Australia's Crown Crystal Glass Company exported Agee Pyrex to New Zealand from the 1930s onward. In 1950, a sister company, also called Crown Crystal Glass, was established in New Zealand. This new glassworks was located in the Christchurch suburb of Hornby.
Pyrex production is reported as having commenced in Christchurch in the 1965-1966 financial year, so all Agee Pyrex and Crown Pyrex products sold in New Zealand before that date would have been Australian made. However, the situation after that time is very tangled.
The company name Crown Crystal Glass continued to be used in New Zealand after its Australian counterpart became Crown Corning in 1972. The date of the last New Zealand pyrex production is yet to be confirmed, but it was probably in the late 1970s. The Christchurch factory is said to have closed in 1987.
As the country of manufacture marking on the old Australian moulds was now incorrect, the Christchurch factory applied an explanatory sticker to each dish before packing it. Naturally, dishes found today almost never have these stickers still on them.
This confusing situation means that some "Australian"
pyrex dishes found in New Zealand are of unclear origin.
Furthermore, as the New Zealand company continued to distribute
Australian-made pyrex items through the 1960s and into the 1970s,
it cannot even be said that all "Crown" pyrex sold in New Zealand after
1966 was locally made.
The date ranges for these backstamps in New Zealand production
are probably similar to the corresponding date ranges for
Australian production.
However, the relatively free migration between Australia and New Zealand
could also have had a small effect on what is found where today —
some dishes may have been taken from one country to the other
by private individuals.
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