Canning Jars


I admire old things - being old myself of course. The jar to the left is a 'canning jar" that folks used to put up veggies and fruits in for storage. The one pictured is marked "Leotric" and it has the trademark number on the bottom.  Production dates from 1890-1910.

It, like 9 other fairly uncommon quart jars just made its way on eBay so we will see.  It isn't that I'm not fascinated by these things but it is time someone else has them and displays them properly.

Jars are certainly a "beauty is in the eye of the beholder" and the more I dig into the canning jar the more there seemingly is to know. Entire websites are devoted to canning jars and their followers - something that I would never have imagined and since these things were as common as grains of sand once upon a time finding good history is looking for "just one of many".  

Anyway, this jar was made about the time my grandmother finished school in northern Vermont, married a railroad man, had a baby (my father).  The jar lived on through World War I, the roaring 20s, the depression - where it was probably very handy, another world war, the Korean War and sometime, so the fellow said, found its way to Shelter Island, NY to a farm house there where it sat for 30+ years on a shelf in one of the out buildings only to be discovered by me nested among 9 of his jar friends who, by the dust, had been there with him all this time.  Lord knows what they talked about but they did have a window to look out of and it was a south window so they saw the sun every day.

The "lot" was up for sale on eBay - all 10 of them with President Leotric getting top billing.  I wish it could talk or I could understand "canning jar language".  Oh the stories.


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