My Newest Canning Jar

Last year, when Senior and I were visiting his dad in South Carolina, we found a large lot of canning jars for sale. We paid 60.00 for the entire lot. Once home, and upon cleaning, I noted some where no longer in production. This find started my antique canning jar collection.

Saturday we ventured down state to a large flea market. I happened upon a young man selling old jars for 8.00 a piece. I wanted one to add to my collection.

The one I chose is clear glass, and has MASON’S Patent Nov 30 1858. Someone had painted over the lettering.  Senior looked at me funny, but I was excited. We got home and I did some research. I found that my newest jar was probably made around 1915, because there are seams up the sides.

 I then soaked it in hot water and began to scrub the paint off the letters. As I worked I started thinking about this jar. Where has it been? I thought about all the history surrounding this one particular jar.

 And then it talked to me, it told me about all the good things it had once held: Green beans, peaches, corn, and potatoes and other things fresh from the garden. It told me that countless times a little elderly lady used it for her homemade jellies, her recipe had even won first place once at the county fair. And then it was given to the lady’s grand daughter so she could catch lightening bugs during the evenings, and then it was used to hold the girls "Jacks"

After the little girl grew up, she became a beautiful bride and used the jar as a vase on her kitchen window. A few years later her husband suddenly passed away, the bride packed the jar away in her attic, she could not bare the reminder of the flowers it once held that were always from her husband. And there the jar sat, packed among other odds and ends.

 Until one day it was discovered in a box, and given to a boy who liked to build models, it became the perfect paint brush holder. He thought so much of the jar, he painted over the words. As the boy grew in to an older man, it was used in his garage to store nuts and bolts then sold in a yard sell. It was then taken along with other collectibles to the flea market, where I found it, bought it, and liberated it.

It said  all these things to me while I scrubbed and cleaned it, Inspecting my jar I learned to appreciate the rich history it holds. Now it sits atop my kitchen cabinets, the focal point of my jar collection. Where others who visit can look and learn to appreciate the rich history associated with canning.