Sometimes all things do come to those who wait. I fell in love with the old-fashioned stoneware pots once used to sell James Keiller & Son's Dundee Orange Marmalade when I was a little girl, by which time they were already obsolete, except for their aesthetic value.
They are hard to find. For many years I kept pens in one of the inferior modern ones with the screw-top, which are not ceramic. This week, while checking out Craigslist for jam jars (I still need about 300 more to finish testing recipes for my book), I discovered a very nice person not far from me who was selling her collection, in which her dad used to keep his paintbrushes. They have a nice crackly exterior, and on the unglazed bottom, each one has the words "Pot made in England" stamped into the clay in a very lovely all-caps serif font. (At one time, they would have had little ceramic caps too.)
Some of them were made for the UK trade, and are labelled as "Made in Great Britain by James Keiller & Son Ltd. London, W.I, England and Dundee, Scotland". Keiller was a Scottish shopkeeper, and his wife Janet is popularly credited with having developed the first commercial marmalade in the late 1700s to deal with a shipload of quickly-degrading bitter oranges.
In a historical lecture by Mary Williamson at last year's "Mad for Marmalade" event, held by the Culinary Historians of Ontario at Fort York, I learned that Keiller has a Canadian connection, as some of his children came to Canada and continued in the marmalade business here. Some of the pots were clearly bought here, as they're labelled "Packed for Nestle (Canada) Limited Toronto, Canada".
Each of these seven pots is unique in some way; one has a little crack; some have a strong clear black imprint from their stencilled label, while others are cloudy or smudged. Each has its own particular character, which tempts me to keep them as a set. However, I suspect I'll mete them out as the situation suggests, perhaps offering one for the door prize table at next year's marmalade fest, for example. Meanwhile I'll bask in the pleasure of having a little, longstanding, wish granted.
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What a lovely story that you have at last acquired these stoneware marmalade jars. I've been working with a pottery to produce some stoneware jars, fashioned on these Keiller ones and also on some vintage creamware French jam pots I have. Unfortunately, sealing them is a problem, though long ago people managed perfectly well with paraffin wax and greaseproof paper etc. They are lovely for fruit cheeses, like damson and plum cheeses, which suit this traditional feel.
ReplyDeleteI have a long standing wish to own some Kilner jars since it is my surname, although I am not directly related to the glass manufacturing Kilners. I have found a site to buy the newly made ones but I really hope to someday find an original.
ReplyDeleteI have about a dozen of these - everyone in the family had one as a pencil jar and the rest held things in the workshop. However they did not have ceramic tops. I clearly remember they had heavy crimped paper lids. We went through a lot of marmalade when I was a child, and I remember opening the jars. I do not remember how they were sealed under the paper lid. The other thing I find fascinating is that, of the ones I have, no two are alike. There are variations in the size and style of lettering, the leaf wreath varies and there are subtle changes in the wording of the label. These examples appear to be identical - maybe they were bought in a case lot originally.
ReplyDeleteI have two of these jam jars, one has red writing, one had black writing. Are they worth anything?
ReplyDeleteI'm no expert on jam jar value; perhaps yours may be especially old or rare, but these were produced in very large quantities and many are still around, so I expect they are only worth the pleasure you get from them.
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