Late-18th Century jars (1770’s) New York

Despite the fact that there appears to have been a surge in oyster jar popularity in Manhattan during this period (based on newspaper mentions), very few jars from this time survive. I am aware of only four (three in my collection and one recovered in Bermuda).

Although the provenance of the jars in question helped to generally date them, an advertisement placed in the Rivington Gazetteer in 1774 by Abraham Delanoy. including a very detailed wood cut print showing an oyster or lobster jar next to a small wooden keg clearly shows details of the jar opening that helps to identify the jars in my collection (see below). While these jars share a similarity with a much later, and signed example, originated from Alexandria, VA from as late as the 1850’s where and how the jars were found makes such a late manufacture impossible.

Additional advertisements in New York newspapers from the same year list oyster pot corks for sale as well as the earthenware potter, Jonathan Durrell, making oyster pots at his shop for the first time. Durell’s jars would have been lead glazed inside and out to make them watertight. Unfortunately, this coating would also have made his jars highly toxic to eat from given that the acidity of the vinegar released the lead into the pickle. A likely example of one of these is the earthenware jar pictured below that was recovered in Bermuda.

A consistent feature of all three surviving jars is the consistent relatively large size (compared to the 1790’s examples) which is in keeping with the standard practice in England of selling oysters in a quart or “hundred count”.