Fruit Jar Rambles Extra By Tom Caniff — Photos by Deena Caniff
LUTTED’S COUGH DROPS It’s not a fruit jar, but it’s a damned nicelooking product jar. The aqua, ground-lip jar in Photo 1 is approximately 11” tall and sports an unmarked, silver-plated metal screw cap. Its shape is appealing, but it suffers in popularity from being embossed with only the letters J. L. on the side, while the reverse (Photo 2) has a large, embossed five-pointed star. The embossed open fivepointed star (Photo 3) is filled with Lutted’s somewhat faded label, featuring a colorful American flag in the center, and above and to the sides it appears to read “Lutted’s Uncle Sam Cough Drops.” The jar’s main identification, however, is carried on the base, which reads JAMES LUTTED BUFFALO, N.Y. U.S.A. James Oswald Lutted was born in Scotland, and after reportedly working a number of years as a sailor, he settled in Buffalo, New York, where he found work with Henry Hearne, an established candy manufacturer. In 1869, James Lutted was reportedly working with Henry Hearne, but by Sept. 14, 1876, the BUFFALO COURIER was running advertising for “James Lutted & Co. Manufacturers of strictly Pure Confectionery,” at 315 Main Street. This name style continued at least through September 1878, but by October 22, 1883, ads were being run just under the name James Lutted, or Lutted’s Candy Factory. A series of “Mary Had a Little Lamb” trade cards was copyrighted in 1882, by the Onondaga Lith. Co., of Syracuse, New York, but it’s uncertain just when they were used to promote Lutted’s Cough Drops. Figure A shows one of the cards, with Mary and her lamb entering the school: “All Little Girls and Boys Use Lutted’s S. P. Cough Drops Because They Will Cure Their Colds. For Sale Everywhere.” We first found mention of Lutted’s cough drops in a Dec. 13, 1884 advertisement
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PHOTO 2
FIGURE A
PHOTO 1: Eleven inch JAMES LUTTED jar. PHOTO 2: Embossed star and paper label. PHOTO 3: Star-shaped flag paper label. FIGURE A: "Mary Had A Little Lamb" trade card.
October 2021
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