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This is a midget example of the famous Crowleytown Jar.
Crowleytowns are mason jars made in a distinctive shape and are thought to
be the earliest version of a mason jar, perhaps actually made around the
patent date of 1858 and perhaps by John Landis Mason himself.
I should pause long enough to point out that jars with the wording
"Mason's Patent Nov 30th 1858" were made into the 1920s so the wording has
little to do with the age of these jars. That being said, the heyday
for these jars was around 1880 and many of them come from that period.
One of the outstanding characteristics of this jar is that its a midget.
As I've stated elsewhere, the pint sized jars are usually the rarest and
that applies to Crowleytowns. The other even more outstanding
characteristic is the brass lid. I've been told that this is the only
midget brass lid. I don't know whether it's true or not, but they are
apparently at the very least, very rare.
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