Topic: Small Cut Glass Jar with Mushroom Stopper

[mhgcgolfclub]

A small cut glass jar with a mushroom stopper. It may well be Georgian or early Victorian.

Not sure of its use but may be a condiment jar.
Height 4.25"
Weight approx. 290gm

Lots of wear to base.

Roy

[Paul S.]

according to Wilkinson 16 point stars, similar to this, are c. 1830  -  earlier one were less deep and each radial arm was cut by means of two passes of the wheel - and if you look at the ends of the arms of those earlier stars they appear unequal in their length.
Unfortunately, as we know, the Victorians copied everything.                       How sharp is the cutting ?  Is this lead glass do you think?
Often these relief diamonds suffer from knocks.

What are condiments - flavourings only?              How about for small pickles.            If it had contained vinegar or similar for some time then you'd expect some sort of staining perhaps to the inside?

Not sure you're going to get a definitive answer Roy  -  one of those rather vague things about which the literature is a bit sparse in help.

[mhgcgolfclub]

Thanks Paul

I would say lead glass . The cutting is quite sharp and there are very tiny knocks to the points.

Could be for small pickles, but I would have thought more for a liquid or powder with the size of the neck .
It was only £2.00 in a charity shop in Crawley.

I will keep checking to see if I can find another one online.

Thanks Roy

[brucebanner]

Looks good to me, i have a couple somewhere with no lids, because so much information has been lost as to the use of old glass would these little well sealed jars be good for powders or spices, make up?.

I have a couple of Victorian pickle jars, (if that's what the true intention for them was) i store grinding powders in and the seal is so good on them i have trouble pushing the lids down they just float back up under the internal pressure, being a mechanic earlier on in life you would need a bit of oil in order to push the lid down ok..

[Paul S.]

you see lots of pickles (jars that is), with typical large ground and hollow stoppers - they're usually a bit taller than this one, and they come in an amazing variety of shapes etc.         I have seen fairly small ones, and had assumed they were all for pickles of some description - I've really no idea what sort of condiments they might have contained, and unfortunately don't think the books are much help on this subject either.
Assume the air-tight ground stopper prevented the escape of vinegar fumes etc., and prevented evaporation and deterioration of pickles.

[brucebanner]

Equally would not let moisture in.

I would imagine in the 1820's some spices would have been rare and cost a fortune, when i was in Zanzibar and Tanzania  filming years ago the spices on display were incredible and available for hundreds of years prior and expensive some of them even now.

Why not use a cork stopper?.

I think a lot of these jars had a job of keeping moisture out, a sugar basin on a damp day goes rock solid.

[mhgcgolfclub]

Thanks Paul and Chris

I think a spice jar would be a good guess.

The stopper is an extremely good tight fit. I would think good enough to keep moisture out and a powder dry.

[Paul S.]

cork deforms and after a while compresses at the point of contact and I'd imagine you'd lose the air tight fit - plus cork would take on the odor of whatever you have in the jar and it doesn't have the same ability to be cleaned, like wot glass can be.