Topic: What's this liner thingy for?

[krsilber]

Just a quick question, I'm sure someone will know right away...What's the insert on this thing for?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&item=150302597830

[Frank]

Looks like an inner lid with broken handle. I recall an article, I think in the Glass Cone in which (I think) Jeanette Hayhurst showed that the so called tea-caddies and perhaps jars were not actually used for tea but sugar. Unfortunately all packed away so cannot check details, hence all the maybes

[krsilber]

Hmmm, and what would the inner lid be for?  I still don't get it.

[Frank]

To improve the air seal perhaps.

[krsilber]

I guess it kind of depends on what the thing was really made for.  If it's sugar or salt, for example, I can imagine putting rice in the top to soak up moisture and avoid caking.  I guess that would work very well, thoug, if the handle hadn't broken off.

[Bernard C]

Kristi — A most interesting covered jar, and one I would have liked to acquire, but on requesting a price for UK shipping was firmly told no.

Why?   Well I've seen liners exactly like this in Walsh Apple Blossom cameo vases, and the quality of this covered jar made me think of Walsh anyway as a starting point, more so than the Stourbridge glass houses.   That's not an attribution, but a gut feeling with a reasonable chance of being correct.

The liner was there simply to protect the vase — whatever you used it for, and if you were careful, you only needed to wash the liner.

Bernard C. 

[krsilber]

Yeah, it's pretty, no?  I thought of bidding, too, but have spent more than my glass allowance lately.

"The liner was there simply to protect the vase — whatever you used it for, and if you were careful, you only needed to wash the liner."

I'm afraid I don't quite understand this.  How would it be used as a part of a vase, and wouldn't the whole thing need to be washed no matter what was stored in it?  The "liner" (not a good word for it, couldn't think of a better one - "inner lid" perhaps) is only a little cup at the top.

A friend emailed me that she'd seen metal tea canisters with liners similar to this, simply acting as an additional seal, as Frank proposed.  I suppose the shape of it would allow a bit of tea to be stored in the top part for the short term, where it was easily accessible without having to open the jar fully and allow a lot of air in.