Fruit Jar

 A reader has a fruit jar with the “Economy” mark pictured in Kovels’ October 2015 Dictionary of Marks and is puzzled over the date we listed. Her jar is marked “June 9, 1903.” We said the company claimed use of this trademark beginning in October 1903.

The dates are for different patents. It doesn’t mean the jar was made on that date. Alexander Kerr founded the Hermetic Fruit Jar Company, in Portland, Oregon, in 1903. It became the Kerr Glass Manufacturing Company and eventually had plants in several cities. The company claimed use of the word “Economy” beginning October 20, 1903, although it was not registered until January 18, 1949. The June 9, 1903, patent is for a jar closure that used a sealing compound. It was issued to Ewald Golstein of Germany, assigned to Julius A. Landsberger of California, and bought by Kerr.

In the early years, Kerr was a jobber, not a glass manufacturer. Economy jars were made for Kerr by the Illinois Pacific Glass Company from 1903 to 1906 and by Hazel-Atlas Glass Company from 1906 to 1909. Kerr began making its fruit jars in 1909.