Unusual The Gem Jar

[NJKLAGT]

Unusual 'The Gem' Jar

Hey everyone,

I dig most of my glass but once in a while I will buy a piece if the price is right. I purchased this 'The Gem' jar as a Christmas gift to myself, not only because it is beautiful but also because I've never seen this style of lettering before. It has a taller elongated style of lettering and the G does not have that right angle arrow kind of shape like many HFJCo jars. Looks like an indented cup bottom kind of mould. I do not own a Red Book but maybe one of you could tell me something about this jar? Is it from Hamilton or Philly maybe? Age? Common? Value?

Thanks a lot everyone, good luck and happy hunting from Ontario,

John

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

A Handbook of Civil War Bullets and Cartridges - Grab it through Amazon!

[AnthonyCoil]

I'm not sure about the History behind them...I'm sure it's easy to find via Google search, but I did have a larger size than yours 1 1/2 quart....they are very collectible.

 

[Bass]

A little history....

You are here: Home / Canning Equipment / Jars / Gem Jars and Lids
GEM JARS AND LIDS
Gem jars are a Canadian size of preserving jar.

They are shouldered jars that came in (Imperial) pints, quarts and two-quarts sizes.

The mouth size of 78mm falls in between the now-standard sizes of 70 mm (regular) and 86 mm (wide mouth).

The design was also called “Improved Gem.”

Like the older American “63” jars, Gem jars have been discontinued.

But you can still buy rubber seals to use with their glass lids, OR metal lids to use with the jars, made by Bernardin:

While lids for gem jars have and are expected to continue to be a very small portion of our overall product offering, Bernardin considers users of these jars in the Western provinces to be valued home canners. Hence, we want owners of 78 mm mouth jars to continue to use proven-quality BERNARDIN[emoji768] SNAP LID[emoji768], if they wish.” 1

Note that while the metal 2 piece lids are still being made, no jars with that mouth size are being made any more, so as breakage of jars occurs, the market for the lids will get smaller.

Contents [hide]
1 History of Gem Jars
2 Closures for Gem Mason Jars: Metal versus glass
3 Gem canning rings
HISTORY OF GEM JARS
Gem jars were never used in the States. They were made by companies such as Dominion Glass, Domglas, Consumers Glass, Bernardin, etc

Gem jars were particularly popular in Western Canada. They were made as early as the 1930s.

GEM became the generic term used in Canada to describe fruit jars or as Canadians called them ‘sealers.’ ” 2

In 2000, Bernardin, the last company still making the jar sizes, ceased production of the jars. 3

 

[NJKLAGT]

Hey guys, thank you for your efforts so far! The jar is just under 9 inches tall, forgot to mention that.

AnthonyCoil, I too thought Google would get me there but so far I still can't find this tall elongated block lettering on any of them. Just the Hero looking kinds of lettering, straight, arched, etc.

Bass, I think the information you provided is mostly about more modern shouldered jars. This jar is not shouldered and is either blown or early machine-made.

I'm really hoping that someone out there with a Red Book and a keen eye can quickly flip through and give me some information about where this jar was made and around what time. Ideally if they took a quick pic of the image of it in the Red Book, yeah that would just be absolutely awesome. I just can't afford a Red Book right now.

John

 

[Bass]

Unusual 'The Gem' Jar

You are correct. I had the wrong jar. Here is yours, or one similar.

Gem
There were numerous jars called the Gem (e.g., Creswick 1987:66-70), and Consolidated was one of the companies that offered the jars. Consolidated’s version had THE GEM in an arch above the CFJCo monogram (Toulouse 1969:125; Creswick 1987a:69; Roller 1983:135 – Figure 67).
Toulouse (1969:125) explained that “this jar is one of the indications that Hero had taken over the Consolidated assets about 1882, since it combines the Hero-owned GEM with the Consolidated- owned monogram.” His example had a Hero lid. Roller (1983:135) countered the Toulouse ideas:
The manufacture of these jars has been attributed to the Hero Glass Works, Philadelphia, Pa., solely on the basis of THE GEM on the jars. However, there are none of the customary Hero patent dates . . . on these jars.
Creswick (1987:69) remained neutral, only noting that the “maker of this jar with the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company monogram is unknown. Possible maker could be the Whitney Brothers of Glassboro, N.J.” She illustrated the jar but did not explain her choice of the Whitney Brothers as the manufacturer (Figure 68). The Roller update (2011:209) added that “these jars have the typical ‘CFJCo’ base mold markings.” Jerry McCann further added that:
Figure 67 – Gem jar (North American Glass)

 

[AnthonyCoil]

Hey guys, thank you for your efforts so far! The jar is just under 9 inches tall, forgot to mention that.

AnthonyCoil, I too thought Google would get me there but so far I still can't find this tall elongated block lettering on any of them. Just the Hero looking kinds of lettering, straight, arched, etc.

Bass, I think the information you provided is mostly about more modern shouldered jars. This jar is not shouldered and is either blown or early machine-made.

I'm really hoping that someone out there with a Red Book and a keen eye can quickly flip through and give me some information about where this jar was made and around what time. Ideally if they took a quick pic of the image of it in the Red Book, yeah that would just be absolutely awesome. I just can't afford a Red Book right now.

John

Yeah I know about the struggle with google search sometimes. My fault, the quart and a half jar I was talking about that I had was "The Dandy" jar. I did have a "The Gem" jar but sold it a while back...I want to say it had the same elongated embossing as yours but I could be wrong.

 

[NJKLAGT]

Bass, thank you again for the info, now we're in the right time frame! Here it talks about the HFJCo, CFJCo, and Rutherford & Co gems, and I think it's totally possible that this jar was made by one of these companies. I'm sooo wanting to find a single image of this specific jar anywhere else, whether it be Google or an eBay listing or wherever, so yeah AnthonyCoil, the search continues! Yep, it can be a struggle sometimes, but you gotta kill that curiosity before it kills the cat!

If anyone has a Red Book please take a minute to help me out!

 

[DiggerinVA]

My wife is an avid fruit jar "nut".....she has that jar and also a Redbook. I will look it up for you this afternoon....nice jar!

 

[NJKLAGT]

DiggerinVA, you're the man!

Just when I thought this thread was dead I've got someone trying to help me out again! I really appreciate your time, let me know what you find. If you can take a picture of it in the Red Book with the details and everything that would make me so happy. And hello to the wife from a fellow fruit jar lover!

Thanks again!

 

[DiggerinVA]

Sorry for the delay......but here is "The Gem" page of the redbook....i will let you decide which jar you have.

 

[DiggerinVA]

Posted the wrong page above....here is the right one. It is 1084-6, a Canadian made jar....

 

[NJKLAGT]

Thank you so much DiggerinVA

Yep it's gotta be 1084-6, it matches that description perfectly! No worries about the delay, thank you again for taking the time to look it up for me!


John