Bottle Digger Finds Rare 1890s Pasadena Fruit & Crystallizing Jelly Jar

Pasadena Fruit & Crystallizing Co. / Pasadena Cal. jar

  Ed Kuskie sent us this note:

A Happy New Year over to you all as well !!! Great pictures and bottles with the articles, thanks !! I have something I want to share here as well, and would be of great interest for the western jar and jelly jammers alike. 

I have dug this little product fig jelly jar many years ago back in the late 80's up in the "Bunker Hill" neighborhood area near downtown Los Angeles, in a privy. This is when they were tearing down this entire section that unfortunately got rundown over the years. But back in the late 1880's to about 1910 it was quite the upscale neighborhood, with nice Victorian houses overlooking the city up on the bluff. But very good for us diggers then. 

This example is the size of a typical jelly jar and looks to date from the late 1890's to about 1905. It has the ground top, and is near perfect, except for a small chip and a hole on the back side on the base corner. There are no cracks.

          This was socked away in an unassuming box for over 20 years, and finally now it sits proudly on my shelf. The embossing is bold and it has a wonderful picture of a fig in wonderful detail. It reads within a circle "Pasadena Fruit & Crystallizing CO / Cal." On the fig it reads "Trade Mark". 

I have not seen another one of these in my many years of digging and collecting in the southern California area. This little jar measures just 3 1/2" tall and 2 3/4" across the threaded ground top. The old glass has turned a sun colored amethyst.

Good thing it was not tossed back in the hole years ago, as that is what we used to do then. It caught my fancy for sure, and it still does. Have never hear or seen another, even broken, and showed the old timers in the LA club and they have not seen or heard of it either. 

If you have any info on this jar it would be greatly appreciated. Have you ever seen or hard of one of these jars before? It sure looks attractive and kinda reminds me of the Southern California Packing Co. jar from Los Angeles with the mission scene on it, but far rarer. Check out the attached pics that I took of this cool little jar !!! 

Regards, Ed. 

Definitely a neat little jar. I couldn't find another example, and only found a smattering of info about the company. 

• In 1886, the Fruit Crystallizing Works was formed in Pasadena. They canned fruit, and marketed jellies, etc. They had a store for a short while.
• Over about 10 years, the company changed owners a few times; added more products like baked beans and catsup.
• In 1905, their corporation charter was forfeited.
• The plant finally went into the hands of the Pasadena Canning Company, formed by a group of fruit producers. 
• All the California fruit growers and packers eventually wound up in the big conglomerate of the California Packing Co., formed in 1899, which grew into the famous canned food brand, Del Monte.

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That's it, so as ''filler'', I have mixed in a few fruit crate labels for fun, color and interest. I am working on my article about the other jar Ed mentioned, and the So. Cal. Packing Co. -- Stay tuned.

P.S. -- Don't you just love these fancy jars from George and Shirley ________'s collection? [The photo is posted here on the antiquebottles.net forum] 

You see these ornate jars, with glass screw-on lids and wire bails, at antique shows, malls, and ebay. 

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Findlay Antique Bottle Club
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