Fruit Jar Rambles: The Glenshaw Jars

By Tom Caniff — Photos by Deena Caniff

THE GLENSHAW JARS

Photo 1 shows a clear round quart jar embossed GLENSHAW-in-a-beveledcorner-rectangle G-in-a-square) MASON. They were made by the Glenshaw Glass Co., of Glenshaw, Pennsylvania.

The stippled bases of the pint GLENSHAW jars are embossed with a mold number, which varies from 4 to 25, above the G-in-a-square trademark. Beneath this is the number 1955, which looks suspiciously like a date, but it is, in fact, just a size identifier; the quart bases carry a 1255 size identifier.

On April 16, 1943, one of the stories carried in the FORT WORTH (Texas) PRESS was entitled “New Glass-Top Ready For Canning.” The story heralded the proposed use of what collectors refer to as the “World War II glass lids,” produced in response to government restrictions on the use of steel for certain specified items.

The glass lids were touted as “a steelsaving glass-top closure now being produced in quantity for the first time in the United States.” The article continued, “Production of 634,000,000 of these glasstop (sic) seals this year is an important part of the government’s and industry’s efforts to assure adequate supplies of jars and tops for the anticipated record home canning program and at the same time to save as much steel as possible for military and industrial needs.”

It is one of these World War II-style glass lids that is known as a closure for the GLENSHAW G MASON jars (Photo 2). The clear lids are embossed the same as the jars, GLENSHAW G-ina-square MASON, on the underside, to be read through the top. There’s also a metal top-seal lid lettered in black: GLENSHAW G-in-a-square MASON, exactly the same as on the glass lid and the jar.

The G-in-a-square “trademark” is prominent on these GLENSHAW jars and on the World War II vintage glass lids. A January 1945 ad in the GLASS PACKER, advertising Glenshaw’s unembossed, generic-style “Victory Jars” for packers, patriotically urged, *Back The Attack Buy War Bonds* Glenshaw Glass Co., Inc. Glenshaw, Pa. Glenshaw Bottlers,” featuring a small square-G trademark.

For some reason, Glenshaw doesn’t appear to have applied for its GLENSHAW above G-in-a-square trademark (Figure A) “For Glass Bottles” until March 22, 1955, claiming that it had been used by the company since 1904. The registration was granted by the Patent Office as trademark #631,783 on July 31, 1956.

Glenshaw Glass reportedly dates back to 1894, and in 1895, the May 8, 1895 issue of CHINA, GLASS AND LAMPS reported that an addition was to be built on the Glenshaw Glass Works plant, at Glenshaw, Pennsylvania, on the Pittsburgh & Western R.R., near Pittsburgh. The company was reported as being a co-operative firm, consisting of former employees of the Tibby flint house at Sharpsburg, Pennsylvania.

Over the years, fruit jars were sporadically listed among the glass company’s wares, but only two jars are known to be Glenshaw’s, the GLENSHAW G MASON and the SQUARE G MASON.

PHOTOS (from top):

Quart GLENSHAW G-in-a-square MASON. GLENSHAW World War II glass lid. Glenshaw Glass Company's 1956 square-G trademark. Half-gallon, quart and pint SQUARE G MASON jars.

By Tom Caniff — Photos by Deena Caniff

A hundred and eleven years later, on February 1, 2005, the PITTSBURGH BUSINESS TIMES, an internet site, reported that “The shuttered Glenshaw Glass Co. is facing liquidation” after creditors filed bankruptcy proceedings. The plant, which had operated in the Glenshaw section of Shaler, Pennsylvania, since 1895, had been closed in November 2004, resulting in the layoff of over three hundred employees.

Like many other home canning jars, the GLENSHAW G MASON was also used as a commercial packing jar. In the December 2003 “Label Space,” we featured a pint GLENSHAW G/square MASON jar with a label for “Polpen Brand Imported Style Small Dill Pickles…Packed by Pennsylvania Pickle Co. Pittsburgh, Pa.,” and in the November 2005 “Label Space,” we featured a quart example with a label for “Extra Dining Car (locomotive & passenger cars) Brandied Mince Meat...Manufactured By L. W. Rutherford Lowell, Mich.”

SQUARE G MASON

While the GLENSHAW jars were apparently made during the 1940s war years, the clear, rounded-square jars in Photo 3, embossed SQUARE G-in-asquare MASON, came along later, being first found in the late 1950s.

On Sept. 24, 1959, a Thorofare Super Markets’ ad appeared in the PITTSBURGH (Pennsylvania) PRESS for “Square G Mason Jars doz. pts. $1.19 doz. qts. $1.35.” A plain listing, without a depicted jar, but the first evidence found for the jars. The same Thorofare ad appeared in Connellsville, Pennsylvania, Latrobe, Pennsylvania, and East Liverpool, Ohio, papers the same day.

Over the next several years, over two dozen newspaper ads were found for the SQUARE G MASON jars, ending with the latest, from the AKRON (Ohio) BEACON JOURNAL, dated Sept. 30, 1965, in Figure B. The Giant Tiger Discount Stores ad shows both a quart SQUARE G MASON and the jar’s closure, a “Bernardin Snap Lid Standard Mason.” This was the last mention found for the jars.

The SQUARE G jars also have stippled bases with the G-in-a-square trademark and size identification numbers. Pints bases bear the number 3043, quarts have the number 3044, and half-gallons have 3047. No ads for the scarce half-gallon jars have been found, and they apparently just weren’t as widely marketed as the pints and quarts.

Photo 4 shows a cardboard box size reading, “12 Quarts #3044 Regular Mason Jars for Home Canning and Freezing with BerNARdin Snap Lid Caps Square G Mason Glenshaw Glass Co. Inc. Glenshaw, Penna.” The top of the box, in Photo 5, shows the Regular Quart SQUARE G MASON with a BerNARdin lid and screw band. Although these jars may be occasionally found with the GLENSHAW glass lids, I don’t believe that the glass lids were used by the company beyond the end of World War II in 1945, nor that they were ever used on these later jars.

There’s also a SQUARE G WIDE MOUTH MASON (Photo 6) in pint, quart, and half-gallon sizes. Although our photo shows a jar with a zinc cap, there’s no verification that either of the Glenshaw jar styles were sold with zinc caps.

PHOTOS (from top):

1965 SQUARE G MASON ad. Cardboard box for SQUARE G MASON quart jars. Top of quart SQUARE G MASON box. SQUARE G WIDE MOUTH MASON.