Mason’s Patent1858 CFJCo Midget Jar

Mason’s PATENT Nov 30th1858

CFJCo

Consolidated Fruit Jar Co., New Brunswick, New Jersey


Cornflower Blue Midget Pint

Provenance: Darrell Plank Collection

Our “Mason’s Patent Nov 30th 1858 CFJCo” is an extraordinary jar. The midget pint was made in a cornflower blue glass color with a ground lip and Mason shoulder seal. It has a zinc cap with a rubber seal. The reverse has a prominent “CFJCo” monogram representing the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Rumour has it that three examples were brought into an antique bottle and jar show many years ago.

Museum example Mason’s Patent Nov 30th 1858 CFJCo midget jar in cornflour blue.

The patents for the Mason fruit jars were almost certainly the most valuable and important patents in fruit jar history. In 1859, John L. Mason sold five of his early patents, including the Mason jar, to Lewis R. Boyd and the Sheet Metal Screw Company. Boyd was famous for patenting a white milk glass insert that was included in zinc screw lids to lessen the chance of food coming into contact with metal.

Advertisement for Boyd’s Porcelain Lined Caps for Mason’s Jars Manufactured only by the Consolidated Fruit Jar Co. New York

As the patents began to expire in the early 1870s, Louis R. Boyd, John L. Mason, and two others formed a corporation to renew the patents and retain control of the Mason fruit jars. Incorporated in December 1871, the Consolidated Fruit Jar Company began with the manufacture of the tinned-steel lids and screw bands for the Mason jars and authorized various glasshouses such as the Clyde Glass Works of New York, the Whitney Glass Works of New Jersey, and the A & DH Chambers Company of Pittsburgh to actually produce the glass containers.

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. This means the monogram could not have been used during the first seven years when the firm was in business and dates the first use of our jar to 1878. Consolidated sold the fruit jar rights to the Hero Glass Works about 1883. The Consolidated Fruit Jar Company was in business until about 1908.

The Consolidated Fruit Jar Company letterhead and envelope dated 1896.

We have other Mason jar examples in our museum with various historical perspectives. Please see our Mason’s Patent Nov. 30th 1858 Jar and Mason’s Patent Crowleytown Jar and Mason’s GCCo. Patent Nov. 30th 1858 Jar.

Primary Image: The Mason’s Patent Nov 30th 1858 CFJCo midget pint imaged on location by the FOHBC Virtual Museum midwest studio led by Alan DeMaison.

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

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

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

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