Have you seen collections of stoneware jam jars in magazines or neatly styled in hutches of collectors on Instagram? Some are plain, just ribbed while others have decorative lettering and advertisements.
Did it make you wonder, what’s the deal? Grab a cup of tea and journey with me to England where we will learn all about them and why you just might want one of your own!
First stop, we are going to get a little background in food storage. In the 19-20th century there were no refrigerators or preservatives to keep food fresh. The primary way people kept food from spoiling was to keep it in a spring house (a small structure built over a spring) or a cellar underground. Both of these options remained consistently cool enough to keep food preserved for months.
This paired with preserving methods and the right container meant food could be kept for a little longer!
Marmalade itself is a fruit preserve made from the juice and peel of a citrus fruit. It’s boiled down in water with sugar and spreadable on toasts.
The most infamous of fruits used to make marmalade was the Seville Orange hailing from Spain.
The first commercial marmalade comes from James Keiller and his wife in Dundee, Scotland. As it goes with history, many credit him with being the first to make it entirely. But there are records and recipes predating his factory opening in 1797. The jars themselves were made of stoneware, glazed and fired in an oven. This made the jar impervious to water and thus spoilage.
Dundee Jars are highly collectible due to their printed advertisement directly on the jar! The lettering and elements are very decorative and very distinctive. Another well known brand was Frank Cooper’s Marmalade.
(Pictured above is a Frank Cooper’s Marmalade Pot)
In the late 1800’s other manufacturers began to crop up. William Pickles Hartley begun producing his jams and jellies in earthenware jars.
Just as you would think, a guy with the middle name Pickles was a pretty cool dude. He was a well noted philanthropist!
From Wikipedia:
Hartley was a Primitive Methodist and applied his Christian principles to business. In 1888 he built a model village at Aintree (since named by the Victorian Society as a set of heritage buildings at risk of disrepair[1]). The following year he introduced a profit-sharing scheme, the results each year being announced at a special ceremony, with music and speeches. He claimed that the wages he paid to women and girls – four-fifths of the workforce – were appreciably higher than those of his competitors; he also provided free medical treatment. He personally chose his managers and trained them, sending them on advanced chemistry courses at his own expense of nearly £300,000. He preferred to donate part of any sum requested, so as to encourage others to give. He endowed a number of hospitals in Colne, Liverpool, and London, and financed departments at Liverpool and Manchester universities. Equally generous to Primitive Methodism, he supported an organization for building chapels, acted as treasurer of its missionary society, and converted the old Holborn Town Hall into its national headquarters.
(Photo source- https://baybottles.com/2023/01/29/wm-p-hartley-liverpool-london/)
I love his particular pots due to their neutral nature. Some are ribbed, some are plain.
There is often an imprint called a debossing the bottom. The newer jars, and by newer I mean the 1920’s, feature the phrase “Not Genuine Unless Bearing Wm P. Hartley’s Label.”
But you can sometimes find another jar featuring a lighthouse surrounded by a flock of birds. These date from the early 1900’s to the 1920’s.
The jars would have had paper labels on the front and paper tied tops. You can see the ridge along the rim where the twine nestled in.
It’s pretty amazing to hold these items in my hands and even better to use them in my daily life. It’s a sustainable way to add history and storage to my home!
For storage they are perfect for paintbrushes and utensils. For decor, they make the perfect vessel for dried florals or other decorative elements like bottle brush trees!
While the history itself is amazing let me tell you my favorite part of where to find these treasures! In Victorian England there were no trash trucks to pick up trash. Trash was taken and disposed of locally in pits called heaps or dumps. Today hunters go and pinpoint these dumps and dig them up archeology style! The jars I sell in my shop are genuinely hand dug out of Victorian trash heaps. These items have survived for 100+ years in the ground! Some may be pristine but often they have some defects like staining or cracks called crazing. It’s doesn’t affect their ability for storage and decor. But obviously they can’t be used for food anymore.
It’s pretty amazing to be able to have an item from the 1800’s and 1900’s and synonymous with British culinary delights.
I’m always looking for different uses for mine. Let me know in the comments if you have a favorite use for yours!
~Anna
