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Storage Jars
The old-fashioned general store is perhaps the most fondly remembered institution from the mid-1800s. Today, many of the mundane items once found in those emporiums, including the handblown clear, green, and amber glass storage jars that lined their shelves, are highly collectible.
Glass storage jars, which replaced opaque pottery jars, became a familiar sight in general stores, pharmacies, and the kitchens of well-to-do homeowners around 1840. Several big glassmaking companies in the northeast United States produced them, though few used any sort of identifying mark or stamp. The jars, which are not to be confused with canning jars, were so delicate that they were mainly used to store light dry goods like candies or powders. Thin and fragile, these glass jars would just fall apart if they got a crack, so very few cracked ones exist. That’s why, as glassmaking techniques advanced, and factories began to produce molded glass jars, the fragile handblown jars were replaced with thicker, more durable successors.
Vintage storage jars usually came with a tin lid. Tin oxidizes and darkens with age and is soft and easily dented, so jars with mint-condition lids are the most valuable. Labels add value as well. Jars with rusted lids and nicks in the neck are priced down accordingly.
The cylindrical jars come in sizes ranging from one pin to two gallons or more, but it is scarcity, not size, that most influences a jar’s value. The smallest and largest sizes are the rarest. Increased demand has made the jars much harder to find in recent years.
Reproduction jars are often easy to spot because they lack the imperfections of hand-blown glass and their lids are too bright and untarnished. Some reproductions, however, are very difficult to tell from the original. When you examine a jar, check the bottom. You should see signs of age and wear here, too, as well as the pontil scar that tells you it was handblown.
Glass storage jars, which replaced opaque pottery jars, became a familiar sight in general stores, pharmacies, and the kitchens of well-to-do homeowners around 1840. Several big glassmaking companies in the northeast United States produced them, though few used any sort of identifying mark or stamp. The jars, which are not to be confused with canning jars, were so delicate that they were mainly used to store light dry goods like candies or powders. Thin and fragile, these glass jars would just fall apart if they got a crack, so very few cracked ones exist. That’s why, as glassmaking techniques advanced, and factories began to produce molded glass jars, the fragile handblown jars were replaced with thicker, more durable successors.
Vintage storage jars usually came with a tin lid. Tin oxidizes and darkens with age and is soft and easily dented, so jars with mint-condition lids are the most valuable. Labels add value as well. Jars with rusted lids and nicks in the neck are priced down accordingly.
The cylindrical jars come in sizes ranging from one pin to two gallons or more, but it is scarcity, not size, that most influences a jar’s value. The smallest and largest sizes are the rarest. Increased demand has made the jars much harder to find in recent years.
Reproduction jars are often easy to spot because they lack the imperfections of hand-blown glass and their lids are too bright and untarnished. Some reproductions, however, are very difficult to tell from the original. When you examine a jar, check the bottom. You should see signs of age and wear here, too, as well as the pontil scar that tells you it was handblown.
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kjacobso |
Latest page update: made by kjacobso
, Jun 19 2007, 1:10 PM EDT
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| Anonymous | picture on page 14 CHNov.'07 - "Slow Lane" | 2 | Feb 12 2008, 3:56 PM EST by Anonymous | ||
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Thread started: Oct 22 2007, 2:35 PM EDT
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I know those 3 "domes" on the armoire in Karen Weir-Jimerson's home are not storage jars, but what are they? I got one from a friend who was going to throw it out but I thought it had purpose. Have taken it to a couple of antique stores and no one knows what it is. Mine is the same pale green and measures 14 inches in diameter. Any help would be appreciated. mc
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