✅ SOLVED How Old is This Fruit Canning Jar?

[FreeBirdTim]

Not rare or valuable, but this jar is very interesting. I found it in an old dump I've been searching for a few weeks now. Most of the items I've found are from the late 1920's, but I did find an icebox latch from the 1890's there as well.

It measures 7 1/2" tall and is very heavy. There are TWO seam marks on each side. One seam goes from the base to the neck and the second goes from halfway up the jar to the lip. But the odd thing is that they do NOT meet anywhere on the jar!

The really weird thing is the base. The circular middle part of the base is convex, so the jar wobbles when you set it on a flat surface. Never had a machine made bottle or jar that wasn't perfectly flat on the bottom.

And finally, there is a HUGE bubble in the top of the jar.

Is this just a poorly made jar from the 1920's or a pre-1900 jar? It can't be too poorly made, since 95% of the bottles and jars I've found are broken. Has to be pretty tough to survive the huge glass massacre at this dump!

Any input would be great. Thanks!

 

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[taz42o]

If at least one seam runs to the top it is 1915 or later.

Bottle & Pot Lid International Collector's Webring

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Yes, that's generally true, but that applies to one continuous seam. The first seam starts at the base and stops before the neck of the jar. The second seam starts about 3 1/4" up the jar and goes to the lip.

The wobbly base bugs me as well. I've found over 600 bottles and jars over the past year and never had one that didn't rest flat on a shelf. Very weird.

Probably just a poorly made jar, I guess...

 

[surf]

Yes, that's generally true, but that applies to one continuous seam. The first seam starts at the base and stops before the neck of the jar. The second seam starts about 3 1/4" up the jar and goes to the lip.

Hello Tim,

You've got a lightning style packer jar there. It is machine made on one of the early machines. That parallel seam business seems to be a tell tale feature on some of these early ABM jars and bottles. I'd put it in the 1920's era.

I'm assuming that the wobbly base has to do with improper annealing.

"Clamped Glass-Lid Jars (Lightning Jars)

In 1882, Henry William Putnam of Bennington, Vermont, invented a fruit jar that used a glass lid and a metal clamp to hold the lid in place. These "Lightning jars" became popular because no metal (which could rust, breaking the seal or contaminating the food) contacted the food and the metal clamps made the lids themselves easier to seal and remove (hence the "Lightning" name) . There were many similar glass lid and wire-clamp jars produced for home canning all the way into the 1960s. Many can still be seen in garage sales, flea markets and on specialty food jars today." History of the Home Canning Jar and Collecting Mason, Ball and Kerr Jars

Food Bottles​

 

[FreeBirdTim]

Thank you for the photo and the detailed info! That sure looks a lot like my jar. Too bad mine isn't embossed. Guess I'll have to go and look for the lid tomorrow. I'll mark this one as solved.