Ravenna Glass Works Ohio Air-Tight Fruit Jar

Ravenna GLASS WORKS Ohio

Air-Tight Fruit Jar

Ravenna Glass Company, Ravenna, Ohio

Deep Aquamarine Quart

Provenance: Jerry McCann Collection

Here is a wonderful example of an embossed “Ravenna Glass Works Ohio” jar. This quart figural barrel form has four sets of 3-ring hoops that segregate three lines of horizontal, sans-serif, straight line copy on the front side of the jar. The obverse side is embossed horizontally ‘RAVENNA’ between the top ring set, ‘GLASS WORKS’ between the middle ring set, and ‘OHIO’ between the bottom ring set. The reverse side is horizontally embossed AIR-TIGHT FRUIT JAR’ between the middle set of rings. This copy is in a single line, centered on the jar. The base has a bare iron pontil scar, the mouth a tooled wax seal groove with a sheared lip. The jar is only reported in aqua quarts and pints and is extremely rare.

The Air-Tight Fruit Jar typography on the reverse side is very similar to our museum example of an amber Air-Tight Fruit Jar that does not have the embossed Ravenna Glass Works copy leading most to speculate that both were made at the Ravenna Glass Company in Ravenna, Ohio.

There are similar pint versions of this jar that are embossed ‘RAVENNA GLASS WORKS’. The Ohio copy is missing. The opposite side embossing reads ‘AIR-TIGHT FRUIT JAR’ in three lines. Both are illustrated below in the Creswick illustration.

The Ravenna Glass Works or Company had a troubled history with at least five incarnations during the period between 1857 and 1893. The firm made fruit jars and flasks marked with its name. The first firm was almost certainly the initial manufacturer of the barrel-shaped Air-Tight Fruit Jars that were afterward produced by Potter & Bodine and the Cohansey Glass Mfg. Co. We believe this advertisement below supports that the jars were introduced circa 1858. Similar advertisements announcing the new jar occurred in other Ohio newspapers around this time.

See the museum example of an Air-Tight Fruit Jar.

See the museum example of an Air-Tight Fruit Jar Whimsey.

See the museum example of a Potter & Bodine Air-Tight Fruit Jar.

Support Images: Auction Lot 13915: Ravenna Glass Works Ohio Air Tight Fruit Jar. Iron pontil. Quart. Color: Deep aqua. Closure: applied grooved ring wax sealer mouth finish. Appearance: sparkling glass Condition: flat chip off the outer ring of the mouth. Embossing: medium. Base: iron pontil scar. Age: 1850s. Availability: rare and a great looking example – Greg Spurgeon, North American Glass

Primary Image: Ravenna Glass Works Ohio – Air-Tight Fruit Jar imaged on location by Alan DeMaison, FOHBC Virtual Museum Midwest Studio

Support Images: Auction Lot 9942: Ravenna Glass Works Ohio Air Tight Fruit Jar, Pint. Deep rich aqua. Grooved ring wax sealer mouth finish with a rough sheared inner lip, sparkling glass, edge flaking off the inner lip which is normal, medium embossing, black iron pontil scar, circa 1850s, Rare and highly-appealing in this small size. This beautiful example was recently found on the shelf in a collectibles shop in Washington state. How it traveled so far west and remained undiscovered so long will remain a mystery. A fantastic artifact of early Portage County, Ohio glass-making history. – Greg Spurgeon, North American Glass

Support: Reference to Ravenna Glass Co. by Bill Lockhart, Beau Schriever, Bill Lindsey, and Carol Serr

Support: Reference to Red Book #11, the Collector’s Guide to Old Fruit Jars by Douglas M. Leybourne, Jr.and use of Creswick illustration granted by Doug Leybourne.

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

Support image: Grouping of three sizes of aqua Air Tight Fruit Jars and pint jar (front and back) Louis Fifer, Ohio Bottle Club.

Join the FOHBC: The Virtual Museum is a project of the Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors (FOHBC). To become a member.