Jarring Comments
from Tom Caniff Tom, at 80, takes the lid off and looks back on a lifetime of interesting jars and old friends Compiled by Ralph Finch
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n the middle of a cold January day, I got a warm message from friend, jar expert and AB&GC magazine columnist Tom Caniff of Steubenville, Ohio. So, since Tom and I are getting older, I thought that now might be a good time to ask him a few questions. His first few answers were:
barely talked to at bottle shows. Now that we donât even see them, I find myself wondering how they are and, in some cases, if theyâre still alive. I canât blame all of this on Covid though, some of itâs due to health problems, and an unfortunate declining interest since weâre no longer actively collecting.
âIâm afraid that the virus is getting to a lot of folks, leading them to be less careful, and Iâm afraid that many, especially us old fogies, may well pay a stiff price for their foolishness.
âWeâre still doing as well as can be expected though.â
âAs far as I know, Iâve reached an age, almost 80, that none of my earlier relatives achieved, but although Iâm grateful for what Iâve had, I donât want to go down the tubes because of doing something stupid. âIâm at the end of my rope with the jar column, Iâm afraid, but itâs been a long run and thereâs not much left that Iâd like to cover. Iâve done this mainly to satisfy myself and now itâs getting to be too much like work, having covered so many topics that Iâd wanted to clarify, for myself if not for others. âI, too, find myself missing old friends and acquaintances, some of whom I
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Antique Bottle & Glass Collector
And we had more questions, to which Tom, using his unique, humorous style, generously replied. âQuestions? Iâm too old to remember answers, and if I do, the answers are probably wrong. âQuiz 1 â First jar? I already had a grouping of âoldâ fruit jars that weâd liberated from abandoned farmhouses when I bought my first âgoodâ jar after several weeks of soul searching (and yes, I did finally find my soul and still have it today, although in somewhat worn condition). I shelled out $15 for a stained quart aqua LEADER jar with no lid nor clamp. Although I remember it kindly, itâs now long gone. Not sure if I got my money back or not.
A photo of Tom hangs above his Federation of Historical Bottle Collectors Hall of Fame Award from August 8, 2008.
âQuiz 2 â First column? The âLabel Spaceâ first appeared in the March 1992, issue of BOTTLES & EXTRAS, published by *Scott Grandstaff and Kitty Roach, of Happy Camp, California. My first
