.00.

Inside were several very rare pieces, the gray color! Now, as much as this color is rare and pricey, I just don't like it. Could be why it was discontinued not too much longer after it was introduced. Well, several years later when I discovered ebay, I sold my gray pieces for about $200.00 and I used the money to buy the pieces I really wanted, like the rest of the mixing bowls I needed.


I sold what I didn't like and bought what I liked. Works for me!

So, if you're searching the internet for information about LuRay pastels, I hope this interested you. Leave me a comment about your collecting experiences with LuRay...I'd love to hear from you.