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The amber Airtight jar is one of my favorites. As
far as I know, it is the earliest side embossed amber fruit jar. Also, it
has a large iron pontil on the base and is one of the few pontilled amber jars
(in fact, I really can't think of any others but I don't discount the
possibility). Jars which have images on them are called "figurals" and are
generally more desirable. This jar (and other barrel jars to follow) is
generally referred to as a figural due to the bands around it. From that
point of view, it is one of the few amber figurals and certainly the earliest
(there are a few amber figurals I believe, such as the amber Beaver jars).
It is extremely rare. Up until a couple of years ago, only three were
known to exist - this one, another quart and a half and a half gallon. A
short time ago, a fourth appeared unobtrusively on an internet auction site by
an auction service who had obtained it at a garage sale for essentially nothing.
The jar ended up bringing $27,000. So now there are four. Mine came
from the collection of the greatest jar collector of all time, Alex Kerr.
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