THIS WRITE UP SHOULD BE READ WITH THE EGCo THE IMPERIAL POST
General history. Adam Darling joined in a limited partnership on October 28 1868 with himself and Thomas Jordan as general partners and James Benning as a special partner, under the name " Darling & Jordan" as Wholesale merchants for Glassware, China and Earthenware in Montreal, Quebec. This was dissolved on December 18 1873. James Benning took over Jordan's shares in the Company. This new firm went under the name "Adam Darling"
THE DARLING
The DARLING jars began life about 1881.The Patent or Trade Mark is Feb 4th 1881 as seen in Hans Peter Behn's book. I can't find it in the Gov. Trade Mark & Patent site. They seem to have only been made for 2 to 4 years. ( till 1885 ?). Adam darling seems to have passed away in 1886 , as in early 1887 there is an estate being settled . Also the Adam Darling's china glass company became the Hood, McEnroe & Co. in the 1887 Montreal directory.
DARLING JARS MADE BY EXCELSIOR GLASS CO. & NORTH AMERICAN GLASS CO...
IMPERIAL MEASURE ONLY
ON THESE JARS PLEASE SEE NOTES ON EGCo JARS
These use the double lined Logo ( NOTE, except one mould in IMP QT. ) , compare it's logo styling to the NAGCo logo on " THE / AMERICAN / PORCELAIN LINED" See NOTE on single lined Imp Quart as to it being the first Darling.
Imp. Pint ...
One mould only Embossing width is 4 & 1/8th inches. This straight sided jar became the second mould in the EGCo Imp. Pints , where it gets a base # 1 .
Imp Quart ...
There are two moulds in this set , a single and a double lined Logo.
Single lined Logo mould. Made as the first Darling jar around 1881, later the double lined logo was used.
Embossing width 3 & 11/16ths inches .
It has the normal old style EGCo type base , this was at a time when Excelsior Glass was switching from the old style base to the one used on the NAGCo jars.
NOTE ..This is the first Darling jar made. It matches the trade card put out by Adam Darling in 1883, a tall slender Imp. Quart with the single lined logo.
The jar I have is in the bright green that is found in the NAGCo jars.
This jar became what I call the #1 mould EGCo Imp. Quart .This requires a bit of explaining , while I call it the #1 mould , it is actually the second mould used as an EGCo. This single lined Logo Darling became a plain base EGCo but in a later rework was given the # 1 base , so I use mould # 1 for it as an EGCo .
My #2 mould is the first EGCo Qt. but like my #3 mould EGCo Qt. it also has no base number.
NOTE. So #1 & #3 EGCo Qts. (my list ) started life as a Darling jar.
Pic below is of the single line logo with it's EGCo jar that came from it's mould later.
Double lined Logo mould .
Embossing width 4 & 3/8ths inches , this mould became what I call the # 3 mould EGCo Imp. Quart . It has the Domed base style like the jars used for the NAGCo group.This shows it as later than the single lined logo jar. Perhaps being made in 1883 as the company became the North American Glass Co.
Pic below is the double lined with it's EGCo that was made from it's mould later.
PIC ABOVE IS OF THE OLD STYLE BASE ON THE LEFT NEW STYLE ON THE RIGHT.
Imp Half gallon ...
Double lined Logo. Embossing width 5 & 3/4 inches. It has the regular base.
I kept 3 of these big jars , each is in a further state of deterioration of the mould. The second one has glass squirts out the right side of the mould from chips on the mould edge, this leaves lumps of glass on the side of the jar. In the last of my group the mould has been reworked leaving a long (about 3 inch x 3/16th ) repair . There are a few small bar repairs on the left side also.
This jar became the # 3 mould EGCo. Imp half gallon.
As I have 4 EGCo Imp . Half Gallons in what I call my #3 mould, the exact repairs can be found but because the mould was enlarged to remove the Darling embossing they are less visible. As time goes and the EGCo mould is cleaned by sanding these marks become less visible.
Pic below shows the Darling and the EGCo that was from it's mould later.
Mould flaws are shown on the side of the Darling half gallon in pic below that.
DARLING JARS MADE BY HAMILTON GLASS WORKS.
These use the single line logo and are in standard measure.
Pint ... There may be only 1 mould in the DARLING ,a plain base .
There is a base #1 on a No Dot Crown & a plain base one also.
There is a base # 10 and a base #1 on the GEM / Rutherford & Co pints with the odd lid size.
This leads me to believe there are two moulds for these odd mouth size pint jars . Originally a plain base and a #1 as CROWN moulds .
They then were used as the GEM/ Rutherford & CO # 1 & # 10 , and finally the DARLING used the plain base mould .
Because I don't have these 5 or 6 jars to examine them I am not 100% sure of the order but the production time line seems right.
The pic below is from an unknown source Thanks . It is of the pint .
Quart ...
I have a plain base with the embossing width of 3 & 3/16ths inches.There may be another mould .
Pic below is the Qt.
SECOND MOULD
New addition Feb 5th 2020 a Quart with a base A
This mould was later used as a Rutherford Gem .
It can be seen that the Base A was not as sharply defined on the Rutherford Gem showing it to be later.
Top pic's are Darling base A - --- - below that are the Rutherford Gem base A
Half Gallon... I have two moulds
First mould, is a base # 10 . Embossing width is 3 & 1/2 inches.
This mould was later cleaned off and used as a No Embossing mould. Later it became a No Dot Crown , Still later it became a The Gem / Rutherford & Co. All have base # 10
NOTE...The base 10 in Rutherford Gem has a companion jar that is base 11 it also was a former No Dot Crown.
Second mould.. is a plain base , embossing width 3 & 5/16ths inches.
Pic below is of the two half gallons.
In the pic below I have the base # 10 and the later plain jar that was made from it's mould.
We are uncertain of the year for these trade cards. All of these cards had the same back as shown, the address shown is for his later Wholesale and Retail stores in the early 1880's.
John Barclay in his Book 2 Issue 2 had an 1883 Winter Carnival trade card for Darling with the fruit jar shown on the back. These are from Archives Canada
