Ravinna Air-Tight fruit jar

[GuntherHess]

Can anyone tell me why this pontil has no iron in it? This is as found. I have done nothing to clean it. Was two feet under mud in lake bottom but the bottle is nearly mint... No oxidization hardly at all. You can still see some lake bottom inside of it. i will clean that out soon. There are 130 tin oyster cans in decent shape. I don't think this bottle ever had iron in the pontil. So how was it made?

That appears to be a perfectly good iron pontil scar, it just has no iron residue left, probably from being in water. Sometimes even ones in the ground have little or no residue.

 

[mrbottles]

Hey Gunther, good to see you here.

I guess the pontil oxidizing off is possible but nothing metal down there seems to be that bad off and the glass is mint. If it landed top down it may have sat exposed for a decade I guess. Man to swim this place back then… A new pontil med guide? Did my Fess pontiles from Milwaukee misspelled Milwaukie make it?

Call this crazy but I will post pictures of the Ravinna fruit jar pontil and my Madison attic mint pontil bottle that has no iron this weekend. I think they were made with the same pontil rod… Is that possible? It would be incredible to be able to determine who made a pontiled soda by a glass maker marked jar...

 

[jarsnstuff]

national jar auction site? Never heard of it. Did you mean North American Glass, - Greg Spurgeon's site? There's also Glassworks, American Bottle Auctions, Norman Heckler to name a few. I'd think you could go with any of those & get good exposure. -Tammy

 

[glass man]

WHAT A BEAUTY!! JAMIE

 

[appliedlips]

ORIGINAL: mrbottles

Hey appliedlips... How do you find more than one four figure jar?

Has anyone ever used the national jar auction site? I am going to sell it. It belongs with a jar collector and I can parlay it into something very special for my own collection.

Steven

I assure you its not like we dig piles of great jars and we have to root through hoards of 58's and lightnings for every good jar. Here in the midwest we are blessed to have more good jars around than anywhere from pontilled era right into the 1900's.

Good luck with your jar. Personally, I'd price it high and try to sell it privately first and then auction it if I could not get my price. There have been several major jar collections broken up and sold in recent years and collectors have alot to choose from sometimes allowing some to sell lower at auction because there is so much to choose from. As mentioned above, Greg Spurgeon would the go to guy if going the auction route but there are other choices. I have never used him to sell a jar but have had dealings with him, all pleasant. Good luck and congrats again.

 

[cookie]

Hi- if you are looking to sell the jar and get the most exposure North American Glass Auctions would be a great choice. Greg Spurgeon does a tremendous job promoting it and most collectors go on his site..........John

 

[darrellp]

Hey - good for you! Not too many of these around and they're really desirable. For comparison purposes, ere's a pic of mine:

http://www.darrellplank.com/jars/Individual%20Jar%20Pages/Pint%20Ravenna.aspx

I just double checked and it's got a strong iron pontil on the bottom. I think yours just dissolved in the water. You may know better than me if you dive regularly for them, but it seems to me like I've seen this before on bottles brought up from dives.

By the way, somebody claimed that these come in amber. I wish!!! The amber one is the Airtight - no "Ravenna". A picture:

http://www.darrellplank.com/jars/Individual%20Jar%20Pages/amber_airtight.aspx

Get back out there and dig me up an amber one, please!

Darrell

 

[dygger60]

I have to agree....NAG is probably your best bet....Greg offers nothing but premium jars and obtains what is probably the strongest prices.

David

 

[mrbottles]

Hi Everyone,

Sorry I just took the weekend off of the web… I rarely do but kids and the holiday… We had a big party and I had to clean the house all Saturday.

Yes Tammy Greg’s site. John if I was going to auction it I think you are correct Greg has an established track record. Plus four people have said that is the auction site for a jar.

Jamie, great to see you here! It really is spectacular. Strange because I am not a jar man and I am all Wisconsin but it is growing on me.

Appliedlips you are right on with how to sell. I received some great information with names of some serious collectors today from a very helpful jar collector. He said there is a 2010 price guide that lists the jar at $7500 and up! “The Fruit Jar Annual 2010 lists your jar for $7,500+. This is a price guide that comes out yearly by well-known collector Jerry McCann.

Darrell that looks familiar. Is the other side of yours Air-Tight? When people started looking this up it was confusing at first. Every different style of the jar is worth tremendously more. On the amber and green it is not for a lack of trying I haven’t found them both. My elbows are sore and my wrists are tight from doing the front crawl about 15 miles in two weeks in lake bottom mud. If I do find one you will be one of the first to know.

Thanks for all of the information! Next step if you know anyone who I should contact with this please let me know who they are. Any more insight on the jar is welcome.

SO… Appliedlips knowing what you know about the price guide what do you think that asking price should be?

Steven

 

[appliedlips]

Steven,

I am far from an expert on jar prices, some of the others ( that aren't trying to buy it) probably have better judgement than I. I do know I never get in any hurry to sell an item like that. Personally, I'd drag it to the Muncie, Indiana show and maybe a couple of others and show it and get some feedback. There is no formula on how much below or over book it should bring. If condition is mint other than the inner lip I wouldn't think of parting with it for less than the book price. IMO, the bare iron pontil is not as desirable as if it had full iron but on something so rare I don't think it will hurt. If Phil Smith isn't on your list of collectors he should be. He is a class act and collects pint jars. Pm me if you need his info. Good luck!