For the longest time, my mother has talked about how she’s been hunting local Goodwill and thrift stores, plus tag, yard and garage sales for vintage Pyrex pieces. She’s not big into displaying them.

ON ANY OTHER DAY, I would have walked right past those pastel-colored bowls. One was pink, charmingly decorated with striped berries, leaves and buds; the other, turquoise, bore a bucolic pattern that ...