|
Humble
Glass Food Containers
Decorative, Collectible
As seen in The Antique Shoppe Newspaper,
August, 2005
|
19th Century
peppersauce bottle with gothic arch motif, Courtesy Skinner Auctions, Boston, MA |
Collectors have long loved the look of
glass food and beverage
bottles and jars, old
and not so old. Now is the time for
beginning collectors to look for the
many examples of
interesting packaging now on the market.
One example that caught my eye
was the
Arizona diet, green tea ,bottle with a
colorful Geisha girl motif. Not
too long ago 20th
century milk bottles were thrown away.
Now, collectors search for them
and prices keep
going up.
Historically, the earliest jars
made in America to preserve foods,
were free-blown from
1790 to 1850. These rarities are very
expensive, costing from $800 to
the high thousands.
They were sealed with whatever was at
hand; a cork, or a cloth, tied on
with a string and
coated with wax. Pitch or wax helped
keep out the air. By the 1830s a
variety of jars for
preserves, pickles, etc., were
commercially blown in nearly all the
glass factories that made
bottles. The names of the glass works
were sometimes scratched on the
side. This is one
way to date them. The most common colors
were aqua and deep green.
The first important step in
air-tight food containers was patented
in 1858 by John
Landis Mason, a tinsmith. His invention
combined a mold for a jar with a
threaded mouth
and a zinc screw-on lid. All the jars,
for the first time, were a
standard size and could use
the same lid style. Unfortunately, the
zinc added an unpleasant taste to
the food.
In 1868 another change was made by
the Hero Glass Works. The jar
mouth was
covered with a flat, glass insert, held
in place by the zinc lid.
However, it wasn’t till 1869
that the bad taste was finally
eliminated, when Lewis Boyd of the New
York Metals
Company created a white glass liner for
the zinc lid.
|
20th Century
milk bottle Photos Courtesy Skinner Auctions, Boston, MA |
Rarities, and most expensive, are
the New England, mold blown,
ribbed jars. In a
transparent green with a glass lid, they
were made around 1860. Since
they weren’t mass
produced, like other food containers of
the period they can cost
hundreds of dollars.
Still affordable are the 19th
century pickle jars and pepper sauce
bottles. Usually aqua
in color, the pickle jars can be
recognized by their gothic arch design.
Late 19th century
pickle jars were made in amber as well
as aqua. Exceptions are the large
size that can sell
for over $400.
CLUES: You can often recognize the type
of food bottle by the shape.
For instance
cooking oil bottles were tall and slim.
The largest of all of the food
bottles was made for
pickles and was cylindrical or square in
shape with a wide mouth. They
were usually aqua
in color. Chili sauce and mustard
bottles had embossed decorations.
Inscriptions of makers and
embossing ended in 1903 when bottles
were machine-made
and paper labels were introduced.
|
Hand blown,
early 19th century food jar. Courtesy Skinner Auctions, Boston, MA |
Be sure and keep paper labels
intact, they add to the value. This
is a must with
collecting recently made bottles and
jars.
Keep in mind that color and age
count. For instance, Borden’s
ruby-red, quart bottle,
though made in 1950 by Anchor hocking
Glass Co., has sold for as much as
$700.
However, most Borden bottles are in the
$30 range.
Since Mason-type jars were made by
many glass houses, prices
depend on how long
the copy-cats were made and if made in
faulty molds. Strangely enough,
since the less than
perfect jars were usually destroyed,
survivors are rare and fetch good
prices.
For many collectors searching for
old glass food containers, half
the fun is in the
digging. Dumps, old farm home sites even
their own back yards. If you
aren’t into digging
there are yard sales, flea markets and
auctions for the bargains.
If you have any questions, you can Email us at
antshoppe@aol.com
The Antique Shoppe
"Florida's Best Newspaper for Antiques
and Collectibles
PO Box 2175, Keystone Heights, FL 32656-2175
Phone: (352)475-1679 Fax: (352)475-5326
[Top of Page
| Editorial Archives |
Home]
Copyright © 2006,
Antique Shoppe Newspaper
|