4/5 Gallon Jars

Found this...

One-of-a-kind one gallon mason jar with metal 'Ball' lid and wired black plastic handle
//Inside of lid is ceramic
//'One Gallon' is embossed in the glass
//Measures 13 1/2" from base to top of handle x 6 1/2" diameter

Vintage from the 1950s

All the bootleggers I know used quart size jars....and before that was stoneware jugs...

I found this,which is 42 ounces,but sold as a half gallon.

Still haven't found the short gallon jar yet.

The gallons were usually sold to club and bar owners and backwoods bootleggers that resold it to their clients.

They didn't like it,but it was the only way they could buy it after awhile.

Manufacturers still do that today,by reducing the size of their products but keep the prices the same.Sneaky inflation I call it.Look around,you will see it everywhere.

The image is not of a real jar,it had 1/2 gallon embossed on it,if I remember right.

I'm sure a lot of coffee was drank by bootleggers,and I am sure some of the slightly smaller coffee jars were used also.

The bottom one in #2 is advertised as a 4/5 gallon...

"$68.99

Out of stock

VTG Lt Blue 4/5 Gallon Mason Pickle Jar Patent Nov 30th 1858 Eagle 7 Stars Huge"

Thanks for the help,SE!

There a few for sale on Ebay around $125....this style also came in 3 gal and 5 gal it seems....You have a star on one side and an eagle on the other...I guess you have to figure out the height of the 1 gal size...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-MASONS-Glass-Jar-Star-Eagle-PATENT-NOV-30TH-1858-19-Tall-w-Lid-/233079711237

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Large-Masons-Patent-Nov-30th-1858-Eagle-Star-Clear-4-5-Gallon-Jar-18-tall/323853685714?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D57476%26meid%3Df44be61b4cc84fd290c6164d0e851783%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D233079711237%26itm%3D323853685714%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

https://www.ebay.com/itm/LARGE-MASONS-PATENT-NOV-30TH-1858-EAGLE-STAR-CLEAR-4-OR-5-GALLON-PICKLE-JAR/392356423813?_trkparms=aid%3D1110001%26algo%3DSPLICE.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D20131231084308%26meid%3Ddfd70bf4131a4e27b8c0952419093362%26pid%3D100010%26rk%3D6%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D323853685714%26itm%3D392356423813%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100010.m2109

https://www.ebay.com/itm/RARE-LARGE-MASON-S-PATENT-NOV-30TH-1858-EAGLE-STAR-CLEAR-4-5-GALLON/273901654399?_trkparms=aid%3D555018%26algo%3DPL.SIM%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D57476%26meid%3Dad97817783b74160a5f33a5d9fd7239b%26pid%3D100005%26rk%3D3%26rkt%3D12%26sd%3D283363240627%26itm%3D273901654399%26pg%3D2047675&_trksid=p2047675.c100005.m1851

Here's a 2.5 gallon 14" high...

https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/5-gal-14-huge-mason-jar-american-1850753545

These guys should know all about it...

http://www.weststpaulantiques.com/galleryofjars.html

I've never seen the 4/5 gallon size, but am familiar with the 1/5 size bottle.

The fifth size bottle of booze, 1/5 gallon, is now superseded by 750ml metric size, which is 1% smaller, but by the time you get to the bottom, you're too sauced to notice!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_(unit)

The jar makers could try and keep a straight face as they sold "1 gallon" jars if they contained about 0.83 US gallons, rather than just 0.80 US gallons, by claiming they were made for the UK market, or in earlier times the Canada market:

https://www.metric-conversions.org/volume/us-liquid-gallons-to-uk-gallons.htm

Duh ... happens too often when you're down under ... I inverted the units, so the "1 gallon" jars contain about 0.83 Imperial gallons.

I am pretty sure the jar companies knew what they were doing..jar sales went up sharply.

There probably aren't any old moonshiners left in your neck of the woods.

None in mine either.

I remember once when I spent the night with a friend in high school. His old man had a gallon jug of shine hidden in their dog house. We drank way too much of it and threw up on the front porch, many times. Seems like the puke was glowing in the moonlight.

Can't help you with the gallon jugs.

If you google for "glass carboy" you'll get lots of large vessels. Not mason but designed for wine production so a solid product as long as you use a fermentation lock.

I grew up in the land of moonshine. A bootlegger had a still so close to the boundary of our church camp that we could see it -- the irony wasn't lost on us teenaged campers.

If my father were still around he'd know about those jars. Through his job he'd gotten to know the sheriff of a rural county in TN. The sheriff routinely raided bootlegging operations and confiscated the 'shine. On occasion, the sheriff gave my father samples (in quart Mason jars but not full quarts) when he knew that the moonshiner hadn't boiled his 'shine in a rusty radiator. Ah, this does bring back memories.

When I went to school,all 12 grades went to the same school.

On Thursdays the cafeteria would make yeast rolls.Everybody loved them,even though they didn't rise much,you were always hungry so they were good.

You could smell those rolls on the playground every Thursday,the smell of yeast filling the air.

This went on for years,all through high school.

After I graduated,they found a liquor still in a house next to the school playground,and he ran his mash off on Thursdays.

He got away with it for many years,and it was only found when he died and the property went to his heirs.

I don't know if his wife worked in the cafeteria or not,but maybe.

I remember now that there were several stills in the swamp near my house,and when the weather gets cooler,I may see if I can find some of the old jugs around where the stills were.

I know they used to get the coca cola syrup glass bottle with the finger hole near the spout.If I can find them I will be lucky,but I am going to try.

They didn't use wood fire in my neck of the woods,they used propane gas for cooking(no smoke) and small Briggs motors to run the pumps.

They would weld 5 or 6 hot-dog mufflers end-to-end and you could barely hear them running.

It shortened the life of the motor,but they didn't care,just overhead cost to them.

You learned fast to look at the tare weight of a 100 pound lp cylinder.

Most of them were 73 pounds or more,but if you could find a 71 pound tare weight,you kept it.

It makes a big difference when you have to carry it on your shoulder through the waist deep water in the swamp.

oh! not 4/2?