Vintage canning jars are one of those things that have kind of been in the background for me. I see canning jars fairly often at thrifts and yard sales and I normally pass right over them. Most are newer and clear glass. I've picked up a few in the past, just for my personal storage...I like those kinds with the glass lid and wire bail.
I found the one in the picture above at an estate sale and I knew the zinc lid was a good sign for age and I loved the aqua color.
So let's take a look at my jar again using the above information.
Hmm...no underline...yes! My jar dates from 1923-1933!!
Wow! I love this!
The number on the bottom of mine is 2. I was all set to research that when I read this on the Minnetrista blog: "These are called mold numbers. They identify the position that the mold
in which the jar was made held on the glassmaking machine. Most machines
would have from eight to ten molds, all making the same type of jar.
The quality control people used the number on the bottom of the jar to
identify which mold was producing bad jars. The number has nothing to do
with when the jar was made."
Well that sorts that out.
I found the next jar at that same estate sale. It's by Kerr and it's clear.
Not a whole lot of information to be found about Kerr, just some history. But my jar has seams...which indicates post 1915 when the jars were machine made. Also there's a Patent Date of August 31st, 1915 on the bottom of the jar...so obviously after that. Some more research to be done! But that's the fun part!!
