A pleasing glass jar

We are not absolutely certain what this jar’s original use was. From its style we think it dates from the Edwardian era – roughly the first ten years of the twentieth century.

Edwardian glass and gold coloured jar

On display, it seems perfectly clear.

Labelled as a hair tidy – but is it?

This item is clearly labelled as a hair tidy. That’s a container which might find a place on a dressing table into which combed out hair could be put and stored until there was enough for some kind of hair piece..

But it could also be an inkwell, being a container with a small opening, ideal for dip-in pens.

It has been in the museum for a very long time. It would be good if we could get some accurate information about just what this lovely little jar is for.

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A Bovril Jar

OK, glass Bovril jars are almost as common as muck but we are still pleased to have one at the museum.

It was acquired at a day centre sale earlier this month. It’s a small one.

These jars were factory made in a variety of sizes. We believe this one was a two ounce jar.

Our Bovril jar is the same as many, many others.

The shape is distinctive, with the long neck and the flat sides. It is the curved ends that have embossed writing.

The jar makes itself clear. It contained Bovril

One thing we are not sure about is what kind of lid these jars had. We assume it was some kind of ‘prize off’ metal lid. There’s certainly no thread for a screw on lid. The bottle could be 100 years old but may well be newer than that.

We open for the new season on Saturday May 2^nd at 2.30 pm. This little jar will be on the new acquisitions shelf in the upstairs room.

 

Here’s a reminder of our normal opening times:

 

From May to the end of October on Saturday, Sunday, Wednesday and bank holiday afternoons from 2.30 to 4.30 pm. For group visits or opening at other times please contact the curator.

 

Visitors should park in the Community Car Park and walk up the path to the church. The path behind the church leads to the museum.

An Oxo bottle

If we judge from past experience this post could be destined to be very popular. Many users of our blog check in every day but quite a lot of posts are found by people using search engines. As the ‘owners’ of the blog we at the museum can see just which pages are most popular. The home page wins that competition by a huge margin. That’s had over 100 000 views, mostly that will be by regular viewers. But amongst individual pages sought out by far the most popular is the one about a Virol Jar and the one about a Shippams Paste jar is catching up fast.

So we reckon a blog about an Oxo bottle, a late entry at this stage, will soon be sought out. People who find the blog may well have found or just own one of these items.

So here is our Oxo jar.

A 1930s Oxo Jar at Market Lavington Museum

We think this elegant dark brown glass bottle (or jar) dates from the 1930s. It looks like similar bottles which contained Bovril, but there is no doubt that this is an Oxo container.

Vital information – moulded on the bottle

 

It says it very clearly on the bottle and also gives the quantity as 4 oz – 4 ounces or about 55 grams.

And really we have no further information – not even what Oxo in a jar looked like.

A stoneware jam jar

Yesterday we featured a paper bag and today we have another item of near ephemera – a jam jar.

Back in 1985 a new extension was opened at Samuel Moore Foods – the Easterton jam factory. During the excavations for foundations, quite a large number of old stoneware jam jars were uncovered. It seems workers at the plant, at that time, were able to take one as a souvenir. One of these jars has just made its way to Market Lavington Museum, given by a person who worked at the jam factory back then.

Old stoneware jam jar found at Samuel Moore’s Easterton jam factory

This jar is about the size of a one pound jam jar made of glass. It stands about 4 inches tall and has a diameter of about three inches across the top. As we can see, it is a yellowy cream colour with a black line around the rim.

We can also see it is not in A1 condition. There is a visible crack down the far side of the jar – and it goes from top to bottom. There is chipping to the glaze near the bottom as well. There is a red staining to the jar as well, albeit cunningly hidden round the back in this photo.

We have to make the assumption that this jar dates from early days at the factory as do the other, similar jars found. There are no marks of any kind on the jar to assist with identifying manufacturer or age.

Similar jars marked with a Hartley badge are quite frequently seen on internet auction sites. They are usually described as ‘Victorian’.

Because of the location where these were found, we are inclined to imagine them as more like 1920. Prior to the First World War, Samuel Moore and his family ran a cottage jam making business at their home, Woodbine Cottage on The Drove in Easterton (Now also called Sam Moore’s Lane). It seems unlikely that they would have dumped or stored jars on what later became the factory site.

We have found very little information about such jars as yet so maybe somebody out there could come up with a likely age and even a possible manufacturer. By the way, we have no interest in or knowledge of any value – except, for what it is worth, we think in cash terms it is worth next to nothing but in local history terms it is a valued treasure. That is what matters to us.

A Wine Flagon

Here we have another new acquisition at Market Lavington Museum.

This wine flagon was given to the museum by a White Street resident who recently moved to smaller accommodation in Devizes after 74 years of being a Market Lavington resident.

We are still trying to trace the history and origins of this item.

A wine flagon embossed with Stagg Lavington

It is a wine flagon or jar of a type which may be called ‘half glazed. The writing on the jar is clear.

We need help tracing Stagg

Stagg, Wine Merchant of Lavington.

Our difficulty is that we can’t trace a Stagg in Lavington but we have found Staggs who were born in the village. Stagg is not a common name in this part of Wiltshire and is much more common to the East of the Pewsey area.

We know a Thomas Stagg was baptised in Market Lavington in 1824. His parents were Thomas and Eliza and they appear to have been farmers at Bedwyn. A Thomas Stagg is listed as the owner of a Market Lavington house and garden on the 1840 tithe apportionment document. He did not occupy this property.

An Eliza and a Thomas Stagg were born in Market Lavington in 1855/56. Thomas, the father, died in 1856. He, at the moment, is our only bet for who the wine merchant was who had this flagon.

Based on that, we date the flagon to the early 1850s.

But can you tell us anything better or different? If so we’d be delighted to know about it.