Fruit Jar Rambles Extra By Tom Caniff — Photos by Deena Caniff
KERR MASON PIE FILLING JARS Sometimes I think there are just too many potentially collectible jars to keep track of, especially when we consider some of the more modern jars, which are appreciated by a good number of collectors. The subject of this thought is a jar which has been in our collection for over twenty years. Recently, looking at this jar, I decided to look it up to see what had been recorded about it. The jar carries the name of a well-known fruit jar manufacturer, and it has a unique shape and embossed name. This interesting clear, rounded-square pint product jar (Photo 1) has a recessed panel for labels around the entire center of jar. It is embossed KERR MASON on two opposing sides. Around the heel it’s embossed NOT FOR HOME CANNING USE. The base is unembossed. The embossing “KERR MASON,” standing alone, is a style not found on any of the many other Kerr variants that I can find. The jar’s paper labels reads in part, “New Kerr Peach California Clingstone & Freestone Pie Filling Net Wt. 21 Oz. (1 Lb. 5oz.)” on the front (Photo 2), with “Kerr Pie Fillings Are Distributed By Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corp Consumer Products Division, P.O. Box 76961, Los Angeles, Ca 90076… © Kerr Glass Manufacturing Corp. 1989” on the reverse. The one-piece metal screw cap is lettered in red, BUTTON POPS UP WHEN SEAL IS BROKEN KERR PIE FILLING STORE IN REFRIGERATOR AFTER OPENING on top, and the KERR name appears four times around the edge. This jar was first reported in Dick Roller’s FRUIT JAR NEWSLETTER in March 1991 by collector Herb Karcher, of Bridgeport, Nebraska.
Dick was unfamiliar with the jar and asked if any of his readers had seen one. This query was answered in the April newsletter by Muncie, Indiana’s Dick Cole, who reported having a style of the jar with KERR MASON embossed on one side only, giving us a second embossing variation. Dick Cole also provided a Kerr newspaper advertisement showing the Kerr Pie Filling available in several other flavors — blueberry, cherry, and apple cinnamon (Photo 3). The Kerr Pie Filling jars were reportedly introduced in February 1990, in four flavors: peach, cherry, blueberry, and applecinnamon. It was Kerr’s first venture into the commercial food line, and apparently it wasn’t a complete success. They were apparently trying to join the nostalgia of home canning jars to the allure of homemade pies.
PHOTO 1: KERR MASON embossed pint.
However, preceding this introduction date a bit, the first found advertising for the Kerr Pie Fillings had appeared a month earlier in the Jan. 1, 1990 GREEN BAY [Wisconsin] PRESS-GAZETTE. “New! Mom Would Approve,” it announced. “Introducing a new line of Kerr Pie Fillings in clear glass mason style jars. The kind of pie filling your mom used to make…” An accompanying coupon offered a $1 refund to anyone buying a jar of the new Kerr Pie Filling. Four of the Kerr Mason jars with labels for the four flavors of pie filling were shown. On June 20, 1990, a column, “Quick Eats,” in the WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL, of Madison, Wisconsin, in discussing the Kerr Pie Fillings, stated that Madison and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, were “Midwest test markets for Kerr Pie Filling.” Testing customer response in certain picked locales across the country was geared to show whether or not the product might be viable, and it also accounts for
PHOTO 2: KERR MASON with Pie Filling label.
PHOTO 3: Three other types of Kerr Pie Filling.
February 2020
17
