Dr. S.S. Fitch 714 Broadway N.Y.

[|MDB|]

Hello, epgorge. Nice to make your acquaintance. You're right when you say it is not a pontilled bottle. And yep, it has a nice lip. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[|MDB|]

Hello again, Joel. Your Private Message box is full.

 

[epgorge]

It should be cleared now. Thanks for the heads up.

Joel

 

[JOETHECROW]

ORIGINAL: epgorge

Hey Joe, merry Christmas to you as well. Happy and healthy new year and may you find a bottle you never throught you would be able to find/own and may it fall into your lap with little expense or labor.

I still have the interest in bottles but find myself dealing with family and health issues. Not too sure what the Golden part of the Golden Years is but I am in it for the long haul and the good fight.

I have liquidated some glass in the past couple of years but I go right out and get some more when I see something I like. Lately, I have been building up my trade Mark Lightening and other Lightning (colored) glass. I don't dig anymore and the colored ones are real expensive so I keep it to a couple of acquisitions a year. Mostly from Spurgeon. You can't beat his auctions for honesty.

Just made it through another deer season. I can't hunt like I use too but I still glory in getting out there and sitting on a ridge way up in the back country. I tend to let them walk because I don't want to drag them back. Oh well, life is good.

I will try to get out here more often. Please say hi to Capsoda and all the old diggers and collectors out here. Godspeed!!
Joel

Thanks so much for the kind thoughts Joel!!! <Grinning> [] I'd like to see your collection of jars sometime....Back when I started digging, I used to dig lightning jars oftener than I realized I should be finding them...[8|] Did that make any sense? Anyhow I found quite a few,...(and I did spot the original aqua one the other day in the back room.) Glad I still have it. The years get by. Keep fighting the good fight!

 

[epgorge]

Finding lightnings in abundance wouldn’t surprise me given the nature of putting food by back in the early American days. Everyone had a bunch and would throw them out when something new and better came or if a chip or nick made the foods safety questionable. Dave Hinson has some good info on jars in generalo which can be found at:

http://www.qnet.com/~glassman/info/jarfaq.htm

……Lightning jars represent an important advancement in the history of home canning and are still a part of American culture. Some historians suggest that the term "white lightning" may have been inspired not only from the effect of ingesting homemade corn whiskey but by the name of the jars the whiskey was frequently stored in. These familiar jars with their glass lids and wire bales are still found in novelty stores today.
In 1882, Henry William Putnam of Bennington, Vermont, invented a new kind of fruit jar by adopting a bottle stopper patent by Charles de Quillfeldt. The Lightning jars became popular because the glass lids prevented food contact with metal, the metal clamps were cheap to produce and the lids themselves were much easier to seal and remove. The name Lightning suggested that the jars were quick and easy to use. Variations of the glass lid and wire-bale scheme of the Lightning jar were produced for home canning into the 1960s.
The earliest advertisements for the Lightning jar date back to the year 1885. Mr. Putnam was the man behind the marketing of the Lightning jars and making them popular. Mr. Putnam also held exclusive ownership of the patents, and for many years, claimed the impressive profits from selling the jars.
The Lightning jars were made by a number of glass companies in several states including Lyndeboro Glass, Lindboro, NH; Edward H. Everett of Newark, OH; Hazel Glass of Washington, PA; JP Smith of Pittsburgh, PA; Moore Brothers in Clayton, NJ; Mannington Glass of Mannington, WV; Wellsburgh Glass and Mfg. of Wellsburgh, WV; Poughkeepsie Glass Works of Poughkeepsie, NY; the Hawley Glass company of Hawley, PA; and two Canadian glass makers Sydenham Glass of Wallaceburgh, Ontario and Dominion Glass Co. of Toronto. There were also variations of the Lightning jar produced in Australia.
A trademark patent was issued to H.W. Putnam in 1905 for the name Lightning. Interestingly, Putnam was living in San Diego at the time but it is not known if any California company made his jars glass.
The Lightning jars come in a variety of shapes, colors and sizes and can be a collecting specialty in and of themselves. When first made these jars were often sold as commercial packing jars that homemakers later used for canning. Value of Lightning jars varies greatly. Price is usually determined by size, style and especially color.
There were some reproduction amber Lightning jars from Taiwan produced in the 1980s. They are quart sized and have new and what I would say are sloppy looking wires. They have smooth lips, are dark amber in color and have Putnam 227 on the base. These jars are worth about $15. There could be legitimate Lightning jars with Putnam 227 on base, although I've never actually asked anyone if they have one in their collections. Once you've seen a few repros it's pretty easy to spot one on a table.
More can be found at
http://www.qnet.com/~glassman/info/jarfaq.htm

 

[JOETHECROW]

Thanks for weighing in with the cool info Joel....They've always been among my favorite jars. I makes sense, the theory about the name for "white lightning" and it's cool that they were put up commercially and then reused for home canning.

 

[epgorge]

Here are a few of my bottles which I keep under glass.
Joel

 

[epgorge]

Here a few of my SS Fitch (& Son), getting back on thread.

I really like the little one with the monogram. All the bottles are uniquely different, in my opinion. The Fitch's had class and style going for them. All but the little monogrammed are pontiled, as the lips can attest too.

 

[epgorge]

Square with a perfect flared lip and nice whittle and and oval with droppy lip and broken pontil.

Joel

 

[epgorge]

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