Mason’s CFJCO Improved Clyde N.Y.

Provenance: Darrell Plank Collection

Our quart cobalt blue “Mason’s CFJCo Improved Clyde N.Y.” jar is a sight to behold as it would dominate shelf space and demand attention in any collection. The jar is legendary and has been featured in at least two older bottle magazine articles. We are pleased to have it on display in the museum.

The front of the jar has embossed ‘MASON’S’ copy in a convex arch that is anchored by embossed straight line copy reading ‘IMPROVED.’ The embossed ‘CFJCo’ monogram appears within the created cavity. The reverse of the jar has ‘CLYDE, N.Y.’ embossed in a straight line. Our jar has a ground lip glass insert and a screw band. The insert reads “Clyde Glass Works Clyde N.Y.” Typically, the jars are clear and aqua and can be found in half-gallons, quarts, pints, and midget pint sizes.

The “CFJCo” monogram on the front stands for Consolidated Fruit Jar Company. We have a related CFJCo. monogram jar on an adjacent shelf in the Jar Gallery called Mason’s Patent Nov. 30th 1858 – CFJCo. With that example, the monogram is on the reverse and the front embossed copy is different.

The valuable patents for the Mason fruit jars began to expire in the early 1870s. This is when Louis R. Boyd, John L. Mason who was the original patent holder and inventor of the Mason jars, and two others formed a corporation to renew the patents and retain control of the Mason fruit jars.

The Consolidated Fruit Jar Company was incorporated in December 1871. The company manufactured tin-steel lids and screw bands for jars and controlled various Mason patents. They also controlled who was allowed to make the glass jars. The new firm was located at 66 Warren Street, New York. The office moved to 49 Warren Street the following year. The actual plant was situated on the Raritan River at New Brunswick, New Jersey. Consolidated registered the CFJCo monogram as a trademark on April 23, 1878, with first use, claimed on April 3rd of that year.

Clyde Glass Works was probably the largest manufacturer of Mason jars for Consolidated Fruit Jar Co. up until when CFJCo. sold the jar concession to the Hero Fruit Jar Co,. sometime around 1883. We can date our Clyde N.Y. museum jar between the 1878 and 1883 date. Later similar jars did not have the Clyde N.Y. copy.

We have other Mason jars in our museum that give a pretty good history of the jar. Please see our Mason’s Improved Jar, Mason’s Patent Nov. 30th 1858 Jar, and Mason’s Patent Crowleytown Jar and Mason’s GCCo. Patent Nov. 30th 1858 Jar, among others.

Primary Image: The Mason’s CFJCo Improved, Clyde N.Y. jar imaged on location by the FOHBC Virtual Museum midwest studio led by Alan DeMaison.

Support: Reference to Celebrating 150 Years of Mason Jars 1858-2008 by Jim Sears and Joseph Merkel, Bottles and Extras, November – December 2008

Support: Reference to Fruit Jar Annual 2020 – The Guide to Collecting Fruit Jars by Jerome J. McCann

Support: Reference to Red Book #11, the Collector’s Guide to Old Fruit Jars by Douglas M. Leybourne, Jr.

Support image: Auction: Midget Pint, Aquamarine, Closure: original CFJCo glass insert and a zinc screw band (small hole in zinc) Appearance: whittled glass with a trace of content deposit. Condition: shallow chipping of the ground mouth. Embossing: strong. Base: “I 306” Age: late 1800s. Availability: scarce – Greg Spurgeon and North American Glass.

Support: Reference to Consolidated Fruit Jar Co. by Bill Lockhart, Beau Shriever, Bill Lindsey, and Carol Serr

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