Question:
I collect the iris pattern in the concord line. I was in need for a lid for my coffee pot, and purchased a blossom time pot and lid to use the lid. my surprise was that the lid was smaller than I needed. the blossom time pot has a lip on the top for the lid to ride on, and my iris was not made with this lip. Was there a change in production, or was my pot made to not have a lid? thanks Daniel

Answer: Good question! Iris and Blossom Time are patterns in the Concord shape. Blossom Time was introduced in 1950 and Iris followed in 1951. Beverage servers (coffee pots) were introduced to the Concord line in 1949.

Unknown to many collectors, Concord beverage servers were made in two different styles. One version has a server with a rather small opening and an inner rim. The cover has no tabs and deep sides. It sets on the rim slightly inside the server. The other version has a wider opening and no inner rim. The cover is wider and flatter, completely covers the opening, and has a tab to help hold it in place on the server. As you’ve discovered, the smaller deep-sided cover will not fit a server with the wider opening, and vice versa.

While there was a definite change in the production, I’ve seen no documentation as to when this change was made. My educated guess is that the version with the narrow opening and deep-sided cover was made initially in 1949 and that production changed to the other version prior to the introduction of new patterns in 1951. I’ve not seen a deep-sided cover for any of the patterns introduced in 1951 or later, and all servers I’ve seen that require the deep-sided cover have been in colors used for patterns introduced in 1950 or earlier. Servers in solid colors such as metallic brown, gray, chartreuse and forest green can be found in both versions. So if you are searching for a cover to match your Concord beverage server, be sure you know which type of cover is needed to get the proper fit.

Larry