I think I found a Unicorn ....

[Prickle]

I finally made a canning jar score!

 

I was beginning to think those stories about someone cleaning out their mother's/grandmother's storage buildings and finding hundreds of canning jars and supplies then putting them on Craigslist for some lucky canner to claim was a urban fairy tale. But it happened to me! It really did!! Here's more exclamation points...!!!!!

 

So Mr Prickle and I got a nice ride in the country and met some really nice people too.

 

I got 20 boxes of canning jars in a nice mix of sizes and varying states of grunge-itude, some pristine, some pretty scary AND a Mirro 15 qt pressure canner. I've estimated there's a least 240 jars if each box has a dozen, but I know some of the boxes have more than that in them.

 

I've unearthed some treasures too like a real Atlas jar and an oddity I can't find much info on. It's a quart jar with an embossed state of Texas that says Texas Mason on the front and on the bottom it says Made in Texas by Texans...I think it is so cool!

 

I've only gone through about a 1/3 of them so far, running them through the dish washer and sorting them by size.

 

I'm so excited, I just had to share with people who understand

[WormGuy]

Congratulations on your score!! I don't know if it will help but here is a site I have found useful if I come across an old jar. I found one in a shed at an estate sale and it is worth about $35.00. I got it for free, auctioneer gave it too me.

 

http://www.kovels.com/

 

 

 

John

[Cat]

 

 

It IS real!!!!!!!

 

 

 

 

Congratulations!!!

 

 

Yeah, you might want to hang onto the odd ones as collectors' items. They can make cute vases in a country kitchen.

 

But the old jars, if sturdy and whole, are just as good to use as the new... some say they're *better*!

 

 

 

 

[Amishway Homesteaders]

Keep them ALL (older ones that is) but if you have no use for them just sell them off and use the money you get to buy things you need for canning. That's one way we get stuff we ' need ' for 'free'.

[TurtleMama]

Woo Hoo!!! Truly a wonderful find!!

 

 

Have fun canning in all those jars!!

[Pigzzilla]

Hi Prickle, You can find the age of your unicorn, uh Mirro canner, on the botton. Mirro was made in the U.S. until the early 80's and the new and old gaskets are not interchangable. On my older 22qt Mirro the date is stamped on the bottom, 2 over 78, Feb 1978. My 'newer' one has 12 over 80, Dec 1980. I have found gaskets and other parts online thru www. pressurecanner-parts.com The model number on both of mine is also on the bottom -shown as M-0522 22qt. You will need that also.

 

Congrats on the major score and happy canning!!

 

pigzzilla

[Crazy4Canning]

Woooohoooo!!!!

 

Yay for you! See, things to happen to you!

 

My only caution to you about using the older jars is this - learned from cleaning out thousands of my Grandma's jars and learning the hard way:

 

1. Set a straight edge on the rim. If the rim is crooked, use it for dry storage. Sometimes the old casting process resulted in odd rims. Today, for safety reasons, we can't use these.

 

2. The wire-clasp jars aren't safe to use for anything but dry storage. I use them for my dehydrated things.

 

3. If you come across a really old or unique jar - like your Texas one - KEEP IT on display somewhere with rice, beans, etc. or something in it and never let it go!

 

A few years ago, I bought the "Red Book" of canning jars off eBay. This really does show fair market price for most jars created and made in the USA. Also, remember regional price. A jar that has Texas on it would fetch less in Oregon than in Texas.

 

Congrats again on your find - have fun uncovering your treasure!

 

[sassenach]

Thats a wonderful find! I hope you got a great deal! I only have one older jar, Atlas, wire closure with glass lid , it says Atlas EZ Seal and has a 7 and an O on the bottom, so its probably not as old as your jar is! I use it to hold instant dry milk for my coffee and cooking baked goods that take milk.

[Prickle]

Thanks eveyone! I'm still jazzed.

 

Looks like my canner was made in 1983. I put it through it's paces with some jars of water and it worked fine, yay! (Mirro canners are scary though, lol)

 

Now I just need lots of stuff to can.